Soraya Sarah Nazarian
Title: Creation
Medium: Carrera Marble and Basalt on Granite Base. No date
Location:

For the last 20 years, sculptor Soroya Nazarian has traveled to Pietrasanta, Italy, a city famous for its marble quarries, the very same ones used by Michelangelo. She is one of the few women to have personally selected stone from Pietrasanta quarries. The artist works some of these stones in her Italian studio; others she works here in her Los Angeles studio.

Nazarian’s work has been highlighted in many solo and group exhibitions. In 2010, the Skirball Cultural Center and Museum in Los Angeles presented a 25-year retrospective of her work.

In addition to being a sculptor, the artist is an important Los Angeles philanthropist. She and her husband, Younes, established the UCLA Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. The lobby at UCLA’s Hammer Museum is named for the couple and the performing arts center at California State University, Northridge is called the Soraya.

The couple has also funded numerous major projects in Israel.