International exhibition celebrated women in the Islamic world and their artistic contributions

Carrying a message of peace, understanding and tolerance, "Breaking the Veils: Women Artists from the Islamic World," a traveling exhibition of artwork from the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts in Amman and was on view through April 1 in the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery at St. Catherine University.

At a panel presentation and discussion March 2, more than 300 members of the campus community and visitors listened to a panel and engaged in a discussion about “The Many Faces of Islam,” in Rauenhorst Ballroom at Coeur de Catherine.

Moderated by Minnesota Public Radio Arts Reporter Marianne Combs, who wrote about the panel at MPR's Arts Blog, the program featured five panelists who shared their stories to deepen understanding of the diversity within the Islamic culture and help break commonly-held stereotypes.

The panelists were:

Safiya Balioglu, outreach coordinator for Islamic Resource Group, a native of Germany who converted to Islam
Latifah Kiribedda, a St. Catherine University international student from Uganda and Muslim Student Association member
Hend Al-Mansour, an artist from Saudi Arabia
Imani Jaafar-Mohammad, Esq., attorney, Mohammad Jaafar-Mohammad, LLC, a Lebanese-American
Ladan Yusuf, executive director for Crossing Barriers, native of Somalia

Combs also interviewed Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts Director Khalid Khreis, Ph.D. and filed this on MPR's Arts Blog Friday, Feb. 5.

Left to right: Robins Kaplin Miller & Ceresi Partner Michael Cerisi, St. Kate's Vice–
President for External Relations Marjorie Mathison Hance and Ann Ciresi.
RKMC's Foundation made the exhibition possible. Photo by Rebecca Zenefski '10.

Special preview reception honors University supporters
A donor preview of the exhibition was Friday Feb. 5 and covered by the Star Tribune's Sara Glassman.

University Vice President for External Relations, Marjorie Mathison Hance, hosted a special preview that featured the Director of Jordan's National Gallery of Fine Arts, Khalid Khreis, Ph.D., his wife, Clara, and from Atlanta, ArtReach Foundation Founder/Executive Director Susan Anderson and her husband, James, head of the Atlanta office of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P.

ArtReach volunteers Katrina Griessman and Mitzi Prochnow were also there to celebrate.

The "Breaking the Veils" exhibition at St. Kate’s was made possible by the law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. and among the guests representing the firm were Partners Anne Rosenberg and Michael Ciresi and his wife, Ann, as well as retired RKMC attorney Deborah Palmer.

Community outreach and programming for the exhibition were underwritten by grants from the F.R. Bigelow Foundation and Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation.

About the exhibition
Referring not to the physical veil but the metaphoric veil of ignorance and misunderstanding, the exhibition was organized to break the stereotyping of women in Islam (the term "Islamic" refers to the culture and civilization) and showcase gifted women artists: Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and Hindu.

Their art spans a variety of styles–watercolor, mixed media and oil on canvas–and a variety of educational backgrounds. Several are self-taught but the majority of artists have studied at a variety of European art schools and universities and those in their home countries. A smaller number have studied in the United States and one, Simin Maykadeh, studied at the University of Minnesota.

“The art in this exhibition offers us insights into the lives of women in the Islamic world,” said Kathleen Daniels, director of the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery. “It illustrates how art can break down stereotypes, transform us and deepen our understanding of the global community.”

Born in Iran in 1941, Simin Maykadeh trained in art at Torlington
Park School in Sussex, England and graduated in 1960 from the
University of Minnesota.

In her review for the Star Tribune, arts reporter Mary Abbe said, "The art is strikingly modern and sophisticated in its vibrant color, sociopolitical themes and incorporation of European influences."

A venue for Arab and Islamic artists
Princess Wijdan Al-Hashemi, the first woman to enter Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its first female diplomat at the United Nations, founded the Royal Society of Fine Arts, the governing organization of the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, in 1979. She is an art historian, curator, painter and currently president of the Society.

In an interview with the German art magazine, Nafas, in 2003, HRH Princess Wijdan Al Hashemi said the Royal Society and Gallery were founded, “to establish a venue for Arab and Islamic artists where they could show their work and be evaluated according to their own aesthetics, without having to shed their skin.”

The Royal Society and Gallery encourage cultural diversity, disseminate artistic knowledge and promote art from the Islamic and developing worlds. In addition to a permanent collection of more than 2000 works by more than 800 artists from 59 countries, the Society organizes traveling exhibitions, lectures and seminars.

Born in 1931 in Algeria and orphaned at the age of five, Baya was a self-
taught artist, whose colorful dreamlike paintings captured the interest
of Andr� Breton and Pablo Picasso. Even though their approval won her
international attention, and even an appearance on the cover of the Paris
edition of Vogue magazine, she lived and raised a family in Algeria and
painted until her death in 1999.

Also in the Nafas interview, Princess Wijdan discussed the primary goal of the Society and Gallery: “We have to reach out in order to attain a basic and exigent goal: the promotion of world peace through the advancement of the arts and the eradication of cultural apartheid.

“We should all strive to learn and accept our humanizing differences, and judge other traditions according to their own values and aesthetics which fall within a broader humanitarian order. By spreading acceptance and forbearance and supporting those who do so, and through learning and beauty, we will be able to contribute to the future of our world.”

The only regional venue
Located inside the Visual Arts Building on the St. Catherine University, St. Paul campus, the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery was the only regional site of this compelling international art exhibition.

U.S. exhibition sites
Presented by the ArtReach Foundation, the exhibition was organized by the Royal Society of Fine Arts Jordan and the Pan-Mediterranean Women Artists Network, Greece, and has been shown in venues across Europe and Australia before coming to the U.S. in 2008.

It debuted at the Clinton Foundation's Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Ark., in June 2008.

Additional U.S. exhibition sites have included:

University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss., fall 2008
John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Washington, D.C., winter 2009
Yale University Council on Middle East Studies, Sept. 8 - Dec. 11, 2009

By Julie Michener
April 2, 2010

Contact Julie Michener, (651) 690-6521

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