Contents:

Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists (Artists of the American Mosaic)

The majority of artists in this book are contemporary and living artists who forged their own unique vision and style. The styles of the artists range from the traditional arts of painting, sculpture, and calligraphy, to the modern art forms of digital, conceptual, installation, and media art. Some of the artists are professional, renowned, and well-known artists, while some are students, emerging artists, or have not been recognized or given the opportunity to display their work in major venues.

On the factors that contributed to the misunderstanding and unrecognizing the arts of many Arab American artists, Neery Melkonian wrote: Factors such as reductivist perceptions of multi-culturalism, as well as overt and covert discrimination which Middle Easterners experience throughout Europe and the United States, have contributed to marginalization and the silencing of their voices Al Jadid. In the past decade, more museums, galleries, and exhibitions have focused on Arab American artists.

A Forum for the Arts, a symposium that generates dialogue among Arab American artists and documents the contributions of Arab Americans in performing, visual, and media arts. The study of Arab Americans as an ethnic group has also been the focus of establishing the Center for Arab American Studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, which was inaugurated with a national art exhibit curated by Hashim Al-Tawil in Writing about Arab American artists has been a pleasurable and a rewarding experience. As an Arab American artist myself, I see this book as an attempt at writing our own histories and creating our own narratives.

The artists profiled in this book speak to us in a universal language that hopefully provides an educational opportunity for all of us to understand the way we look at the world in general and at Arab culture in particular. While the works represented in this book are rooted, in part, in Arab American culture, they also speak to audiences around the world about universal issues that are enlightening and educational. Resources Ameri, Anan and Dawn Ramey eds. Curated by Salwa Mikdadi. Working Paper a, June Melkonian, Neery. Contemporary Art from the Middle Eastern Diaspora.

Foreign Policy In Focus, January 4, Nashashibi, Salwa Mikdadi, et al. Artists of the Arab World. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Reflections on Exile and Other Essays. Harvard University Press, Woolley, John and Gerhard Peters. The American Presidency Project [online]. University of California hosted , Gerhard Peters database. A Etel Adnan b. Adnan received her early education at private French Catholic schools in Beirut. She grew up speaking Greek, Turkish, and then French. In , Adnan went to Paris to study philosophy at the Sorbonne. She taught the history of philosophy and philosophy of art at Dominican College of San Rafael, California.

Adnan is the author of more than ten books of poetry and literature. Her novel on the Lebanese civil war, Sitt Marie Rose, published originally in French in , has been translated into over ten languages. The novel is considered a classic of Middle Eastern literature. The English translation was published in and is continually used by academic institutions in courses dealing with literature, Middle East studies, and postcolonial literature.

During the Algerian revolution against French colonial rule, Adnan protested against the war by refusing to write in French Mikdadi, Expressing the conflict she faced in expressing herself in French, Adnan wrote: I was disturbed in one fundamental realm of my life: Adnan recalled the conversation and how it affected her: In her artwork, Adnan combines calligraphy with modern visual languages in a diversity of media such as oil, ceramics, and tapestries. She is one of the first artists to use not classical Arab calligraphy but her own handwriting in writing and painting Arabic poems on Japanese-made accordion-like books Mikdadi, She brings together poetry and paintings done in pastels Etel Adnan in Paris, France, Used with visual language of expression.

She painted the mountain from different perspectives, with different settings and colors. The paintings and drawings, in addition to her prose writings about her connection to the mountain, were published in a book Journey to Mount Tamalpais Fattal also described the book as a meditation on the links between nature and art In Journey to Mount Tamalpais, Adnan used poetry, philosophy, and visual art to bring to the foreground the linkage of different genres Majaj, Adnan wrote at the end of Journey: Etel Adnan In this unending universe Tamalpais is a miraculous thing, the miracle of matter itself: We are, because it is stable and it is ever changing.

The poems criticize colonial and neocolonial violence by using the sun as a basic metaphor. The opening poem starts with a series of short pronouncements evoking the sun: Adnan has had a number of solo and group exhibits throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. Her solo exhibitions include: Her group shows include: Adnan resigned from her teaching position at Dominican College in and devoted herself to art and writing. She has received many international awards for her art and poetry including the Lannan Distinguished Reader at Georgetown University Adnan currently divides her time between Sausalito, California and Paris, France.

Journey to Mount Tamalpais. Translated by Georgina Kleege. International Council for Women in the Arts, Transnationals Perched on the Divide. Galerie Claude Leman, Paris. He received two B. His work reflects his wide-ranging interests and background in economics and history. Aggour explores issues of identity, and the legacies of performance and conceptual art. Yasser Aggour In addition to digitally and manually manipulating photography, Aggour also creates performance work that he later photographs as a single piece.

