Arts
&
Crafts

You know,

there's a lot of difference between

just doing something

and doing something well,

and to get from one to the other in the field of Arts and Crafts,

to get from the ordinary to the wondrous,

there is a lot of knowledge that needs to be acquired.

You have to know your materials,

ingredients and processes,

remembering what has been learned by those

that did similar things before you,

and developing your skill through frequent practice.

And all that knowledge and skill

drawn from the past

is at the service of an imagined future,

an imagined completed artwork.

Skill may need focus,

but the imagination spreads in all dimensions,

from the outer parameters of a work,

flourishes and grand patterns,

to its smallest parts,

the finest of details to be found in its finish.

Muslims have always taken pride

in the skills that God has given them,

the precision, strength and control required

to produce work of awe inspiring beauty.

Often working at the extreme edge of what is possible,

trying to expand what is imaginable,

muslims explore the vast range of materials provided by Creation,

mineral, plant and animal,

seeing how they react and interact during different processes,

using greater or lesser heat or moisture

or physical manipulation.

All this to transform base matter into beauty,

a humble simulation of the constant Act of Creation around us,

imagining what is needed from the underlying structure of the artwork

to the pigments that give it colour.

The variety of ways that humans

have learned to beautify their surroundings is vast.

Minerals can be used,

not just stone to be carved and shaped,

but as plaster and gesso, and clay,

whether destined for fine tableware or mosaic tesserae,

to be shaped and baked, and glazed.

In a similar way, the organic fibres of wood

can be carved, or inlaid as parquetry or marquetry,

or pulped with water to make paper,

a surface for the application of ink, or paint, or gilding.

Other fibres,

animal as well as vegetable,

have their own range of processes,

spinning, weaving, knitting and knotting,

resulting in a very practical artform that can be worn,

whereas other materials can require a lot more effort to get them into shape.

Some crafts need considerable heat to get things malleable,

like metal and glass,

liquifying them to cast them,

and then in their cooler states

to bend and stretch and blow them into shape,

before finally applying enamelling or engraved fine detail.

So muslim arts and crafts

stretch to the edges of imagination,

yet can somehow be recognisable as the work of one ummah,

linked across time and place

by a shared interest in three characteristics of muslim style,

geometry, arabesque and calligraphy,

each of which, in its own way, begins with a point in time and space

and from there reaches out towards

the oneness of ultimate multiplicity.

The first of these characteristics,

geometry,

begins with a point,

draws a line and a circle,

and works its way out from there

into all the patterns and rhythms of creation,

all done with no more than a compass and a straight edge.

Those simple patterns that show unity in multiplicity

have long been seen as being a window into deep truths about the world,

the way that creation is structured.

And along with patterns come intriguing proportions,

like the golden ratio,

taking those lines and circles and turning them into spirals.

But although the perfection and symmetry of pure geometry

may be a window on truth,

creation itself does seem to display something much more fluid,

always transitional,

and often unexpected.

Which is where arabesque, comes in,

islimi,

giving its geometry that flowing quality of nature,

along with its expansive growth.

Calligraphy, moves with a different purpose. however,

It also begins with a point,

when a pen touches paper,

but the shapes being drawn signify sound and meaning.

And the most precious sounds to a muslim

are those spoken by the Messenger, all those years ago

so calligraphy, beautifying the written record of those sounds

was always the most revered of all the arts.

But styles developed to give grace and beauty to the sacred text

in all its settings,

printed page, mosque walls, or embroidered on the kiswa,

can also be used to decorate the everyday.

So inevitably muslim artists use those skills and sensitivities

to beautify their work with language,

plain or poetical,

but originally refined with the intention of expressing

the Beauty and Glory of the Magnificent and Bountiful Reading,

a link to a point in time and place,

when the One, beyond all outer limits,

used Words to communicate with humanity.