Zakariya Calligraphy

About the Artist

Vita

Mohamed Zakariya

Mohamed Zakariya—calligrapher, turner, metalworker—combines classical standards with a modern sensibility to produce works on paper, fantasies in wood, and instruments from the history of science. With no formal education, Zakariya learned his trades in aerospace-industry machine shops; in the Los Angeles atelier of Oscar Meyer, the French impresario of antiques and objects de virtu; at the British Museum; and at Istanbul’s Research Center for Islamic Art, History, and Culture, where he earned two licenses in Islamic calligraphy—the first Westerner to do so.

Zakariya grew up in Southern California in the 1940s and 50s. “There was no better time to be a boy,” he says. “We could go anywhere and see anything. The area was full of the world’s cast-offs--cranks, eccentrics, old men tinkering in their garages. Great things were to be found in dusty antique shops. We played on the beach and went to school barefoot. Our teachers were glorious fools, and school was not for study but for discovery.”

In 1961, after a holiday in Morocco, Zakariya accepted Islam and began to learn the Arabic language and the study of Islamic calligraphy. He was 19. These interests took him many times to Morocco, Spain, and England, where he remained for a few years studying calligraphy and manuscripts at the British Museum. During this time, he made a living restoring old houses and acting in the British comic troupe “Bruce Lacey and the Alberts.”

Since settling in the Washington, D.C., area in 1972, Zakariya has traveled frequently to Turkey and the Persian Gulf and has exhibited and lectured extensively in this country and abroad. Known for his design of the “Eid Greetings” U.S. postage stamp, he concentrates primarily on classical Arabic and Ottoman Turkish calligraphy. Recent experience includes a stint as artist-in-residence at the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art in Honolulu; solo exhibitions at the Institute for Works on Paper, San Francisco; and the Bellevue (Washington) Arts Center; and group exhibitions in Dubai and Kuwait.

Taking it as his mission to revive classical texts through aesthetically arresting presentation, Zakariya is considered the preeminent ambassador of the art of Islamic calligraphy in America.

Experience

  • 1961: Private study in Los Angeles
  • 1964-66 Private study at British Museum, London, and with A.S. Ali Nour in London and Tangier, Morocco
  • 1966-71 Consultant in calligraphy, illumination, antique restoration, and instrument making, Oscar Meyer Antiques, Los Angeles
  • 1971 Artist in Residence at Scripps University, California
  • 1984 - Research Center for Islamic History, Art, and Culture (IRCICA), Istanbul (ongoing)
  • 1988 Diploma (icazet) in sulus/nesih script from Hasan Celebi
  • 1991 Consultant on astronomical globes, Khalili Collection, London
  • 1997 Diploma (icazet) in ta’lik script from Ali Alparslan
  • 2000, 2003 Script identification for Islamic manuscripts, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland
  • 2004 Curator, Islamic Calligraphy from the State of Qatar, Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University
  • 2005 Artist in Residence, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Shangri La, Honolulu, Hawaii

Solo Exhibitions

  • 1975 Solo exhibition, Venable-Neslage Galleries, Washington, D.C.
  • 1982 Solo exhibition, Georgetown Design Group, Washington, D.C.
  • 1983 Solo exhibition, Doha Free Art School, Qatar
  • 1986 Solo exhibitions and lectures, United States Information Agency (traveling exhibition, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dabi, and Oman)
  • 1987 Solo exhibition, Salon of Invention, Jidda, Saudi Arabia
  • 1988-90 Solo exhibitions and lectures, American Arab Affairs Council, (traveling exhibition, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dabi, and Oman)
  • 1987 Solo exhibition, Salon of Invention, Jidda, Saudi Arabia
  • 1988-90 Solo exhibitions and lectures, American Arab Affairs Council, (traveling exhibition)
  • 2005 Masterworks Institute for Works on Paper, San Francisco
  • 2006-07 Mohamed Zakariya, Islamic Calligrapher (solo exhibition), Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, Washington
  • 2008 Solo exhibition and lecture, The Asia Society, New York, N.Y.