After he creates the shape of how that person will look, Aggour then lives or performs as that individual for a certain period of time. In a series of photographs of his family, Aggour depicts himself and other members of the family in a distorted way, exploring the issues of identity, ethnicity, and sexuality. For example, in Tea Party: Currently, Aggour is an Assistant Professor in Media Arts at Syracuse University, where he teaches the history of art, performance, and digital photography courses.

Lower Manhattan Culture Council, June 21, Ajami was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, but is of Lebanese heritage. She was raised in a family that always valued the beauty and the challenge of art objects: She also received her M. Ajami throughout the United States in conjunction with the John F. Ajami was an abstract painter for over 20 years before she turned to producing and writing documentary films and experimental videos in In , she founded Studio 36, a studio gallery in Boston, where she exhibited some of her work.

Her abstract and geometric work was also exhibited at a number of galleries and museums including at Chapel Gallery, Clark Gallery, Mercury Gallery, and at Brockton and Fitchburg museums. It lends order and harmony to the disconnected fragments that intrude on life. Geometry is also the ultimate mediator between the angle and the curve. There is a power, a boldness, a straightforwardness about geometry which spells survival.

Geometry has no history or politics. It is an archetypal language. It can express collective will or shape the individual destiny of a single artist. It crosses all cultural borders. Like the sunset Geometry has survived many mutations.

Related Video Shorts (0)

It has the possibility of universality while retaining an element of unpredictability. Courtesy of the Artist. Her work was colorful with vivid tones and shades. Her studies, research, and interest in Islamic art and architecture of Spain were also evident in her work. This is a documentary on a village in Israel where Jews and Palestinians live together in harmony. This film is a feature documentary that records in a moving and personal manner the life and art of Carmen Amaya Ajami, Web site.

She also serves on the advisory boards of the PeaceAmerica foundation and has published a number of articles for Aramco World Magazine and Cune Press. Abe Ajay Ajami, Jocelyn. Personal communications with Fayeq Oweis, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Museum of Modern Art, New York. He was referred to by Arts Magazine as a master engineer, an architect, a carpenter, and a poet, all rolled into one.

His interest in art, symmetry, and geometrical shapes was developed at a younger age. In his third grade class, he painted a picture of Taj Mahal Hall, George Syrian Orthodox parish. Ajay grew up as a son of an immigrant store owner. He had many encounters with bigotry that enforced his feeling of being different. In remembering his early childhood, Ajay tells the following story: Symmetry and geometrical patterns are the 9 10 Abe Ajay main elements in Islamic art.

While in New York City, Ajay also worked as a graphic designer and a freelance illustrator for approximately 20 years, landing accounts with such leading corporations as General Electric, and such publications as the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune Hall, The artworks that he created were polychrome wood relief constructions based on found objects that he picked up from flea markets or retrieved from dust heaps Hall, During a trip to the flea market, Ajay picked up some wooden cigar molds, took them to his studio, and then carved them in different directions.

He then combined them with other found objects, creating his first series of relief constructions. After a few years of working with found objects, Ajay turned to Plexiglas to create new constructions based on predictable forms and shapes that he cut himself. From until , Ajay turned to relief paintings, using a combination of cast forms with color painted canvas panels Hall, After his relief paintings series , Ajay turned to colored collage constructions until Ajay also describes this series as: The imagery is strictly architectonic, free of sentimental reference or autobiographical chit-chat.

It toes no line, promotes no cause, purveys no gossip, and dispenses no information. Hall After a serious illness rendered the production of three-dimensional work impossible, Ajay revisited the medium of collage in the early s, Abe Ajay and it became his exclusive means of expression for the remainder of his career. During his artistic life of over four decades, Ajay held over 20 solo exhibits at various locations throughout the United Sates, including one at the Tweed Museum of Art and another one at the Neuberger Museum.

He also participated in over 25 group exhibits at various galleries and museums. His artwork is in the collections of major museums in the United States. Ajay died in in Bethel, Pennsylvania. In their press release statement, they wrote: Ajay created a body of work that revealed a multi-faceted personality and multi-faceted talents.

His personal crusade to comprehend the essence of composition left behind a legacy and a portfolio spanning more than 50 years. Reprinted in Hall, Lee. University of Washington Press, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art. Keller, Daniel and Charles Light, producers. A Portrait of an Artist at Work. Orfalea, Gregory and Brian Clark. Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania. Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was trained in classical art at the Institute of Fine Arts in Basra, Iraq, when he was only 15 years old. He graduated with honors in He was imprisoned and tortured, and he had to flee Iraq fearing additional prosecution.

