For a period of more than three years while working on her dissertation in Canada Sohaila Javed sent poems to her childhood friend Rahat Naveed Masud in Pakistan. A rich, spiritual hermeneutic dialogue of art and poetry ensued as Rahat responded to the poetry with touch of colour and inner reflective images in what Sohaila calls “a concert of narrative (he)art songs”. Each art form does not presume to represent or interpret the other, instead through a deeply felt interconnection, they transform. Rahat’s figures hold a haunting presence that are amplified by the soul marriage between Sohaila’s poetry and her art. Art Seen is pleased to present this communion of ideas through art, text and sound and invites the viewer/reader “to be responsive and open to essences in every aspect of our existence” (Javed, 2004). The viewer’s engagement and heart response is the final piece that truly completes this relational hermeneutic dialogue. Barbara Bickel
Barbara Bickel Barbara Bickel is an artist, researcher, educator and independent curator. She is currently working on her PhD in Art Education (Curriculum Studies) at the University of British Columbia where her arts-based research is focused on women, leadership and education. Barbara completed her MA in Education entitled “From Artist to A/r/tographer: An Autoethnographic Ritual Inquiry into Writing on the Body” at the University of British Columbia in 2004. She holds a BFA in Painting from the University of Calgary and a BA in Sociology and Art History from the University of Alberta. Her art and performance rituals have been exhibited and performed in Canada since 1991. Her art is currently represented by the Fran Willis Gallery in Victoria BC, Kensington Fine Art Gallery in Calgary AB, and the School of Ideas Gallery in Welland Ontario. She co-founded The Centre Gallery (1995-2001), a non-profit women’s focused gallery in Calgary AB. A long-time collaborative artist, her art can be found in poetry books as well as on book and CD covers. |