One of seven courses available for the May 12 – 15, 2022 MCA Weekend Workshop @ Haystack
Rebel: Take Action
Instructor: Kifah Abdulla
Haystack Studio: Graphics/ Print
Materials Fee: $35.00
Enrollment Limit: 14
Level: All levels
Class Description:
Visual language is the language of images. It can be defined as a system that communicates through visual elements. It is perceived by our eyes and interpreted by our brain, which receives the signal and transforms it into sensations, emotions, actions, and thoughts. A visual language is a system of communication using visual elements. A word, a diagram, a map, and painting are all examples of uses of visual language. Its structural units include line, shape, color, form, motion, texture, direction, scale, angle, etc.
The process of this workshop starts with an introduction and explanation of the project by the instructor and his assistant. The project will focus on many social and environmental issues as well as communication between people. Students are free to choose their subjects. The instructor, assistant teacher, and students will put many ideas on the table and discuss critical thinking. There are discussions and students will share their opinions and ideas. Students will practice working on exact themes and making their own artwork like drawing, calligraphy, and painting or can work as groups. They will talk about their creativity with each other.
The main point of this project is to reach a common, peaceful, and not aggressive language in raising general issues related to social, and environmental life, in addition to presenting our values, and ourselves in a beautiful way to others. Students will practice how visual language admires others and encourages them to communicate. There will be questions and answers, talk, design, paint, and drawing. In The final stage of this project, the experienced artist “assistant teacher”, Hope Rovelto, will lead the process of printmaking. Students will print their creativity on T-shirts and posters and will practice the impact of their work on each other.
Materials:
Participants are expected to bring:
– Sketchbook/ drafting paper/
– Notebook
– Pens/ pencils/ color of your choosing
– A t-shirt to print on
About the Instructor-
Kifah Abdulla is a poet, painter, performer, activist and world citizen. Born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq, he spent over eight years as a prisoner of war in Iran. He paints and writes poetry mining his life experiences, yielding work with universal themes of love, freedom, hope, fate, passion and peace. He is interested in intersections of contemporary visual art, poetry, interior design, graphic design and illustration. Kifah published a book of poetry, Dead Still Dream, in 2016 and is working on a memoir. He reads his short stories and poetry in public, often accompanied by a cello. His visual artworks have been exhibited in Portland, where he is involved in many cultural and artistic projects, including the Portland Public Art Committee and the International Arabic Language Festival. Kifah teaches Arabic calligraphy at the Maine College of Art, and he is an Arabic instructor at SMCC and the Language Exchange.
Hope Rovelto is a professional artist, educator, and activist based in Portland Maine. She is an advocate and supporter of LGBTQ + rights as well as the rights of all ethnicities. Hope earned BFA in sculpture from MECA and MFA in ceramics from Rochester Institute of Technology. She owns Little Chair Printing a custom screenprinting shop and an Artist Member at Pickwick Independent.