On November 16th, 2012 Pacifica Institute Sunnyvale branch had a calligraphy lecture from the renowned master of Arabic calligraphy, Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang. Pacifica Institute audience found a chance to see his infusion of immense learning and teachings in traditional thought and Islamic art to a modern audience. The outcome of his work would be called as an amalgamation of a masterful calligraphic technique which uniquely fuses both Chinese and Arabic arts.
In 1997, Haji Noor Deen was awarded Certificate of Arabic Calligrapher in Egypt, being the first Chinese person to be honored with this prestigious award. In 2000, Noor Deen initiated and taught the first regular and systemic Arabic Calligraphy course at the Zhengzhou Islamic College in China. His work has been collected and displayed in galleries and museums around the world, often as the first Chinese/Arabic artist, including The British Museum, San Francisco Aslan Museum, National Museum of Scotland and Harvard University Art Museum.
He has been offering lectures and workshops in different locations and institutions such as The Zaytuna Institute (California), Harvard University, Cambridge University, University of California, Berkeley and Boston University. He has also exhibited at a number of countries including the UK, Ireland, Australia, Singapore, The United Arab Emirates, Canada, Qatar, Mauritius and Kuwait.
In 2008, Haji Noor Deen travelled to Istanbul and became the first Chinese student to study traditional Arabic calligraphy taught by the distinguished calligrapher and Shiek, Hassan Jalabi as well as the artist/calligrapher Dawoud Baktash.
We appreciated his ability to spectacularly deliver his craft to Pacifica Institute audience. The lecture has started with a presentation of his daily life with his family in China and how he perceives and combines Chinese calligraphy with Islamic calligraphy.
As he drew on the paper we could witness one of the most eye-catching, mind boggling techniques to understand, interpret and enjoy the world of KALAM-NUN-THE PEN OF QUR’AN from such a creative beautiful mind. After the event the audience could get a change to buy his art work, get their names written on a special paper and chat with him along the process. When he was packing and getting ready to leave we had an agreement with Haji Noor Deen we definitely want to have him again in our center since he could hardly introduced us to the magical world of calligraphy!
http://www.hajinoordeen.com/ach.html
