This is the online gallery of our Calligraphies in Conversation exhibition. It includes all the accepted artists, their biographies, their artworks, and the description of thier artworks. You can review the artists based on alphabetical order of their first name. This gallery includes incredible array of calligraphic artworks from different masters and illustrates the differences and similarities of these calligraphy traditions; as well as their deep connections.
This is a poem whose unique feature is that it is made of 1,000 characters of which no character is repeated.
Wang Po was born in 650 AD and died in 675 AD. He wrote this 騰王閣序 when he was passing through (南昌) to visit his father, who was a District Magistrate in another city. Then, Wang was unexpectedly got invited to a huge banquet party up on the famous pavilion called 騰王閣 (Teng Wang Ko) erected on top of a mountain overlooking the Yang Tze River.
Part of a poem from Hafiz, one of the most famous Persian poets: “Oh who the paradise story is but an allusion to your abide/ The angels’ description is but a hint to your beauty”
Part of a poem from Hafiz, one of the most famous Persian poets: “Since I have been taught eloquence by love”
Part of a poem from Hafiz, one of the most famous Persian poets: “Oh who the paradise story is but an allusion to your abide/ The angels’ description is but a hint to your beauty”
Quran: Al-Fatihah (1) Shekast Nastaliq style of calligraphy with Islamic illuminations (Tazheeb) by Zahra Rezaee
Part of a poem of Hafiz saying “It is all from You” in Nastaliq style of calligraphy with Islamic illuminations (Tazheeb) by Zahra Rezaee
Quran: Al-Fatihah (1) Shekast Nastaliq style of calligraphy with Islamic illuminations (Tazheeb) by Zahra Rezaee
Hamid Reza Safizadeh
I always loved Persian poetry and Islamic calligraphy, and my passion for creating authentic artworks motivated me to practice and create calligraphic artworks for more than 25 years.
I had the opportunity of practicing with some great calligraphy masters including Kashi Poor, Foradi, and Jamaladin Moadeb. I have the Master (Momtaz) certificate on Nastaliq and Shekaste Nastaliq calligraphy from the National Institute of Iranian Calligraphers.
I conducted one solo calligraphy exhibition in Iran and have participated in over ten group exhibits in United Sates.
Hsieh Shan-Chen
Why did I learn calligraphy? I have a vivid memory of a day when I was about 6 years old, sitting outside on the porch of our house in Shanghai while overhearing a conversation between my mother and eldest brother. My mother said to my brother: “One’s calligraphy is an expression of one’s inner character, from which society, in the future, will render judgment.
So it is important that you should practice calligraphy.” Upon hearing my mother’s advice, my brother, who was five years older than me,
responded: “Mother, when I grow up, I will have a secretary to write everything for me.” But when I heard their conversation, my reaction was that I will never be able to afford to hire a secretary, so I better practice calligraphy.
Fateme Montazeri
My contact with the world of arts, like many others, started when I was a child. However, there was a big gap from then until I chose arts as my future career, when I pursued my undergraduate studies in Design at the University of Tehran, Iran. Soon I realized that functional art is not what I’m looking for, but what intrigues me is traditional art.
I pursued my Master’s Degree in Art Studies and I am now a PhD student of Islamic Art at the University of California at Berkeley. For many years I have done Nastaliq calligraphy, which is mostly used for Persian poetry; and tazheeb, the art of illuminating works of calligraphy. I am interested in the connections between Islamic arts and spirituality, and the reflections of Islamic thought and mysticism –Sufism—in Islamic arts.
Artists and Artworks
Josh Berer
Josh Berer is a calligrapher and craftsman currently living in Washington, DC. He works primarily in the Arabic script, but also occasionally does work in Hebrew and Latin scripts as well. His graduate work at Indiana University’s Central Eurasian Studies Department focused on Uzbek and Tajik poetry of revolution. Before Indiana, he lived briefly in Istanbul, and before that Sana’a, Yemen.Josh came to calligraphy from two directions.
The first has to do with his upbringing: with a mother who is a professor of Islamic Art History, and a father who is a bookbinder and makes illuminated manuscripts of his poetry, he was raised around Islamic design, calligraphy, typesetting, paper arts, and illumination. The second direction is his past experience with art: Josh discovered graffiti at 14, and subsequently immersed himself in the world of graffiti, and thus coming from that background, the art of the written word is familiar, although from a rather different perspective. He is currently a student of Mohamed Zakariya.
-We Have on this Earth What Makes Life Worth Living" -Palestinian poet laureate Mahmoud Darwish. Kufi Mashriqi Style Calligraphy, hand-made ebru borders.
The Opener, one of the 99 names of God. Celi Sulus calligraphy, hand-made ebru borders.
Every Day Is Ashura, Every Land is Karbala Celi Sulus calligraphy, hand-made ebru borders.
-We Have on this Earth What Makes Life Worth Living" -Palestinian poet laureate Mahmoud Darwish. Kufi Mashriqi Style Calligraphy, hand-made ebru borders.
Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang
Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang is a renowned master of Arabic calligraphy. Born in 1963 in Shangdong province, China, he brings an immense learning in traditional thought and Islamic art to a modern audience, juxtaposing them in a new calligraphic style all his own, both Eastern and Western.
The Chinese and Arabic calligraphic traditions have often been compared as the two of the world's finest manifestations of the written word, but never likened; indeed, they are at once opposites and complements. When combined the result is an artistic piece that is a work of incredibly unique beauty, and a testimony to man's synthesizing genius.
Noor Deen's extraordinary mastery and genius along with his unique ability to spectacularly deliver his craft to an audience has brought him lecture and workshop invitations from some of the most renowned and prestigious institutions around the world.
