Arabic Calligraphy Exhibition at Saqiyah el-Shawiy

Ramadhan karim…kullu sanah wentum bikhair. Hari kelima bulan Ramadhan yang lalu saya pergi ke Zamalek. Tepatnya ke bawah kubri (jalan layang) di ujung kota tersebut. Markas Budaya “Saqiyah abdul Mun’im ash-Shawiy”. Beruntung sekali ada kawan Mesir yang memberi tahu bahwa hari ini adalah pembukaan pameran khot oleh “Jam’iyyah Mashriyyah Ammah lil Khattil Arabiy”. Selain itu ada pameran tunggal oleh khottoth Hasan Hasubah asal Port Sa’id, yang digelar...

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Noble Calligraphers

The lines of calligraphers have neither beginning nor end as they constantly link and unlink. The calligrapher's work lies in search of the absolute; his aim is to penetrate the sense of truth in an infinite movement so as to go beyond the existing world and thus achieve union with God. -- Salah al-Ali (quotes in Musee d'art et d'histoire. "Islamic Calligraphy: Sacred and Secular Writings". Catalog of an exhibition held at the Musee d'art et d'histoire, Geneva and other locations 1988-1989, p. 30) Calligraphers were dedicated to their...

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Islamic Calligraphy

Arabic is written from right to left, like other Semitic scripts, and consists of 17 characters, which, with the addition of dots placed above or below certain of them, provide the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet. Short vowels are not included in the alphabet, being indicated by signs placed above or below the consonant or long vowel that they follow. Certain characters may be joined to their neighbors, others to the preceding one only, and others to the succeeding one only. The written letters...

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The Arabic alphabet

ARABIC is written from right to left. There are 18 distinct letter shapes, which vary slightly depending on whether they are connected to another letter before or after them. There are no "capital" letters.The full alphabet of 28 letters is created by placing various combinations of dots above or below some of these shapes. (An animated version of the alphabet shows the correct way to move the pen).The three long vowels are included in written words but the three short vowels are normally omitted – though they can be indicated by marks above and...

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Cleaning your Pilot Parallel Pen

I recently had a question from Anonymous on cleaning pens, so I’m linking to a recipe for Pen & Brush cleaner which I found on Mary Lawler’s blog. I normally clean my nibs by soaking them in solution of glass cleaner (which contains ammonia) and water. This looks like a stronger version of that, which I’ll try if I have a major pen problem. Another option is Spray Nine, which works really well when a strong pen cleaner is needed. Also, Anonymous, take your Pilot Parallel pen apart as far as possible... that means right down to pulling out the...

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More Malik

For those visitors who listened to our CBC radio interview, here’s a direct link to the pages of Malik Anas, who continues to produce amazing contemporary Iraqi calligrap...

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Monograms

I’ve been creating monograms lately ... using the 6.0mm Pilot Parallel pen and my favorite colour of J.Herbin ink, “Ambre de Birmanie”. Some letters are just so much fun! Like N and...

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On Air!

Sheryl Mackay, host of CBC Radio’s “North by Northwest” program tells me our “calligraphy conversation” will be on-air tomorrow just after the 7:00 news. So if you’re up at that hour, tune ...

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Summer’s over... back to work

Okay, so I’ve been neglecting this blog! Blame it on the sunshine, the lure of a Canadian summer... maybe too much time spent on facebook or youtube... Anyway, summer is pretty much over, so I’ll start sharing some of the new links and work I’ve discovered. Let's start with the interesting work of Nikheel Aphale (not Nikhil!) of New Delhi, India. His blog felt so familiar to me... and I love his pieces which combine photography and calligraphy, ...

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