He fled toward the Saudi Arabian border, was arrested by American troops, and was detained as a prisoner of war. After spending over two years in the refugee camp in the desert of Saudi Arabia, he came to the United States as a political refugee in Al-Dhaher is a sculptor and a painter. He works with a variety of materials, including bronze, marble, granite, basalt, clay, and bluestone.

Most of his sculptural work is life-size human figures, figurative portraits, and abstract forms. He draws inspiration from both Greek mythology and the sculptors of the Italian Renaissance. To Al-Dhaher, art is survival, as he stated in an interview with Steve Hill: To me, art, first, is a survival thing. It keeps my soul clean and my spirit alive. You have to have something, Sabah Al-Dhaher 13 some hope that will keep you going.

I think art did that for me, does that for me. It has kept me thinking in a positive way. The cooperative project was directed by Amineh Ayyad, Palestinian-American activist, and Al-Dhaher, along with a number or Arab and Jewish children from the Seattle area. Used with Permission munity Center. For over four years, Al-Dhaher worked on a sculpture made of five figures: Having lived through war most of his life, this sculpture, Holding On , carved in marble, depicts how he feels about war, and the suffering of women as the main casualty of war. Al-Dhaher is also a painter who depicts cityscapes, portraits, and figures.

He uses various mediums, such as coffee, ink, oil, watercolor, and acrylic. His use of coffee in painting is a tradition that is sometimes used in calligraphy in Iraq and other parts of the Arab world. He used this technique to create a series of large paintings, Fragments of War , which included a portrait of an Iraqi woman.

This series, along with a number of sculptures, were displayed in a solo exhibit at the University of Washington in September One of the sculptures, Ascent , shows a man rising up while a woman is trying to hold onto him and preventing him from leaving. Al-Dhaher currently lives and works in Seattle. He also teaches stone carving at Pratt Art Institute, in his studio, and other symposiums such as Camp Brotherhood in Mt.

Vernon, Washington an annual international stone sculpture symposium. Andrea Ali Egan, Timothy. Odegaard Undergraduate Library, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, October Puyallup Outdoor Gallery, Puyallup, Washington. The majority of her work is figurative ceramic sculptures that reflect her cultures and how she relates to them. She also tries to explore this dual identity within her work.

She sculpted ten veiled women to be used as bowling pins for a bowling ball covered with stars and stripes. The installation featured veiled women in traditional dresses, standing helpless and waiting to be run over by a giant bowling ball Sajid, While she was a student at San Francisco State University, she enrolled in the Arabic language courses and was exposed to the art of Arabic writing and calligraphy.

This exposure has helped her in incorporating Arabic calligraphy 15 16 Andrea Ali into some of her ceramic sculptures. The prayers invoke the name of Allah for peace and protection. Ali sees using calligraphy on the bodies of women as a way of empowering women to challenge some aspects of Islam. Ali was also an active student with different ethnic groups, including African Americans, Latinos, and of course the Arab American student organizations.

The exhibit featured a number of artists from Oakland, California. Ali was also a featured artist at the launching event of Zawaya November , a San Francisco-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Arab arts and culture Oweis, In her statement for that event, Ali mentioned that as an Arab American artist, she tries to explore her identity though the arts. During an annual event of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in San Francisco, Ali was the only featured artist who was invited to display some of her ceramic sculptures.

She displayed a sculpture called Homeland, featuring a woman with house keys coming out of her dress. The traditionally dressed woman had images of towns and villages Andrea Ali painted on her chest, a symbolic representation to the Palestinian villages that had been destroyed in As for the keys, Ali says: The keys in the piece come from the stories that I keep hearing from the elders in the Palestinian community. They talk about how they are still holding on to the keys of their homes and farms, even though they had been long destroyed.

It is a symbol of the right to return home and a symbol of the fight for freedom. Arab Feminists for Change in San Francisco. The exhibit was put together by a collaborative of 14 artists from both the Bay Area and Southern California, known as Soul Salon 10 as a homage to rhythm and blues legend Marvin Gaye, whose life ended tragically in The first one was a synthetic birthday cake installation called Happy Birthday Marvin and another was called Sanctified, which was a ceramic sculpture of a woman on her knees surrounded by small jars of water.

Ali now resides in Berkeley, California, and has established her own ceramic studio. She also participates in the KPFA—a progressive radio station—annual arts and crafts fair. The choice, as every choice, is yours: To fight for freedom or be fettered, To struggle for liberty or be satisfied with slavery, To side with life or death.

Spread the word of life far and wide. Talk to your friends, read, and open your eyes— Even to doorways of perception you feared 17 18 Rheim Alkadhi to look into yesterday. Hold your heart open to the truth. Personal communications with Fayeq Oweis. A Tribute to Marvin Gaye. San Francisco State University.

