Youth Islamic Art Intensive Weekend
Saturday 30th & Sunday 31st December 2018
For the first time ever, IslamHood arranged an Islamic Art intensive weekend for the youth. With some of the volunteers and team members being entirely opposite of the word “creative”, I think it’s fair to say that the team really did try to go out of their comfort zone and deliver something unique and fun for all the children to take part in this holiday. And not only was it for fun, but also to really instill their love and appreciation for Islamic heritage – something that isn’t stressed enough about these days.
Alhamdulilah, the IslamHood team were shocked by the booming interest received – the event was quite literally sold out within an hour of promotion! There was no way we wanted to disappoint the children who wanted to take part, so we arranged another session – and lo and behold, again, the spaces sold out within an hour of publicising the event.
It was warming to see that the majority of the Saturday session children were from the IslamHood Youth Tarbiya Weekend School – across classes from the junior school to the middle school. Some were excited to start the day whereas others slightly less so, perhaps just wanting to go back to sleep(!) But as the day started and progressed on, all the children seemed to be enjoying themselves trying out something new, meeting new people and being able to explore their creativity.
The boys hard at work practising brush strokes
From Kufic floral prints to the delicate and more traditional Thulath print, the children learnt of the different types of calligraphy adopted throughout history. As the class went on, they had a go themselves practising different brush strokes and then moving on to writing “Allah”, “Muhammad” SAW as well as their names. The calligraphy session was ended by the artist generously gifting all of the students a special hand-crafted gift, with all of their names delicately painted on.
Sweet treats during the break
The first half of the session came to an end with a Salah and lunch break. With plenty of variety of fresh, hot pizza, crisps, drinks, chocolates and more - the kids were spoilt for choice and can definitely say that IslamHood looked after their hungry appetites!
The second half of the session on ceramic tiling left the students to explore their creativity a bit more, stretching them to design their own tiles. With just compasses and rulers, the children managed to create complex geometric designs and used brightly coloured enamel paints to add some colour.
Painting their ceramic tiles
The day ended on a lovely note, with the parents coming to collect their children to see a beautiful range of brightly coloured ceramic tiles and their buzzing, excited children. Alhamdulilah the weekend, although a very different style of organised activity, left the parents, children and organisers alike very keen to not let the journey end there. The organisers were definitely sparked to arrange more sessions and for all the adults reading, yes, we are keeping you in mind too!
Keep your eyes peeled and be ready for a structured, Islamic Art course coming very soon in’sha’Allah!