SFPL is cooperating with the partner organization Ziya Art Center, which is curating this exhibition, to create bridges between people in San Francisco Bay Area and the world through this unique, multicultural venue. Says Chief Curator of the exhibition, Arash Shirinbab, “Calligraphies in Conversation encompasses an annual group exhibition and a series of public venues including calligraphy demonstrations, workshops, and presentations focusing on endorsing the appreciation of classic calligraphy in hands-on and tangible manner. The emphasis of this program is initiating a meaningful conversation between different calligraphy traditions especially between the Middle Eastern calligraphy and other calligraphy scripts and cultures.”

 

Over 70 artworks will be on display at SFPL with a range of diverse traditions and languages including an array of Latin, Chinese, Japanese, Baybayin, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Armenian, and Hindi traditional calligraphy artworks as well as manifestations of calligraphy in some contemporary and abstract art pieces. The Chief Curator of the exhibition, Arash Shirinbab assembled the collection over many months, in a competitive process through invitations and open call that yielded over 250 submissions from around the world including the U.S., Germany, Canada, Iran, Japan, Hong Kong, France, Hungary, Australia, Qatar, Peru, Korea, Egypt, Israel, Finland, and India.

 

The full list of participation calligraphers and artists include: Akemi Lucas, Amirbehnam Tehranifar, Amol Saraf, Andrea Wunderlich, Annie Cicale, Arash Shirinbab, Asghar Mohammadi, Bahareh Bayat, Baikei Uehiro, Charlotte Chan, Christina Schneck, Christine Haggarty, Debra Self, Diane Abt, Dominique Simond, Eric Carson, Erika Vincze, Forrest Lesch-Midelton, Georgia-C&G Angelopoulos, Gemma Black, Hadeer Omar, Hassan Makaremi, Hoonaz Afaghi, Ildiko Ogasawara, Izzy Pludwinski, Jaime de Albarracín, JoAnn B. Brand, Johann Georg Maierhofer, Judy Detrick, Kayvan Mokri, Khalil Rasouli, Korea Kim Jong Chil, Kristian Kabuay, Larry Thomas, Linda Turner, Mahmoud Gamal, Mahmoud Mostafa, Mahsa Shoghi, Marcy Robinson, Mari Emily Bohley, Marika Koskimäki-Ketelä, Mayur Munj, Mohammad Abdolahi, Mohammad Alian & Fateme Kazemi, Mohammad Reza Dehshiri, Mohammad Reza Amouzad, Mohammad Shafi Ahmadloo, Mohan Saraf, Motoko Kamada, Nikola Klanicová and Monica Dengo, Patricia Buttice, Peyman Mehdizadeh, Raoul Martinez, Rick Paulus, Ronald Y. Nakasone, Sajad Hemati, Shigemasa Horio, Sultana Jesmine, Susan Duhan Felix, Takako Matoba. Termeh Yaghoubi, Thomas Ingmire, Tree Gelb Stuber, Tyrus Clutter, and Werner Schneider.

 

“The arts are crucial to bridging cultures,” says Shirinbab, curating his fourth international calligraphy exhibition. “And these artists and calligraphers are playing a cultural ambassador role participating in this exhibit. They represent the calligraphic art of their culture and start a conversation with artists of other cultures through their artwork.”

 

“Calligraphies in Conversation” initiated in 2012 by a core team including Arash Shirinbab and Fateme Montazeri of Ziya Art Center, Raeshma Razvi of Silkworm Media, and a community leader, Ali Sheikholeslami, and made possible by the support of the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (ICCNC) and a grant from Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA).

 

This exhibition builds on the success of the inaugural “Calligraphies in Conversation” exhibition in Spring 2014, where over 80 artworks, mainly from Middle Eastern and Far Eastern calligraphic traditions were exhibited at ICCNC and Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) near downtown Oakland. The second exhibition expanded to all other calligraphic traditions and over 70 artworks exhibited at ICCNC, OACC, and Oakland Main Public Library in Fall 2015. The third exhibition was hosted at the Gallery of Fremont Art Association in Fall 2016 with a wide assortment of medium including calligraphy with traditional tools, painting, pottery and ceramics, digital arts and 3D printing, mixed media, metal art and jewelry, collage, and installation.

 

At the opening reception of the “Calligraphies in Conversation” on Sunday, September 17, 2017 (1- 5 p.m. at SFPL) attendees can view the artwork and meet other local artists. There will be some calligraphy presentations at Koret Auditorium at 1- 3 p.m. with the theme of “How to Enjoy Calligraphy” in which different calligraphy masters and experts from Japanese, Arabic-Persian, Baybayin, and Latin traditions will present to the audience the nuances of their tradition and walk the participants through the path of enjoying calligraphy without necessarily understanding the content of the writing. There will be Curator Tour at Skylight Gallery at 3- 5 p.m. Refreshments will be served, and the reception is open to all and is free of charge. The exhibition opens September 17th and closes on December 31st, 2017 and is open during the regular hours of the SFPL.

 

There will be a Calligraphy Day venue on November 5, 2017 at 1- 5 p.m. at the Latino room of the SFPL in which several calligraphy masters from different traditions and languages will give demonstrations and participants would get a chance to experience calligraphy of various cultures from up close.