Open Day

This coming Sunday, 1st November, we're offering a unique opportunity to meet Hudhaifa Al-Awaidi, one of the Senior Calligraphers from Oman. Awaidi has been providing special classes at the Apna and on Sunday he'll be showing his work. 

Please drop by; it's very informal and Awaidi will be on hand to answer questions - he'll even show you how you can write your name using Arabic calligraphy.

From 1.30 - 5.30 it's open to all at the Apna at 69 Deardengate, Haslingden BB4 5SB.

Masterclasses

It's a busy time for the Different Moons programme, and for the Apna Drop-In Centre in Haslingden in particular. 

Today there's a meeting with the designers who will help us put together the Different Moons website. There's also work beginning on a performance that will grow out of the DM project, particularly the stories that we've recorded from the first immigrants to Rossendale from South Asia.  Bob Frith and Shamshad Khan are working together on various approaches and ideas to develop this.

But the main current focus is on the Apna, where master calligrapher Hst al-Awaidi (above) has arrived this morning from Oman. This weekend we're planning to hang a selection of his calligraphy work, and over the next month Awaidi will be holding masterclasses in Liverpool, Manchester and at the Apna. 

The Apna classes are planned for the weekends of the 24/25th October and 31st Oct/1st November. For more information contact 01706 210335.

One week to go...

The calligraphic piece I wrote about a couple blogs back is now on display in The Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery in Rawtenstall. The piece is by Omani master calligrapher Hst Al-Awaidi and is now being shown in the top corridor of the Museum, leading to the exhibition galleries. 

There's now just over week left before the Different Moons exhibition gets taken down, so rush along if you haven't yet seen it - and don't forget to pick up a copy of the free accompanying brochure about Rossendale's South Asian communities and containing a handful of stunning poems written by women from Haslingden.

An unexpected legacy

Yesterday was very special - all the more so because it was all unexpected. 

Arry Nessa, who originally came to the Different Moons project as a volunteer, is now an important member of our team. Last week Arry went with Maryam Golubeva, the paper-cut artist who has made such a contribution to the Different Moons exhibition, to an exhibition of calligraphy at Old Trafford in Manchester, to celebrate Omani National Day. Calligraphy has a lot in common with Maryam's paper-cutting, and in our exhibition we bring together the two things - in fact three, because we combine it with poetry.

At the Manchester exhibition Arry and Maryam met calligrapher Hst Al-Awaidi. Awaidi is from Muscat in Oman and is an aeronautical engineer, but he studied in Liverpool and established the Liverpool Arabic Calligraphy Association. He is a master calligrapher and Arry asked him to visit the Different Moons exhibition before he returns home to Oman, and yesterday Awaidi did just that. 

But what was unexpected was that Awaidi brought along the original of a recent piece of work. The photograph above hardly gives credit to the detail and subtlety of the calligraphy that took 4 months work. The text consists of verses from the Quran, and the whole, both in design and content, explores and describes Awaidi's inner struggles. 

After visiting the exhibition he offered to donate the piece and asked me where I would suggest it was placed - somewhere that people could see and enjoy it. I suggested the Whitaker itself as the obvious place, because both the Different Moons team and the museum have been wondering how we could leave a legacy after the exhibition, which has been so popular with the South Asian communities in Rossendale. 

Awaidi was very keen on the idea and within minutes signed over the piece to an initial 10 month loan to the Whitaker. It's now at the Whitaker, and we hope that it encourages visitors to visit even once the exhibition closes.