“Kurdish Girl” is one of the 13 oil-on-canvas pieces in Shahrzad Shadbash’s exhibit opening November 2 in NECC’s ArtSpace Gallery.

Iranian artist and current Haverhill resident Shahrzad Shadbash began painting at four years old. She went on to study under the most famous master painters in Iran. An exhibit of her more recent paintings titled “A Window to an Exotic World,” will be displayed Wednesday, November 2, through Friday, December 9, in the Linda Hummel-Shea ArtSpace Gallery in Northern Essex Community College’s Bentley Library on the Haverhill campus, 100 Elliot St.

There will be an artist’s reception and talk on Thursday, November 3, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Both the exhibit and the talk are free and open to the public. The ArtSpace is open during library hours Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Though the 27-year-old has worked in other mediums, including watercolor and colored pencil, graphite pencil, pen, ink, crayons, charcoal, pastel, gouache, and acrylic paints, this is an exhibit of 13 oil-on-canvas paintings.

“In the beginning I started to explore the world of art with watercolor and colored pencil. Then I continued with graphite pencil, pen, ink, crayons, charcoal, pastel, gouache, acrylic and oil colors… I started to work on oil painting professionally in 2000.Then I gained experience in sketching and working with ink in 2009… Though I work in different styles, most of my works fall within the realm of Realism and a combination of Realism and Impressionistic techniques. My passion for art has no description and will never end because art is an undeniable part of me,” she said.

Shadbash who moved to the United States in 2011, holds an associate and bachelor’s degree in architecture from Azad Tehran University, Tehran, Iran, and served an apprenticeship under supreme masters of Iran including Mahmoud Farshchian, Aydin Aghdashloo, and Samantha Sabetnia.

She has exhibited in a number of group and solo shows including the Touch Art Gallery in Cambridge and most recently Memorial Hall in Andover.

NECC offers an associate degree in general studies: art which provides a two-year degree with a focus on specific area of the arts, such as fine arts, multi-media, photography, or visual communications.

This exhibit is sponsored by the NECC Art Department and the NECC Foundation. For additional information contact Patricia Kidney at pkidney@necc.mass.edu or Marc Mannheimer at mmannheimer@necc.mass.edu