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Mariam Nihal
Saudi Gazette
Located in Jeddah’s historic district, Art Jameel’s new initiative with The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London, offers a two-week training program in Islamic art.
Pitched right opposite the house of Jamjoom, is a training center that teaches traditional Saudi craft and ways of preserving the unique methods and skills.
House of Traditional Arts (HTA) has allocated a facility in the heart of Jeddah’s Balad district, which is a source of inspiration and home to heritage sites that denote Islamic art traditions. Three young Saudi artists teach the fundamental concepts of traditional art including geometry, pattern, symmetry and ornament. Ahmad Angawi, Dana Awartani and Sara Al Abdali each share their area of expertise over the two-week program.
HTA aims to establish a community of cultural understanding, spread knowledge about traditional arts and crafts, recreate and maintain the look of the traditional art in Al-Balad. The workshop is divided into two segments and different modules of art.
1. Introduction to the Language of Islamic Art: Geometry, Pattern, and Symmetry.
The workshop started with an introduction to the fundamental principles of Islamic geometric design. Participants learn how to construct patterns with a compass and ruler to create a series of beautiful drawings and paintings. The course looks at specific patterns found in the Old City of Jeddah. This is done through presentations, a study visit to the Old City and practical drawing session in the center. The workshop allows participants to understand the patterns as part of the cultural heritage of Jeddah and in the context of the great Islamic arts traditions.
2. Introduction to the Language of Islamic Art: The art of Nabati.
The workshop taught the principles of Nabati design needed to create unique designs and motifs according to the traditional language of Islamic ornament. Understanding what is a ‘good line and curve’ and how to proportion ornaments is of key importance for harmonious results. You can garner greater appreciation of the language of the Nabati found in architectural decorative elements of the Old City of Jeddah through study visits and drawing analysis and working in the center to create complete pieces with watercolor on paper.
Delfina Bottesini, the Outreach and Open Program manager at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London, visited the facility in Jeddah during the first two weeks. She said it is a very interesting time for Saudi Arabia, especially Jeddah. “We have been working with Art Jameel since 2005. I see the scene here blossoming in a way where people are ready to create whilst also looking back at their traditional arts. So I find a lot of young people are interested in looking back and going deeper in traditions, so the timing is right for this sort of work to be done now. We have been working in Saudi Arabia for a long time, but somehow things have changed in a way that things that may have been neglected in the past are becoming more and more apparent. A lot of people are looking at the old district of Jeddah as a source of understanding,” she told Saudi Gazette. Bottesini said that looking closely at the historic buildings with geometric structures and then coming back into the studio helps incorporating the experience.
Dana Awartani thinks this is vital to the Saudi art scene and even though this isn’t her first time teaching, she enjoyed the opportunity.
Having studied at The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in Lodon herself, she is headed to Doha in January to host a workshop at the Islamic museum.
“My focus is geometry when it comes to traditional Islamic art,” she told Saudi Gazette. For a 28-year-old artist to be sharing her experience and craft at such an early stage in her career, she said it feels like a responsibility to pass on the craft and legacy of the art, rather than focusing on herself. “I feel the art that I do is traditional and Islamic art, which does not belong to me. It’s been around for thousands of years. The director at my school said something once, which I will always remember. He said: ‘When you leave the school, you have an obligation to teach, whether you like it or not.’ Because it’s a dying art form, so it is something you have to pass on and I am happy to share it. Plus it’s not something you learn overnight. It takes two years or more. Ahmad and Sarah- we all share our art but we all have our specialties.” Angawi shared his expertise in Mongour craft with the students during the first set of classes. He explained the art form by delving deeper into its history and shared his experiences through presentations and panel discussions.
Awartani said the next set of workshops start in December this year till September 2016 when the diploma course for a year takes off officially.
Discussing the current art scene, Awartani believes it is still in its infancy and there is a lot of development left to do, especially in terms of art education. “But I believe most of the artists in the current scene like Asri, Nasser and Basma- we are all looking at our own heritage to create artwork so it is much more inspired by Islamic traditions rather than Western art, which is really good. We’re looking internally for inspiration rather than from outside.”
The new one-year training program starts in January 2016.
Website: www.aljci.org