Group Exhibitions

  • 1988 International Festival of Arabic Calligraphy and Islamic Ornament, Baghdad
  • 1990 Group exhibition, Research Center for Islamic History, Art, and Culture (IRCICA), Yildiz Sarayi, Istanbul
  • 1990 Four Contemporary Calligraphers, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
  • 1991 Group exhibition, Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis (astrolabes)
  • 1994 Faces of Faith, Klutznick National Jewish Museum of B’nai B’rith, Washington, D.C.
  • 1996 Kazema Festival for Islamic Heritage, Kuwait City, Kuwait
  • 1996 Group exhibition, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
  • 1997 Group exhibition, Research Center for Islamic History, Art, and Culture (IRCICA), Yildiz Sarayi, Istanbul
  • 1998 Two Sacred Paths Christianity and Islam, Washington National Cathedral
  • 2000 Group exhibition and presentation, Liturgical Arts Festival, Gallery of the Arts, Springfield Art Association, Springfield, Illinois
  • 2000 Islamic Calligraphy A Living Art, Dadian Gallery, American University, Washington, D.C.
  • 2002 Works of Devotion, Andover Newton Theological School, Newton, Massachusetts
  • 2002 Word and Worship Approaching Islam through Art, Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  • 2002 Group exhibition and presitation, Reflections at a Time of Transformation, ASMA Society for Islamic Culture and Arts, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York
  • 2003 Writing the Sublime The Art of Calligraphy in the Religions of Abraham, Interfaith Center of New York, New York
  • 2005 Scripture as Art Calligraphy in the Three Faiths of Abraham, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco
  • 2007 Art in Embassies Exhibition, U.S. Embassy, Cairo, Egypt
  • 2007 Dubai International Exhibition of the Arabic Calligraphy Art, Dubai, UAE
  • 2008 Third Kuwait International Calligraphy Exhibition, Kuwait City
  • 2010-2011 Pilgrimage & Faith: Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Cantor Gallery, Worcester, Massachusetts; Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago; University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia; Rubin Museum of Art, New York City.

Selected Commissions

  • 1977 King Khalid Military City, Saudi Arabia ( foundation stone)
  • 1978 Alder Planetarium, Chicago (cross staff)
  • 1981 Jidda International Airport, Jidda, Saudi Arabia
  • 1984 Time Museum, Rockford, Illinois (sundial)
  • 1985 Aramco Science Museum, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (astrolabe, celestial globe)
  • 1986 National Museum of Qatar, Doha (sundial)
  • 1991 Images of Paradise in Islamic Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth University (exhibition design)
  • 1994 MCC Mosque, Silver Spring, Maryland (mural calligraphy)
  • 2001 Design for “Eid Greetings” stamp for U.S. Postal Service
  • 2003 Mosque of the Two Columns, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (interior design and installation)
  • 2005 Cover calligraphy for New York Times Magazine, January 2005
  • 2006 Art on Call, Historic Washington’s Fire and Police Call Box Project (calligraphy for installation in call box)
  • 2005 Muslim Association of Hawaii Mosque, Honolulu, Hawaii (calligraphy)
  • 2007 Keithmore Consulting, calligraphic panel for the dome of a tomb in Tasmania
  • 2008 Aramco Services Co., double Hilye gift for retiring CEO Abdallah Juma’ah
  • 2009 U.S. State Department, calligraphy for presidential gift to King Abdalaziz of Saudi Arabia

Collections

  • Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (calligraphy)
  • Museum of Turkpetrol Vakfi, Istanbul (calligraphy)
  • Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore (calligraphy)
  • Harvard Sackler Art Museum, Cambridge (calligraphy)

Zakariya is represented by Suleyman Cooke, Institute for Works on Paper, 80 Maiden Lane, Suite 2, San Francisco, CA 94108; 415.362.3906; suleyman@linearisinstitute.org.