The family lived in Iraq throughout the s and moved back to the United States at the start of the Iran-Iraq war in the early s. While growing up in Iraq, Alkadhi was given a camera by her mother, which she used to capture a number of images of her neighborhood in Iraq. These photographs became part of her ongoing project documenting her relationship to Iraq.

Lewis & Clark College 2012.
;
Set Apart?

A childhood friend named Magda became the subject of some of these photographs. About this experience, Alkadhi wrote: She then attended the University of California Irvine, where she received her M. An interdisciplinary artist, Alkadhi works in found objects, digital media, and conceptual installations, often incorporating fabric and thread. Some of her work deals with political issues related to the Arab world, including those dealing with the war in Iraq. Alkadhi has held a number of solo exhibitions and participated in many group exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally.

Among her solo exhibitions are: She has participated in a large number of group exhibitions, including: This text is to examine the language-based construction of an emotionally to-scale model of what is not a mere incident, but a contemporary condition. Courtesy of ee of the Month, Abeer the Artist Zinaty, for speaking in her native tongue.

The Arabic language is repeatedly mistaken for a bomb. She was also a panelist in first symposium on the creative expressions of Arab Americans: Exploring New Forms and Meanings: In one of her pieces, Young Transnational Perched on the Divide , a young female figure, with no face showing, is sitting on a wall or a fence at a distance from the viewer. Alkadhi offers this explanation of the image: Like the interpretation of dreams, pictographic interpretation mirrors the interpreter, though this faceless identity defies the mirror.

There on top of the separation wall, the young transnational is poised for proclamation. Hend Al-Mansour Here, the divide is a gulf that separates the image from viewer like the dead from the living. Images include those resulting from abrupt camera movements or delays, a rose growing in the desert, a car with an Iraqi license plate, and water pipes and electrical boxes. Alkadhi currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California. How Does the West See Them? Contemporary Art by Arab-American Artists. Installation and Performance work at http: Rheim Alkadhi in Online Gallery: While in Saudi Arabia, she never received any formal art training, but art was her favorite hobby and activity.

She had a desire to embrace her love for art, and she returned to it many years later. In her Hend Al-Mansour in her studio, St. She continues to comment on her art and what she tries to explore: I explore what is unjust in my tradition. I explore religious and social order, and deconstruct and reconstruct the traditions seeking to create a positive self-image for myself as an Arab woman. In one of her watercolor paintings, Secret Wishes , from the series of Arabian Women, she describes a veiled woman with these words: The freedom of artistic expression in the United States made her decide to stay.

She has had a number of solo exhibits and had participated in, curated, and organized many group Hend Al-Mansour exhibits in the Midwest. Sheherazade is a female character of Middle Eastern mythology who by risking her own life saved the lives of many other women by telling stories to distract her husband, a malicious ruler. Al-Mansour also wanted her exhibit to open the minds of conservative Muslim men: Peiken, E1 Al-Mansour sees her art as a way to promote social change, justice, and freedom of expression.

The influence of Islamic traditions, and a rebellion on some of its practices, is evident in her art. An un-veiled Saudi woman, she is a rebellious artist who tries to give voices to Saudi women and make them visible. Two of her remarkable installations, Autobiography of a Human Body , and Autobiography Overture consist of giant book format about five by seven feet , one containing 12 pages and the other 19 pages. Generally, the work of Al-Mansour conveys a positive message about her identity and about Arab culture in general.

In addition to painting, silk screen printing, and art installations, she was commissioned to do a number of theater installations with Jawahir Dance Company. In most of her installations, Al-Mansour interactively makes dialogues with her audiences.

Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists (Artists of the American Mosaic) - PDF Free Download.
.
.
101 Remedies for a dull life.

She was also a Finalist of the Bush Artists Fellows program for Between Home and Homeland. The theme of the exhibit was the struggle to reconcile American culture with the Arabic culture that the artists came from. Al-Mansour has no regrets about giving up being a medical doctor. Paul, Minnesota, Al-Mansour is now fighting with breast cancer in addition to her fights for human rights and religious attitudes towards women.

She is an active member of the community and lectures about art, women, and Islam. Personal Communications with Fayeq Oweis. Interview with Hend Al-Mansour. Featured Artist at Espectro, Web site: In , he received a B. He returned to Iraq and taught art classes at the University of Kufa and the University of Baghdad from to Al-Sadoun then went to Japan, where he spent three years exhibiting his work.

