SHIVA AHMADI is a recipient of an Arts Achievement Award by the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts (CFPCA) at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI. The Iranian-American artist is one of six recipients of this year’s awards, introduced in 1975 in recognition of outstanding alumni and their artistic achievements and dedication to the arts.
Ahmadi earned her MA (2000) and MFA (2003) at Wayne State University and currently teaches at the University of California, Davis, and describes her education at CFPCA as monumental. “If it wasn’t for Wayne State and Detroit, the culture, the education, the people, the professors, I don't think I could have survived,” says the artist, who immigrated to the United States from Iran in 1999. “It was the first school I came to when I arrived in the United States as a new immigrant from a very different culture, language and background.”
In 2020, Wayne State presented Labyrinths, a solo exhibition of her work. A commissioned work for the show, Hurdle (2019), is held by the University’s art collection.
“Wayne State is a public, urban university, and it might not have quite the name prestige of other universities, but we produce amazing alumni who learned art here and continue to impact art in a very big way,” says Wayne State Art Collection Curator Grace Serra, who helped launch Labyrinths. “Shiva is recognized all over the world, but she's also really humble. She is a testament to the kind of impact that this university has on students who go on to do amazing things.”
The College will celebrate the awardees during a ceremony on Thursday, October 16, 2025 at the Detroit Jazz Hall in the Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center. The event is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to RSVP.
Learn more at cpfca.wayne.edu.
RSVP at rsvp.wayne.edu.
