2017 Summer School on Calligraphy and Typeface

2017 Summer School on Calligraphy and Typeface

Need some intellectual and creative stimulation for the summer? Check out these valuable opportunities at the Kuficpedia School on Islamic Art of Kufic Calligraphy!

session

What? 2017 Summer School on Calligraphy and Typeface
Where? Ahwaz, Iran
When? 14 Jun – 14 Aug 2017

This summer, Vahid M. Jazayeri  will conduct 3 courses to learn Typeface and Islamic calligraphy:

  1. – Primary Kufic Calligraphy
  2. – Eastern Kufic Calligraphy
  3. – Logotype and Typeface designing based on traditional calligraphy

About:  Discover the Qalam (Arabic wooden pen) and let it take you on a journey to learn how to write in Primary and Eastern Kufic Calligraphy on Manuscripts as well as how to design typefaces based on traditional calligraphy together with well-established calligrapher Vahid Jazayeri with more than 25 years experience in the field.

5 Things you’ll take Home
1. Learn the history of Calligraphy
2. Get acquainted with the Kufic Calligraphy Alphabet
3. Learn how to use a Qalam (traditional Arabic wooden pen)
4. Learn how to write Kufic Calligraphy and how to design your typeface
5. Create your own written pieces

It is a unique opportunity for those interested to learn how to design logos or typefaces based on traditional calligraphy. The master of the course, Mr. S.M. Vahid M. Jazayeri has more than 25 years of experiences on how to create a combination between traditional calligraphy and modern logo or typeface designing. Mr. S.M. Vahid M. Jazayeri has rediscovered how to write Kufic script with a traditional instrument (Qalam) after hundreds of years. He has several books on Kufic calligraphy and conducted manytutorial workshops in different countries. His professional interest in script and calligraphy stimulated his discovery of the historic method for cutting the Kufic pen, which has had a direct impact on his own work, as seen in a number of well-received exhibitions and workshops.

caligraphy

Kūfic script, in calligraphy, earliest extant Islamic style of handwritten alphabet that was used by early Muslims to record the Quran. Thisslow-moving, dignified script was also used on tombstones and coins as well as for inscriptions on buildings. Some experts distinguish Kūfi proper from Meccan and Medinese scripts, which were also used to copy the Qurʾān.

Visit the Kuficpedia School’s website for more information!

The text and images on the post were taken courtesy of the Kuficpedia School’s Event Page at http://kuficpedia.org/workshops-and-events/2017-2/school-calligraphy-typeface/?ct=t(Summer_School6_16_2017).

Reviving the Art of Kufic Calligraphy

Iranian calligraphy master Seyed Mohammad Vahid Mousavi Jazayeri is on a mission to revive the magnificent but now largely unpracticed art of Kufic Arabic calligraphy, and has chosen as his subject the text of the Qur’an, the original inspiration for the development of Kufic calligraphy in Islamic manuscript traditions and decorative arts. In collaboration with master illuminator Jamshid Sarhaddi, his new limited-edition book, Early Arabic Kufic Calligraphy of Mousavi Jazayeri: Surat al-Mulk, is the first in a planned series of books devoted to qur’anic sūrahs that will eventually comprise a complete contemporary copy of the Qur’an in this ancient script.

Calligraphy of the opening of Surat al-Mulk, including the title of the sūrah and the basmalah.

Calligraphy of the opening of Sūrat al-Mulk, including the title of the sūrah and the basmalah.

With its strong horizontal lines and sparsity of words per page, Mousavi Jazayeri’s rendering of Sūrat al-Mulk resembles the sort of medieval Qur’an manuscript typically given as waqf (religious endowment), yet it is distinctive in the way that letter groups are evenly spaced and words flow beyond the ends of lines and pages, giving his rendering a remarkably seamless style.

A master calligrapher, type designer, and graphic designer, Mousavi Jazayeri has spent years visiting archaeological sites, historic buildings, cemeteries, mosques, libraries, and museums to study the material culture of Kufic Arabic.

S. M. V. Mousavi Jazayeri dotting a Kufic manuscript during a workshop at the 2015 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. Image courtesy of Kuficpedia.

S. M. V. Mousavi Jazayeri dotting a Kufic manuscript during a workshop at the 2015 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. All images courtesy of Kuficpedia.

In the course of his studies he rediscovered a forgotten technique for cutting the calligraphic pen (qalam) for primary Kufic, and by adopting this technique in his own work he is able to create pieces that are reflective of the rich history of the calligraphic arts. He has put on a number of well-received exhibitions and workshops, most recently a workshop at the 2015 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair.

The publications and workshops of Mousavi Jazayeri are part of Kuficpedia, an ongoing collaborative project with an international group of scholars and designers who share an interest in the Kufic script.

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2015. All rights reserved.

Update – Public Lecture on Tuesday, July 9

By Emran El-Badawi and Gabriel Reynolds

On April 9th we announced our first international meeting to be held in St. Andrews, Scotland this July. We would like to share with you an update concerning the public lecture on Tuesday, July 9th. Dr. Alain George–senior lecturer of Islamic Art at the University of Edinburgh–will do us the honor of delivering a talk “On an Early Qur’anic Palimpsest and its Stratigraphy: Cambridge Or. 1287.” Details can be found below.

Quran and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective
Joint Session With: International Qur’anic Studies Association, Quran and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective
7/09/2013
3:00 PM to 4:15 PM
Room: Auditorium – MBS (17)

Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame, Presiding

Alain George, University of Edinburgh
On an Early Qur’anic Palimpsest and its Stratigraphy: Cambridge Or. 1287 (45 min)

Break (5 min)

Discussion (25 min)

Alain George, Univ. Edinburgh

Alain George, Univ. Edinburgh

Alain George received his first degree from the London School of Economics before moving on to study Islamic Art at the University of Oxford, where he completed his Ph.D. in 2006. He was recently awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize. His publications include The Rise of Islamic Calligraphy. London: Saqi Books (2010).

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2013. All rights reserved.