In , he came back to the United States and earned his Ph. Al-Sadoun is a painter, a conceptual artist, a researcher, and a historian. He is one of the leading contributors to the contemporary Arab art movement. Al-Sadoun sees his role in the complex situation of the Middle East: As a witness to extreme and harsh political and social changes accompanied by complex social, economic, cultural and religious crises which led to wars, defeats, confusion, corruption and radical political and demoMohammed Al-Sadoun, Used graphic changes, I have gradwith Permission.

But also I have found myself frustrated by such dynamic change and uncertainty. My style, techniques and vision have changed as reality itself has changed. How is it possible to deal artistically with problems and events such as those in Palestine and Iraq, or to confront the events of September 11 using only modernist techniques and ideas? I have become aware of the limitations of modernist traditions and of the absolute, the so-called unquestioned truths and universals of art.

This concept is his protest to the destruction of homes in the time of war. Witnessing the destruction of old and beautiful doors of Baghdad during the Iraq-Iran war has left an impact on his art. One of the burnt doors that he worked on in Baghdad was part of the first Baghdad International Festival of Art in Mohammed Al-Sadoun In another unconventional concept, and to protest censorship and the lack of freedom of expression and human rights in the Middle East; Al-Sadoun takes a stack of books, ties them with a rope to a chair, then paints them with acrylic paint. Maymanah Farhat, an art historian and a specialist in modern and contemporary Arab art who profiled the conceptual work of Al-Sadoun, describes one of these concepts, Untitled 1 The body of the piece is unwieldy; the curious tying of books intended to instill a sense of discomfort in the viewer so as to communicate the severity of his message.

Dar Al-Hayat As a researcher and a historian of modern Arab art, Al-Sadoun has given numerous lectures and presentations about the subject at academic institutions and cultural centers, including those at Al-Hewar Center in the Washington metropolitan area. One of the research projects that AlSadoun was doing involved contemporary Iraqi art. He also researched the work of Laila al-Attar, who was the director of the Iraqi National Art Museum and a powerful voice in promoting women artists in Iraq and throughout the Arab world. Al-Attar was killed during a United States air strike in Al-Sadoun, having personally known and worked with Al-Attar, expressed his feeling about the loss of a great artist, a leader, and a contributor to the art scene in Iraq and the Arab World: It was really tragic and a big loss for those close to the art community..

I remember all the sweet time we spent together, visiting her every day at the museum and her house. We had meetings; we had a lot of things. Bernstein, Bay Guardian Al-Sadoun has held a number of solo exhibitions and performances and participated in many group exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally.

Among his solo exhibitions are: He has participated in a large number of group exhibitions in the United States, Japan, France, and the former Soviet Union. His work often includes found objects in an attempt to add a sense of veracity and symbolism to his creative expression. His use of found objects stems from an academic and artistic conviction that upholds art in the postmodern era as a means through which to explore concepts involving reality therefore bringing art closer to life and the masses Dar Al-Hayat.

Al-Sadoun currently lives and works in Monterey, California. Dissertation, Ohio State University, The family immigrated to the United States in when she was in high school. Alshaibi attended Columbia College in Chicago and received her B. She also holds an M. Alshaibi is a photography artist and works with installations, metal, and performance and collaborative interactive media projects. Her artworks focus on the themes of diaspora, hybrid identity, memories, exile, and displacement.

The concept of the Right to Return became the focus of some of these projects. Among her projects are In This Garden , photographs and narratives on the story of her grandfather who died before his wishes to return to Palestine were fulfilled; My Apartheid Vacation , a photography and multimedia project that focused on her journey to the Holy Land and witnessing the living conditions of the Palestinian people in Sama Alshaibi, Used with refugee camps and on military permission.

In her Birthright series, Alshaibi created a number of portraits in which she used traditional Palestinian costumes, including a wedding headdress that brides used to receive as part of the dowry. Utilizing the loose graffiti writing style over the pregnant belly, the work eludes to the walls inside the West Bank, where a dialogue of written protest takes place.

She had also participated in numerous two-person, group, juried, and invitational exhibitions in the United States, Central America, and the Middle East, including an exhibition at the newly established Palestinian Art Court in Jerusalem called Al Hoash. Alshaibi has also participated as a panelist and exhibitor in a number of conferences and workshops throughout the United States and internationally, including Narratives of Land, People and Identities: She has received a number of grants and awards for her artwork and teaching.

Alshaibi currently lives in Tucson, where she works as an Assistant Professor of Art in the school of art, University of Arizona.

Product details

Re-Interpreting the Middle East: Beyond the Historical Stereotyping. Henry Ford Community College, September 12, Curated by May Hariri Abutaam. Exhibition materials, lecture and panel discussion. Sama Alshaibi and Joel Seah. University of Southern Maine, September October 15, La Fabrica, Guatemala City, Guatemala. Orfali Gallery, Amman, Jordan. Al-Tawil has been influenced by his upbringing in Karbala, one of the most holy cities in Islam, 31 32 Hashim Al-Tawil with its beautiful shrines and mosques.

