Hitting The Nail On The Head

I received this today in a e mail . Thought it was interesting to see art in a unexpected medium , nails .Nails used as a art form isn't  something one would expect to see , but here it is . See what you think . This comes to from the Arabic web site AbuNawaf .Sorry I don't know the artist name . He is very talented , don't you think ?

The Veil In Art

I stumbled across this article about the Veil in Art . I think you will like it . Click here to see some of the art on exhibit featuring the veil .

Artists Use Images of the Veil to Explore Identity, Culture
Veil is most visible icon of contemporary Islam
enJag hot By Carolee Walker
Staff Writer

New York — The veil is the most visible icon of contemporary Islam, says the producer of an exhibition featuring works by artists from North
America, the Middle East and Europe. “If you see a
veil, you automatically think about Islam,” said
I Andreas Stadler, director of the Austrian Cultural
Forum, which hosted The Seen and the Hidden:
[DisJcovering the Veil. The exhibition was part of
Muslim Voices: Arts and Ideas, a 10-day festival in New York City celebrating Islamic culture.
For some artists, including Adriana Czernin, who was
born in Bulgaria but lives and works in Vienna, Austria, depicting images of the veil comes easily because she believes that the veil connects women with each other and unites them. In Czernin’s self-portraits, the artist conceals part of her face with shapes resembling flower petals or leaves, recalling the latticework of the traditional Arabic mashrabiya, a common type of covered window used throughout the Muslim world to hide from public view the domestic lives of women.
Yet the topic of the veil is complex, according to Stadler. This is so even in the United States and in Austria, where veiled women do not provoke much controversy. In Austria, Islam has been an officially recognized religion since 1912, said Stadler, and “in the United States, the biggest nation of immigrants in the world, there are so many different ethnicities, languages and clothing styles that we could hardly seriously discuss a rejection of this piece of clothing.” (See “Acceptance of Religious Garb in U.S. Shows Diversity, Tolerance.”)
In Turkey, the followers of the secularist ideology of the country’s first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, are opposed to the headscarf, according to Stadler, but in recent years the Muslim democratic movement has gained ground by advocating wearing the scarf. A growing number of young women in Turkey and around the world are consciously and actively in favor of covering their necks, heads and faces.
Artist Asma Ahmed Shikoh, who is of Pakistani heritage and lives and works in New York, collected hifabs, or headscarves, from 100 Muslim women across the United States to create Beehive in 2007. As “honeybees bear special mention in the Quran for their healing powers,” writes the artist, each opening is meant to represent one of the participating women by holding her scarf and therefore part of her identity. Unlike her mother and aunt who gave up wearing the veil 30 years ago in Pakistan, Shikoh, who lives in New York, wears a headscarf. “I wear the veil as an act of faith,” she said.
Some artists, including Ayad Alkadhi, who was born in Iraq and spent his childhood in England, the United Arab Emirates and Baghdad, use the veil as a tool to explore tensions between what can be seen
and what is hidden by the scarf. In Structure, ________ Alkadhi “veils” himself with texts only to reveal parts of his body with an X-ray. Typically, the artist mixes layers of Arabic and American newspapers with traditional calligraphic techniques and painting to create cloaked figures, using the veil as an integral part of what he calls the “skeletal elements
assembled to create a whole being.”
I
By showing a veiled figure with a kitchen glove substituting for a face, Shadi Chadirian explores the idea of “woman as object.”
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In Endless Tether, Canadian performance and video artist Farheen HaQ references the veil as part of her family’s cultural heritage.



