Monday, August 17, 2009

Drawing Workshops at the Al Sabah Art & Design Gallery...


Yesterday was the conclusive Drawing Workshop session of the Al Sabah Art & Design Foundation, at the Al Corniche Club by Gulf Road. This type of occasions are a all too rare an occurrence in Kuwait, where the arts are still all too often relegated into the 'hobby' category, rather than considered an inherent representational component of a nation's psyche, character and maturity.

Architect Farid Abdaal and Artist Alia Farid...

The workshops have been taking place for the past few weeks and have explored a variety of different techniques, ranging from calligraphy, life-drawing, collage and even sculpting. They were organised by Artist Alia Farid, who is also the Cultural Director of Al Sabah Art & Design.

Architect Farid Abdaal introduces the days theme - Calligraphy...

The workshop was attended by individuals of various ages, backgrounds and skill levels...

Top view of the floor area, here used as the collective work area by the participants...

One of the younger workshop participants...

Above and below - some samples of the work produced during the various workshops...



Drawing from the life drawing workshop (a future Basquiat..?!)

The value of this type, more tactile and hands-on, skills need to be acknowledged and celebrated, as they form an inherent component in all (even the cerebral and more abstract) sets of abilities and know-how. Their development also needs to be included in the general educational curriculum rather than, as currently seems to be the case, predominantly left to private individuals and organizations to sponsor and organize.

2 comments:

The PrettyGreenBullet Store said...

i agree with you fully. bring it into the schools please! our educational system is so outdated and our educators unmotivated and unmotivating. we need to run the whole thing through a washing machine; long, bacteria killing cycle with a lovely fluffing conditioner sheet afterwards in the dryer. that's what we need.

Aziz Al Mudhaf said...

I completely agree with the post and Ghadah's comment. As an artist and a product of a government school upbringing, rarely did we ever get recognition for artistic talents/skills. Nothing went beyond a school-organized exhibition that never really resulted in any significant exposure or presented substantial opportunities for the students.

On the other hand, I'm extremely glad to see such events happening in Kuwait!