In , Al-Tawil received his B. Used with the University of Hartford, Connecticut in , and in , he Permission. His dissertation is entitled Early Arab Icons: I draw continuing inspiration from its many expressions: Along with other contemporary artists similarly influenced, I have discovered that these cultural riches can contribute much to the great scene of modern American art. Back in Iraq, Al-Tawil served on the faculty of the College of Fine Arts, University of Baghdad, Iraq, and was chair of the graphic design department in the late s to mid s and was active in the Iraqi visual art and cultural scene.

Al-Tawil has been recently awarded a Fulbright senior research grant for to conduct field study on aspects of Islamic-Arabic culture during the twelfth century Norman reign in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. The research will investigate the Arabic calligraphy of the Palatine Chapel in Palermo and other related buildings in Sicily. It involves field study in the various Arabic texts, interpretation, and analysis of the iconographical meaning and symbolism of pictorial images associated with these writings that are found in major architectural Norman monuments in Sicily.

CAAS is the first academic center to focus on the experiences of people from the Arab world who live in the United States. These three pieces were named after three major centers known for masterpieces and monuments in Islamic art and architecture. The pieces featured traditional Islamic art elements, including Arabic script and calligraphy. On the use of Arabic calligraphy in his artwork, Al-Tawil says he tries to reconstruct mystical and spiritual feelings and presents them in a new environment and medium. One of the most fascinating forms of artistic expression in the ArabicIslamic culture is the art of calligraphy.

The written word—with all its potential for meaning, symbolism, and transformation—engages my attention and presents both a challenge and source of inspiration. He has written a number of articles and lectured about his research throughout the United States. The piece was a presentation of the U. Al-Tawil has been working on Restoring Iraqi Culture, a project aimed at documenting the scope of loss and destruction inflicted on modern Iraqi art and the looted Iraqi culture after the U.

He has written many articles on this topic and has given numerous lectures and presentations in the United States, Europe, and Jordan. Al-Tawil has been accepted to participate in the National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar, which will be held at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, in the summer of Al-Tawil lives and works in Farmington Hills, Michigan, where he is a professor and chair of art history at Henry Ford Community College, and a lecturer of Islamic art and architecture at the University of MichiganDearborn.

He also serves as cultural consultant to many academic and community organizations. He has also established Hira Art Center in Detroit, Michigan, which houses his artwork and research projects. Continuing the Tradition of Excellence in American Art. The University of Michigan-Dearborn, Abderrahim Ambari Al-Tawil, Hashim. Curated by Hashim Al-Tawil. Beyond the Historical Stereotype. Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq.

"A list of resources on Arab American artists and Arab culture in the United States is a useful entrée to organizations, museums, cultural and community centers. Editorial Reviews. Review. "A list of resources on Arab American artists and Arab culture in the United States is a useful entrée to organizations, museums.

Iraqi Fashion House, Baghdad, Iraq. Jedda Museum, Jedda, Saudi Arabia. Ministry of Information, Baghdad, Iraq. The Royal Collections, Amman, Jordan. Ambari also worked as a graphic artist for the Maghreb Presse Agency. Ambari captures these motifs and patterns in many of his watercolor paintings, such as Spanish Door , Blue and Orange Door , and Green Tile Door Morocco is well-known for the traditional mosaic tile cutting technique called ziliij, which utilizes color tiles cut in different shapes to form stars and other colorful geometric patterns.

Ambari has also painted landscape scenes of his new country. The sky of the painting shows a romantic scene of a man and a woman. About this painting, Ambari says: This painting shows three port cities that are very important to me. While painting this from memory, I saw the reflection my new hometown, Seattle, in the water, and I painted it. New York was my entry to the U. The figures in the sky of the painting are for a mother and a father who are watching us. The mother is more concerned for her children on Earth, but I think the father is more detached and worries only about her.

His solo exhibitions include these venues: Spots Chai House, Seattle, Washington, Ambari has also participated in a number of group exhibitions in Seattle, Washington, including: Using airbrush and other techniques, Ambari created a number of public murals in the Seattle area. Ambari currently lives and works in Seattle, Washington. Personal communications with Fayeq Oweis, December Festival Catalogue, August Abderrahim Ambari Expose A Settat.

At age 11, her family moved to France. Amer was also artist-in-residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in She was also one of the first Arab artists to receive a one person exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel In , she served on the master jury for the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the largest award of its kind in the world.

