Growing up in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the artist Shiva Ahmadi recalls, she knew more about Jackson Pollock than Behzad, the master miniature painter of the Safavid court. Indeed, Ahmadi's distinct painterly style seems to combine the detailed precision of Behzad's hand with the fluid action painting of Pollock. What emerges is part miniature, part abstract expressionism. Shiva Ahmadi was born in Tehran, Iran in 1975 and currently lives and works in Davis, California. She received her BFA from Azad University, Tehran, in 1998; and MFA's from Cranbrook Academy of Arts and Wayne State University.