About Zahidi

I was born on January 19, 1953 at 7:40 pm in Bakersfield, which is a farm/oil town in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California. My parents named me Janice Patricia Wilson. My dad Harold was a pipe fitter and my mom Beryl stayed home with us five kids and tended the small farm we lived on. Mom had reproductions of the paintings of Delacroix and Rembrandt hanging on the walls of our home, and we always had access to modeling clay and crayons, but "Art" was not a big part of our lives. I played with clay and made drawings constantly at home, but it wasn't until I was in the seventh grade that I began taking formal art classes. I had a high school art instructor who "forced" us to study the human form. I could draw and label the entire skeletal system from memory when I graduated from high school in my junior year.

My parents did not encourage me to pursue art. They wanted me to go into the medical field. I was in the mentally gifted program in public school, went to Bakersfield Junior College at 17 and swamped myself with a huge load of Chemistry, English Lit, Math, etc. After a year of that, and total academic burnout, I enlisted in the USAF, seeking fun and adventure. Some joke!! Spent my entire tour in high stress jobs in Emergency Room and Labor and Delivery as a Medical Services Specialist at SAC Headquarters Offutt AFB Ehrling Bergquist Regional Hospital, Nebraska.

I enrolled in my first clay lessons in 1972, at the Omaha Old Market Craftsmans Guild, which was near the base. I needed some right brain activity to keep somewhat sane. The clay absorbed a lot of my tension and I was hooked on ceramics. I've hauled my kilns and wheels around with me ever since, and I still use clay for therapy. When Mom died I made funerary vessels for our whole extended family. It helped. I am pretty close to my two brothers and two sisters even though they all live on the West Coast.

After my discharge and graduation from Bakersfield College, I completed my first Massage Therapy Certificate in 1977 at Evergreen Center while simultaneously attending Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA as an Art Education major. I became fascinated with alternative healing techniques, earning two more Bodywork credentials. I was an active member of American Bodywork and Massage Professionals, and helped found Kern Bodyworkers Guild. I had a thriving Massage Practice in partnership with several chiropractors, but I eventually burned out and developed tendonitis in my hands in 1991. Nothing happens that is not influenced by Universal Energies. The art muse was calling again and I figured that I had done enough to help those who suffer. It was time to return to my First Love, and get my hands back into the clay.

I have a need to touch, so I sculpt and throw pots and use the immediate drawing tools of pencil and pastel, with which I can lay down the pigment directly with my hands. Brushes get in my way. And I tend to get covered with my medium: I am not a tidy artist.

I left California for good in 1997. After spending seven wonderful years in Slidell LA just north of New Orleans, I've lived in Magnolia,Texas since August 2004. My husband was transferred right before Katrina and many of our friends were gravely affected by the storm, hence the Katrina Doll Series. I give 10% to the Slidell Cultural Center when I sell one.

I have my clay studio in our two car garage and a "clean" 2D studio and office in the house. I make art two or three days a week. I did some substitute teaching and Talented Evaluation for the public schools in Louisiana. I teach annual DRSB seminars at local venues, such as art leagues and community education programs in local colleges. I accept private students on occasion, one of whom is Alisson you see in the group photo above. She is attending Art Institute here in Houston majoring in Computer Graphics and Animation. Some of her work can be seen at http://cahaya.deviantart.com/

Most of the vessels I make are figurative. I have a profound respect for the function and engineering of the human form, and for the depiction of that form. My tactile experience is just as important in my drawing as it is in my clay work. My favorite painters are Picasso, Matisse and Valadon for their line work, but I relate emotionally to works by Van Gogh, Gauguin and Degas.