Fareed Abdal, Kuwaiti architect and artist, is also known as a great teacher with his students at the Architecture departement at Kuwait University. He opened his knowledge again in a three days workshop on arabic meditative calligraphy at the Dar al Athar al Islamiyah.
He said: "three days of workshop is nothing, but a small window into a craft that can be expanded to an art." He started with the simple basic rules of arabic calligraphy, he engaged with the students in asking them to create their own tool for the next session, he went beyond the exactitude of script and letter formation. He combined his practice to allow thinking about space, time, the white around the black ink. He then opened doors of exploration in the arts of arabic calligraphy and used Sufi and other traditional schools of calligraphy to bring in the tradition while pushing it into a contemporary art.
He continuously spread the productions on the floor outside the room to allow another persective and pull out reactions from the students.
If Fareed Abdal is doing another "meditative calligraphy" workshop, make sure to sign up: it is definitely worth all your efforts