Amer is one of the most internationally recognized contemporary artists working with embroidered paintings. She works with embroidered canvases, textile installations, and sculptures. With her distinctive style of painting, in which she incorporates embroidered figures directly onto canvas, Amer addresses a number of issues, including feminism and the situation of women in both eastern and western cultures. She also explores gender stereotypes and historical and political issues including the relationship between East and West.

Amer uses the language of painting—particularly of Abstract Expressionism, which was such a male-dominated movement—and subdues it, overpowers it, by sewing on top of it. She takes the nude female image performing in porn magazines and re-presents it, removing the coldness. On her selection of this book as a source for her artwork, Amer wrote: I was interested in this book because it was written by a Muslim centuries ago, and is forbidden today, according to Muslim law. This shows how open-minded literature was at that time and how centuries later, we are living in a much more conservative time.

I have chosen to illustrate passages from this forbidden book as a protest against the loss of great freedom. Her work that included nude figures and sexual activities was criticized within Muslim communities. Deitch Projects November 10—December 22, Gasgosian Gallery, August Reading between the Lines. Henie Onstad Art Centre, November Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, California. Gagosian Gallery, New York.

Indianapolis Museum of Art, Minnesota. She was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, where she attended a private American high school. In an interview about her early education in an American school, Amin explained: My attending this school, however, put me in a unique situation of feeling distant from the Egyptian society and not being able to relate to the youth of Egypt.

Amin came to the United States in to attend college and study painting. In , she received her B. In , Amin also enrolled in a oneyear post-baccalaureate program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She feels that her art and the urge Heba Amin, Photo Credit and Courtesy of Kitty Aal. The work of Amin using oil on canvas mostly depicts Bedouin and veiled women with decorative and colorful attire.

Her themes center on the issues of identity, women in Egyptian society, modernization, and issues of western influence. In her work, Amin addresses problematic issues from both the Arab and Western standpoint. These issues include Western political involvement in the Middle East, the oppressive Arab regimes, and economic and social problems. This approach of showing portraits of veiled women in colorful attire invites the viewer to see them as beautiful as opposed to oppressed.

She combines contemporary aspects of life in the United States with others from Egyptian culture. Her subjects are painted in traditional clothing against geometric backgrounds or blurry Middle Eastern cityscapes. Courtesy of the artist. Another aspect of Arab and Egyptian culture that Amin depicts in her paintings is the Whirling Dervishes, the spinning rituals of Sufi dancers in Arabic and Islamic traditions. Bright colors also play a major role in these paintings.

Amin has participated in a number of exhibitions, including a solo exhibit at Artwood Gallery, St. Cloud State University, Minnesota , and in the following group exhibitions: Fisher Gallery, Washington, D. Amin is an active member and participant in Mizna and its events and exhibitions. Mizna also publishes a journal that features prose, poetry, and visual art by Arab Americans.

When asked about whether she classifies her paintings as Islamic art, she responded: I want viewers to consider me as an Arab prior to associating me with a religion. Religion is a very personal thing, and people practice it in different ways. Living in the U. I also think I have a unique perspective that is quite different from the average Egyptian.

Dede, ASMA Amin currently lives and works in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and she continues to participate in events and art exhibitions that promote Arab culture and contemporary Arab women. Breaking Boundaries with Heba Amin. The Art of Muslim Women. George Halim Awde b. Awde is also the winner of three scholastic awards from the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, including the Gold Key Award While in Yemen, he also studied the classical Arabic language and the art of Arabic calligraphy.

The events of September 11, , made an impact on Awde: Our allegiance to the USA, as ArabAmericans, as well as our American identity, was being questioned because of the color of our skin, religion, or ethnic background.

Half of the Courtesy of the Artist. The exhibit also included 18 photographs that focused on daily life in Sanaa. In addition to creating Six Months in Sanaa , a series of photographs and paintings, Awde also had an opportunity to experience the Arab world through dialogues with people he met in Yemen and elsewhere. He became aware that he was viewed as an American-Arab, as opposed to what he used to be labeled in the States, an Arab-American. Awde also created another body of work while in Lebanon, Beirut Damascus Highway This work focused on chronicling his journey back and forth from Lebanon to Syria, in a time when the relationship between the two countries was in constant flux after the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The theme of the series focuses on the struggle between the constantly changing societal norms in the region in contrast to valued traditions and customs. Awde currently splits his time between Boston and Beirut. He is currently working on a number of projects including a series of photographs that explore the diversity of Beirut as a postmodern city. Personal communications with Fayeq Oweis, April In , she left Lebanon, where she grew up, and moved to Europe, where she lived for 15 years before moving to the United States in While in Europe, Ayla pursued her interest in art, fashion, design, and architecture.

