Damascus-SANA
Arabic calligraphy, its arts, and the works of its workers are the focus of the activities of the first day of the Mohabbat Qalam Festival, which was launched at the Arab Cultural Center in Abu Rummaneh and includes realistic and virtual exhibitions, discussion sessions and workshops over a period of two weeks.
The festival, organized by the House of Arabic Calligraphy and Arts Association, in cooperation with the Directorate of Culture of Damascus, was inaugurated through a dialogue session entitled The Journey of the Pen between Simulation and Innovation, followed by an exhibition of calligraphers and calligraphers working in the arts of Arabic calligraphy, which included more than 50 paintings of various types of calligraphy, using multiple methods and various techniques.
The head of the association’s board of directors, the plastic artist and calligrapher Reem Kabtan, said in a statement to SANA: “The festival comes as a culmination of the association’s work during its first year and includes workshops, as part of its orientation to all segments of society, with its special interest in the generation of young people and the dependable youth on building the future of Arabic calligraphy in Syria.” .
For her part, the head of the Cultural Center in Abu Rummaneh, the plastic artist, Rabab Ahmed, said: “The art of Arabic calligraphy carries the secret and magic of Arabic and preserves our beautiful language. those working in it.”
The calligrapher artist Adnan Sheikh Othman, who participated in the dialogue session, indicated that the festival renews the longing of the recipient through what he sees of works presented for the first time, stressing the importance of raising new generations on the love of Arabic calligraphy and its aesthetics.
During the dialogue session, Sheikh Othman dealt with the calligrapher’s journey that goes through three stages, from the beginner to the intermediate up to the master, explaining that the calligrapher must go through a long stage of imitation of his predecessors with accurate imitation as if he was an antiquities restorer until he possesses the skill of his predecessors and automatically moves to the stage of innovation.
During the dialogue session, the calligrapher Adham Al-Jaafari touched on the importance of the trainee imitating the masters’ lines in order to raise his talent to the level of knowledge of the rules of the Arabic letter, and then proceed to renewal and present his own vision within an artistic level acceptable to his teachers.
The calligrapher artist Anwar Hayali, who will supervise the Nasta'liq calligraphy workshop, pointed out the importance of the festival by spreading the culture of calligraphy and to be periodically to stimulate work and creativity, while the plastic artist Khaldoun Ahmed, who came from Aleppo to participate, indicated that he is working to present the craft within the rhythm of color to show its aesthetics and value.
The young calligrapher Rama Majik, a graduate of the Institute of Applied Arts and a school at the same institute, participated in a painting in the Nisaburi Kufic script, and pointed out that the presentation of her work alongside the works of her teachers represented a motive and incentive for diligence, while the young artist, Abeer Al-Awdat, participated in three paintings united by decoration, trying to employ beauty between Arabic letter and meaning, using calligraphy. The Nisaburi Kufi.
The House of Arabic Calligraphy and Arts Association was established in 2020 with the aim of spreading and developing calligraphy, decoration and miniature arts, in addition to various other arts, in partnership and coordination with various institutions, official and civil cultural bodies and interested individuals with the aim of developing an aesthetic taste in Syrian society.
Mohamed Samir Tahan
