Week 6: Response to Islamic Art and Architecture in Mosques
This week’s response is not specific to one reading but rather all of the readings and discussions we had in class. We viewed many different types of Islamic architecture when it came to designing mosques. During section we debated about the nature of Islamic Art. The conclusion I personally reached is that the architecture is very much a product of the culture, location, time period, and interactions with other cultures. Though regional differences may exist in how a mosque is built or differences in Islamic architecture as a whole, i found that there are some commonalities between different buildings. One that I found in many different forms of Islamic architecture is the arch and spaces that have high ceilings. From my experiences in visiting places of worship I found a lot of them had very high ceilings and architecture that makes the space appear for large even if not in the amount of square footage. When I saw mosques in Egypt I noticed this pattern, alongside the Notre Dame, and a Confucius place of worship. I partly believe this is done for the echoing noises that create a sense of greatness.
For my artwork I decided to create an arch with a lamp. This is in part inspired by the designs and patterns I’ve seen in a lot of prayer rugs in which there is an arch and some type of lamp hanging from the arch. It is also inspired by some Mughal architecture found in Agra. The light might tie into the idea of the “nur” that Muhammad was endowed with. It might also be the guiding light. I decided it would be something I wanted to include in the artwork. I used acrylic paints and a flat canvas panel for this piece. The hope was to depict what looking out of an arch in the setting sun would look like. We would only be able to see a silhouette of that portion of the building and the light. In retrospect I wish I had used both acrylic and oil paints to create this piece because I am not as familiar with acrylic paint and how to create colors with it. I wish I had done the background in both acrylic and oil paints because this would have enabled me to create a gradient of colors that would be associated with the setting sun aside from just a orange-pink color.
