September was an eventful month for Al Riwaq, beginning with the artist walk and exhibition by Noor Alwan. Other highlights of the month included the Art Kitchen Open Studio Tour, where participants got to work with artists, collaborating in the final execution of the artwork, and workshops such as "The Art of Comics", "Coming to Terms with the Art World", and "Ways of Seeing".
Audiences had the opportunity to attend an exhibition walk with the artist, Noor Alwan, for a more open and in-depth conversation about her process and a closer look into the art that was displayed at her exhibition, "Sacred Practices".
A labor of love, paying homage to her late grandfather, Mohamed Janahi; Noor Alwan's "Sacred Practices" exhibition represented a reflection, through the collected personal artistic practice of Janahi’s creations, and in response, inspired pieces created by Noor, that celebrate her grandfather and his work.
In this edition of the Expanded Media Club, we were honored to collaborate with the distinguished Bahraini director, Hashim Sharaf.
Hashim discussed the national cinematic identity in Bahrain, the challenges it faces, the existing practice and trends, and future aspirations from filmmakers, and the wider public.
The Art Kitchen Residency Open Studio tour, where the process of ‘making’ becomes the work itself.
Participants were invited to share their thoughts and reflections with the artists (Jaffar Al Oraibi, Ali Hussain, Mayasa Alsowaidi, and Mariam Alnoaimi), and became collaborators in the final execution of the work.
The last hundred years have been a turbulent and dynamic time in the world of art. As new museums opened up, biennales and art fairs proliferated in cities throughout the world. In response to all this, new arbiters and critics have given us the tools and opportunities to understand how we can develop informed opinions. The course is uniquely designed for the participants to appreciate how artworks of the recent past feed the future.
"Ways of Seeing" was a 6-week course that examined major modern and contemporary art movements in the context of the social, cultural, and political events over the past century. This course was designed to familiarize participants with how to read a work of art, unraveling the clues to decipher and understand why one painting, sculpture, installation or image is valued over another.
Art increases our self-awareness, allowing us to be open to new ideas and experiences, capturing moments in time, past, present, and future.
"Coming to Terms" was a two-day workshop that offered participants an introduction to understanding the basic principles that museums, galleries, and collectors rely on in determining the significance of a work of art.
Aimed at people with artistic skills, the workshop explored the anatomy of a comic page, the different types of comics, and the various tools a storyteller can use to bring their thoughts across.
In this workshop, artists learned the process of creating a narrative through comics, from storyboard to finished illustration. Artists then went through the entire process of creating a comic: brainstorming, researching, creating an outline, writing a script, and drawing the final product.
