Original Author: Sa'adia ben Amram Title of Work: סַפְּרִי תַמָּה תְמִימָה (Sapari Tema Temimah - "Tell me, O innocent one") I decided this time around to create a piece reminiscent of Mediaeval illuminated manuscripts, and illustrated some of the key themes from the poem. This is in no way an accurate portrayal of illuminated manuscripts,... Continue Reading →
Fenn al-Qahwah (translation: The Art of Coffee). But wait . . . Fun Café? Oh, what fun! Here is a "fenn" fact: The lack of vowels as independent characters within the abjad, is one of the many challenges of the Semitic languages, especially for new learners. Instead, Semitic languages use vowel markings. Bear with me,... Continue Reading →
"Surat al Ikhlas" I would like to share a work of calligraphy I made in the winter of 2014. Here I have Surat al Ikhlas in what was intended to be Kufic Arabic script. Kufic, the oldest form of Arabic script that emerged from borrowing elements of the Nabatean and Syriac abjads, traditionally excludes the... Continue Reading →
Sana'a: The Capital City of Yemen. In this post, I introduce my first art piece of 2018, in which I combine lettering and illustration. The concept of the lettering was to have Sana'a written in four different scripts: Sabaean, Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac. Those languages fall into the Semitic branch of languages, have similar origins,... Continue Reading →
See the complete version (+ audio) of Sa'adiah ben Amram's poem in the Piyyut database. Long ago, I remember trying to get in touch with Yemenite musical heritage, during which an acquaintance mentioned Sa'adia ben Amram to me. Information was sparse on this 17th century poet from the highlands of northern Yemen (normally, I'd use Jstor for this type of search, but my... Continue Reading →
First, a brief history lesson: The earliest Sumerians sailed from [wherever their origins were], and settled along the marshes of southern Mesopotamia. Their predecessors (much earlier Sumerians) scribed on papyrus and vellum (skin), but in their new settlement, they found an abundance of clay; a much more resourceful medium for the scribes! At that point, the Sumerian... Continue Reading →
I plan to post my Arabic and Hebrew calligraphy on this page (hover mouse over Artwork in the Menu). I posted one of my old scrap pieces below — two additional, much nicer pieces (+ more descriptions on the nature of this Judæo-Arabic category) can be viewed by following the above link! Jerusalem. People…near and far, time and time... Continue Reading →
Beyond Babylonia 