With degrees in marketing and business, Ayla is a self-taught photographer. She studied art with a variety of transfer artists such as Kathleen Carr and Madeline de Joly. She uses a unique image transfer technique to combine multiple photographs and hand paintings to create layered images that reveal the multiple textures of the region and its ancient and fascinating history. As she describes in one of her statements: I then apply a variety of techniques including Polaroid image transfers, wax, paints, pastels and collage to create layered images that represent the many layers of ancient history that influence the region, its culture and people.

Her Arab World Unveiled is a seven-part series based on photographs from her journeys to Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, as well as other parts of the Arab world. The first of these series is entitled The Magic of Morocco , in which she captures images from daily life that depict traditional markets and Halla Ayla, Used with street life, architecture, and the Permission.

The second part of the series is The Mysteries of Egypt , based on photographs she took while in Egypt. This series includes images of mosques, pyramids, and other Pharoanic temples and unique architectural elements such as arches and portals, as well as images of the animals of the region: For example, in one of her pieces, The Dreamer , a hand painted image transfer photograph, Ayla juxtaposes an image of a veiled woman on an image of an ancient manuscript.

In another image, Merlin in Egypt , a white Arabian horse is juxtaposed with Arabic script in traditional calligraphic style. The use of manuscripts and text is purely aesthetic and may not necessarily have a connection with the meaning of the image. In she showed her earlier abstract paintings at the Oasis Gallery in Savannah, Georgia.

In her statement for the exhibit, she wrote: I have since returned to my Arab roots compelled by a desire to reconnect with my heritage and discover anew the land and culture that has formed me as a person and an artist. My work focuses on presenting images that are unique to the Arab world, its history, and its people. As a carrier of images from east to west I hope that my works act as bridges, illuminating the richness and complexity of the Arab world, its ancient history and traditions, and revealing the more enchanting aspects of a much misunderstood region.

Ayla is also an activist, championing the rights of women around the world, as well as a staunch advocate for peace and understanding between Arabs and Americans. She has appeared on numerous occasions on radio and television to shed greater light on the Arab world. Ayla currently lives and works in Northern Halla Ayla California, where she is continuing to work on the Arab World Unveiled series as well as a book on her travels to the Arab world.

Arab Cultural and Community Center, January Building Bridges of Compassion. Message of Hope from Iraqi Artist. She has done extensive traveling in Europe and the Middle East and moved to the United States in Then in , she settled with her husband in San Jose, California. Inspired by the landscape and architecture of France, Italy, Spain, and California, Balaa creates vibrant watercolor paintings on silk and on canvas. After moving to the United States, Balaa started painting on silk, producing the same vibrant colors that she painted on paper.

Vibrant colors are seen in every painting that Balaa does. In her Alhambra series , Balaa captured the fine details of the geometric patterns and Arabesque that adorn the walls and arches of Alhambra Palace, one of the masterpieces of Islamic architecture in the world. In her series Old Doors with Calligraphy , Balaa painted old doors inspired by Arabic and Islamic art and architecture.

Balaa has developed her own silk techniques, working directly on a plain piece of silk with silk dyes using a brush and a blow dryer. This technique has been a challenge: Balaa has had a number of solo and group exhibits throughout California, Europe, and the Middle East. Her work has received great acclaim in the United States and internationally. She has been participating in the Almaden Valley art show in San Jose, California, for a number of years.

She has received many awards for her art, including the Blue Ribbon for best artist at the Almaden Valley art shows , , , and Balaa has also participated in many events at local colleges and universities as part of Middle Eastern Heritage and cultural celebrations. A significant number of her art pieces have been commissioned by hotel decorators, and a number of her paintings are among the collections of several Royal palaces in Saudi Arabia.

This battle with cancer has not stopped Balaa from painting or changed the vibrant colors that she uses in her paintings. She completed two series of paintings: World and Aix en Provence In an interview with Ami Davis, Balaa states: Red represents life and happiness. Just as I spray the roses every year, I had to get chemotherapy.

The body needs care and maintenance, just as flowers do.. A common perception of art produced during such times is that the subject matter becomes melancholic, and the colors become muted and muddy. My art was not affected by suffering. The colors became more alive; the art had more texture and more red and more happiness. Painting in such a way allows me to educate others about cancer.

If you're an Arab American or interested in art, do not pass this by. I will be purchasing more. One person found this helpful. Pages with related products. See and discover other items: There's a problem loading this menu right now. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. View or edit your browsing history. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping. Amazon Music Stream millions of songs. Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon. Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web. AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally.

Amazon Inspire Digital Educational Resources. Amazon Rapids Fun stories for kids on the go.