Calligraphy artist donates to a festival

Hst Al-Awaidi made a surprise visit to the festival's organisers at the Different Moons exhibition currently on show at The Whitaker gallery.

A festival exploring the lives of Rossendale’s South Asian community was given a boost by a leading calligraphy artist.

Hst, from Oman, was invited to visit the Whitaker exhibition when he was in Manchester for the Omani National Day.

He was so impressed by the exhibition when he visited that he offered one of his own artworks to the collection. The piece, which had taken Awaidi four months to complete, was handed over to museum managers and members of the Different Moons team including Waterfoot-based theatre Horse and Bamboo’s joint artistic director Bob Frith, and Arry Nessa.

Bob said: «We’re really excited that the Different Moons exhibition has attracted such international interest in addition to having received unprecedented interest from the local South Asian communities.

«The calligraphy work in the piece that Awaidi has donated is truly exquisite and will be of wide interest for its qualities. I’m sure that it will also be a great legacy from the current exhibition, as the text used by Awaidi are from verses in the Quran, and they also express some of the personal struggles of the artist».

«It’s good news that the Whitaker is including items that will be of interest to the wider community, reflecting the social changes that have taken place in Rossendale over the past half century.»

Hst Al-Awaidi lives in Muscat but studied aeronautical engineering at Liverpool University. He is a master calligrapher who learnt from his father as a child.

Calligraphy artist donates to festival

Source: www.rossendalefreepress.co.uk