Arthts Use Iniages of the Veil to E,çlore Identity. Culture http://nn ,anzrica,gov/st’peopleplace•english/2009/August/200908261,..
In other works, artists use images of the veil to explore identity, women’s role in society and cultural heritage. In Endless Tether, a three-channel video, by Canadian artist Farheen HaQ, of South Asian—Muslim descent, two arms hold a long piece of red cloth and help to wrap it around a woman and then unwrap it. HaQ said that the “tension in the fabric oscillates between being a protective veil and a restrictive rope.”
In her series of collages, Unknown Sports, Vienna, Austria—based artist Nilbar Gure depicts women enclosed by curtains, but behind the curtains are private spaces transformed into sporting arenas: “high jumpers instead of window cleaners,” the artist writes. While in public or in the presence of males, female athletes in some Muslim countries cover their heads with scarves. During practice and competition, when only females are present in the arena, female athletes wear their team uniforms without covering their heads.
Male stereotypes of women as objects are explored in the witty works of Iranian photographer Shadi Ghadirian, whose series Like Everyday (Domestic Life) presents veiled women with kitchen utensils substituted for the faces. Juxtaposing traditionally patterned fabrics for a veil and a rubber kitchen glove as a face, for example, is meant to depict conflicts between tradition and modernity, said Stadler.
The Seen andthe Hidden was organized by curators David Harper and Martha Kirszenbaum in New York and Karin Meisel in Vienna, who selected contemporary works from young artists, or emerging artists. “It’s not just an issue in Europe and America,” Harper said at a panel discussion in New York. The issue of the veil, he said, is a global issue.
See also the photo gallery Images of the Veil in Muslim Life.
Additional information on the exhibition can be found on the Muslim Voices Festival
Web site. to see the article in it's own format .
America.gov on Facebook I America.gov on Twitter
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Engaging the world
Topics: Diversity, Middle East and North Africa, South & Central Asia
Keywords: veil, headscarf, Muslim women, The Seen and the Hidden, [Dis]covering the Veil
26 August 2009

WOW , WOW , WOW !

WOW , WOW , WOW ! And more WOW ! We just finished watching this evenings broadcast show live on Libyan TV. It made you proud to see a professional show that would be worthy on Broadway.Part Cirque de Soleil , a little Broadway thrown in , some history lessons, add a bit of patriotic fever , dance ,music and you have a winner of a show . Oh , did I forget to mention the fireworks display that lasted FOREVER? I have never seen such a display of fireworks quite like tonight's. It lasted a good 20 or so minutes, maybe longer.It was fantastic !We saw them on the TV and off the Condo's balcony simultaneously.So cool!



I can hear the critics out there reading this, mumbling.They are grumbling already about the waste of money . The money could have been better spent on the infrastructure ,medicines , hospitals , schools , education , roads ,and on and on the list goes , but for ONCE ..... I disagree with them .Normally I would agree, but not this time .

A nation , a people,needs to have something to unite them. A sense of  pride. Something that makes you say,"Yes I am Libyan and proud of it!"Libyans have plenty to be proud of,but due to events in recent history,have lost a bit of that pride.

 

I believe that tonight's show will reminded the nation of their heritage , the uniqueness of Libya, her peoples , and their culture . The world benefits when a country has culture . It must be at peace to nurture it's artisans,encourage their growth .Art in it's many forms has been neglected for years here in Libya . It has been sent underground , hidden or not openly celebrated as in other country's .Maybe now that door has opened a little, Art will be encouraged to flourish and grow.

The day's and evenings events where so well organized and well presented .The parade ,the air show , the horsemen , the marching bands ,the color guards from the many nations , and finally the evenings show all added up to Libyan Pride. Congrats Libya on showing the world what you can do !!

Stairways To Heaven ?

I'm tired of the soap box so check out these stairs .They are way cool !

Would be dangerous to try these drunk !
The ideal tree house stairs huh ?
So cool and sleek .
Love the concept behind these . So much fun to play Hide and Seek .


Absolutely would break my neck on these !
Forget about it !
I wonder if it feels weird to climb these stairs ?
Every one should have one of these in their lives huh ?
A good concept gone bad !

Art !
The best Ideal !
Do these move as you climb them ?

Celebrating Women

A Friend sent this video to me . It celebrates over 500 years of women in paintings . SO lovely ! Thought you might like to see the video as well . How beautiful the women are , their spirits shine from the paintings .Enjoy !There is music too , so turn up your speakers .