Arabic Calligraphy

Since January I (Beth) have been taking Arabic Calligraphy lessons. I began with a class at a local youth center along with 20 other students, but my Syrian Colloquial Arabic wasn’t good enough to keep up so in March I started lessons with a private artist/teacher who spoke Modern Standard Arabic (which I’ve been learning). We met three times a week for an hour each time.

I started with the simplest of the 6 major scripts, called Ruqa. Geometric principles are the basis of all Arabic calligraphy, and the calligrapher’s unit of measurement is the Arabic dot. The size of the dot depends on the width of the reed pen used for writing. The Alif (first letter in the Arabic alphabet) is the unit of measurement for all other letters, and its height varies from 3 to 12 dots depending on the script used. The traditional way of learning calligraphy would be to memorize the exact number of dots (width and height) in all possible letter combinations, which can take up to 2 years to fully master. Fortunately, my teacher focused on a different method which involved repetition of the letter combinations until you determine an inner sense of the necessary letter proportions. As of this writing, I have essentially completed the Ruqa script.

Arabic calligraphy plays a crucial role in the religion of Islam because depicting figural images is seen as possible idolatry. Therefore the artistry of calligraphy became an important outlet for religious expression and a highly respected art form. I will be starting a Masters program this fall in Publication Design/Graphic Design, and am looking forward to incorporating Arabic calligraphy into my work.