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Mohamed Zakariya is an Islamic calligrapher, artist, and maker of custom
instruments from the history of science. Born in Ventura,
California, in 1942, he began his study of Islamic calligraphy in
1961. After continuing his studies with A.S. Ali Nour in Tangier,
Morocco, and independently at the British Museum, he was invited in
1984 by the Research Center for Islamic History, Art, and Culture
(IRCICA) in Istanbul to study with two celebrated Turkish
calligraphers: Hasan Celebi and Ali Alparslan. In 1988, Zakariya
received the prized icazet (diploma) in sulus/nesih
script from Mr. Celebi in a ceremony in Istanbul, and in 1997, he
received the icazet in ta'lik from Dr. Alparslan.
In 2001, Zakariya designed and did the calligraphy for the “Eid
Greetings” U.S. Postal stamp, the first to commemmorate a
Muslim holiday. He has presented numerous workshops and lectures on
Islamic calligraphy, and his calligraphic works have been exhibited
widely in this country and abroad. (See
Selected Exhibitions and Other Occasions.) He is the author of numerous articles and
monographs, including Music for the Eyes, published by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Los Angeles Museum of Art in
conjunction with a 1998-99 exhibit of Ottoman calligraphy from the
Sakip Sabanci collection. He has also translated from the Turkish
the exhibition catalogue, Letters in Gold, by Ugur Derman, as
well as Mr. Derman's Art of Calligraphy in the Islamic Heritage
(IRCICA, 1999).
A
master woodworker, engraver, and machinist, Zakariya also designs and
constructs functioning examples of antique-style horological and
scientific instruments, examples of which are in the collections of
the Aramco Science Museum in Saudi Arabia, the National Museum of
Qatar, the Time Museum in Rockford, Ill., and the Adler Planetarium
in Chicago.
Earlier in life, Zakariya performed in England with the
stage comedy troupe Bruce Lacey and the Alberts (1964-66) while he
was pursuing independent studies at the British Museum and in Fez,
Morocco. Following that, he was a consultant to Oscar Meyer Antiques,
Los Angeles, in the areas of calligraphy, illumination, antique
restoration, and instrument making (1966-71).
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