1975–

As she spent time in isolation with her family during the COVID-19 pandemic, Aimée Papazian created an imaginary landscape which allowed her concept of the world to grow even as her experiences with the outside world shrank.

The resulting piece, Which End Is Up?, was included in the Arkansas Women to Watch: New Worlds exhibition in 2023 and the national New Worlds exhibit at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., in 2024.

“I remember Chaney Jewell (Arkansas exhibit curator who was then at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff) reaching out to me to be part of the Arkansas Committee’s exhibit,” said Papazian. “I was trying to work in my basement studio — this was in full COVID era — and I was making this weird piece that I wasn’t even sure was a piece. I spent a couple of months just making tiny ceramic ‘trees,’ trying different glazes and sticking them into my wall. I remember feeling very disconnected from the world that COVID had fully turned upside down. I sent her images and my statement describing it as an escapist alternative land using elements borrowed from maps and architectural models, and I remember thinking, well, maybe this is a piece.”

In 2024, the Women to Watch theme was New Worlds, defined as “Migration or Stagnation of an Individual, Environmental Changes, Physical or Emotional Growth of an Individual and Imaginary Worlds.”

The exhibit was on display at the Washington museum from April 14 to August 11, 2024, highlighting the works of 28 artists who imagined alternate realities. Which End Is Up? was featured on the cover of the exhibit catalog.

“Driving with my family down to the museum in Washington was bananas,” she said. “It was the day the full solar eclipse was visible in Vermont, and everyone had driven up to Burlington (where I live) to see the eclipse, which was completely magical and amazing, and then the minute it was over we all tried to leave at the same time.”

After spending three hours in traffic, Papazian and her family returned home and set out again at 4:30 a.m. the following day.

“The events surrounding the museum opening in Washington were so much fun,” she said. “I had completely underestimated how fantastic it would be to meet all these artists and curators at these beautiful ambassadors’ residences. My favorite parts of the whole thing were the trips on the buses they hired to take us to the events. I invariably ended up sitting next to someone completely fascinating, and I made friends with artists from other states I never would have met otherwise.

 “Most of this business of being an artist is a solo endeavor for me, and honestly, I kind of hate openings, but this was sheer fun and fabulousness,” she said. “I have never experienced anything like it. Also, the hotel I stayed in was just a few blocks from the museum. I roamed around a bit and realized I was outside the White House. There were scooters you could rent, and I felt so lucky blasting around on those with the wind in my hair, passing our nation’s museums.

“I will remember that trip for the rest of my life,” said Papazian. “It really gave me a much-needed boost after a very difficult couple of years. I really can’t overstate the effect it had on me, and it was an absolute honor to represent Arkansas.”

Papazian grew up in New York and lived in Fayetteville from 2005 until 2022, when she moved to Vermont. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Art-Semiotics from Brown University in Providence, R.I., a master’s in fine art in Film/Video from Bard College in Red Hook, N.Y., and studied ceramics at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She received an Artists 360 grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance in 2018.

“Since moving from Arkansas, I often find myself in a role where I am almost a cultural ambassador for the state,” she said. “There are so many misconceptions about what Arkansas is like. I found Arkansas to be a wonderfully supportive place to be an artist, where many people were very open to different ideas of art, and there was a thriving community of arts and artists.”

More recently, Papazian has begun focusing on public art. “I highly value opportunities to reach folks who wouldn’t necessarily make a trip to a museum or gallery for whatever reason,” she said. “I remember the art I saw as a child opening up a whole new world to me, and I would love to provide an entry point for people to think of all the other ways art can be incorporated into our lives.”