Transcript Towards a Definition of Islamic Art

Museum Piece from the Muslim/Islamic Cultures –
Create a Textile and a Calligraphy artwork
Instructional Objectives:
• Identify the piece through research, Lecture notes; minimum two literary/book
resource; minimum internet sites except when used as specified in your Student
Referencing Guide
• Timeline 8th.c to 12th.c CE
• Geographical location (Map of the Islamicate)
• Materials to be used: Paper (12”X18”); Hardboard/Grey board; Colour pencils;
Crayons; Markers; Pen and Ink etc.
• Draw a textile and calligraphic design from the height of the Muslim civilisation
• Describe the textile and calligraphic designs as symbolic representations of life in
Islam during the 8th and 12th centuries.
• Create a museum description for your textile and calligraphic design pieces
including information gathered from research about the Islamic Empire.
Overview
• Learn about the importance of the textile industry and the arts of manuscript
writing to the strength and stability of the Islamic Empire in the 11th and 12th
centuries.
• Create a textile and a calligraphic drawing and museum description.
• Research Islamic textile and calligraphic designs.
• Look for information on designs and their meaning, materials used, textile /
calligraphic creation dates, places of origin, and the importance of textiles /
calligraphy to the Islamic Empire.
• Design a textile (clothing, blanket, rug) and a calligraphic piece on white paper
and colour it according to dye, inks’ etc. colours available in the 11th. / 12th.
Centuries of the Muslim Empire.
• Synthesize research information into a detailed museum description to be glued
on the tag board under the textile / clligraphy drawing
Standards
• Islamic Origins - Understand the phenomenal spread of Islam in Southwest Asia and the
Mediterranean region
• Formation of Muslim Traditions and its effect on the Islamicate - Understand the influence of
Muslims’ ideas and practices on other cultures and social behaviour
• Formation of Muslim (Islamic) institutions - Understand the effect of geography on different
groups and their trade practices
• Crisis in the middle ages (From the Abbasids in 8thc CE to the Ayyubids, Seljuks and the Mamluks
in the 12th/13thc CE) - Understand how the Muslims spread Islamic beliefs and established their
empire/s
• Understand the significance of Baghdad
• Understand significant aspects of Islamicate – emergence of Major and Minor dynasties
• Refer to Richard Ettinghausen and Oleg Grabar as reference for all regional art forms
• Understand challenges to Muslim civilization
• Understand the relationship between the arts and sciences in the philosophy of the Islamicate
Language Arts:
Use skills and strategies of the writing process
Gather and use information for research purposes
Use a variety of sources to gather information
Use listening and speaking strategies for different purposes
Use viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual
media
Visual Arts:
How to use structures and functions of art
Understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures
Know how ideas and emotions are expressed in the various art forms
 Know how characteristics of the arts vary within a particular historical
period or style
 Know that the visual arts have both a history and a specific relationship to
various cultures
 Identify specific works of art as belonging to particular cultures, times, and
places
Know how history, culture, and the visual arts can influence each other
Step 1:
Towards a Definition of Islamic Art
Who ?
What ?
When ?
Where ?
Why ?
How?
Step 2:
Questions to help you in the research process below:
1. How could textiles be considered the economic backbone of Islam's expanding wealth?
2. What did the craftsmen/calligraphers use for their dyes and inks?
3. How and why was the making and transporting of textiles important to the economy?
4. In what ways were the Islamic garments different from those worn in Medieval Europe
(example) at the time?
5. What was the importance given to the written word and how did calligraphy evolve as an art form?
6. List any other information that you feel may be valuable for your museum exhibit description.
II.Materials Needed:
- 12"x 18" white drawing Paper
- Coloured tag board to be used to mat Textile drawing and description
- Coloured pencils, markers, crayons, etc
Each tag board description should include:
-
Materials used
-
Date of origin
-
Place of origin
-
Technique
-
Meaning of design
-
Importance to Islamic Empire/s
-
Use the scoring rubric as a guide as you develop your
project.
Rubric Textile Design
Rubric for Museum Description
Project Sample Page
Functions (of Art):
• Thematic Thoughts/Approaches towards research
commemorating the dead
celebrating events or the power of the state
 assisting in religious or social rituals
 informing
entertaining, and enlightening an audience.
• Visual form - art is a property of arts' existence in the physical world. An
artwork's physicality embodies the ideas being communicated.
artwork's materials
Size
Shape
Colour
composition and so on
Content - can be both immediately apparent and require considerable
study.
• mass of ideas associated with a work of art
• It is communicated through its
Imagery
Surroundings
Symbolism
Customs
writings
Principles of Composition
• How line, shape, colour and texture are arranged in a work of art is
called composition
Balance
Rhythm
Scale
Proportion
Emphasis
Variety
unity
Aesthetics
Engaging All the Senses