A SERIES of artistic workshops have been lined up next month.
Organised by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca) in collaboration with Meraki Art Space, the workshops will be led by artists Maryam Yousif Rostam and Marjan Yousif Rostam.
The Bahraini sisters, who opened their centre in Zinj in August last year, have been conducting art workshops in Bahrain since 2015.
The new space hosts various workshops catered to adults and children aged five and above, embracing different skill levels.
“Fortunately, art is developing in Bahrain, reflected in the many art galleries and workshops that are running throughout the year,” Marjan told the GDN.
“Thanks to Baca offering free workshops, people are encouraged to experiment and learn about the different arts.
“Furthermore, Bahraini people are now more open to art as they are always enhancing their skills and encouraging their children to join art classes,” the 31-year-old added.
The sisters, who are not new to Bahrain’s art scene, first took part in the 2016 Bahrain Summer Festival.
“We offered mosaic and clay-modelling workshops and since then we have delivered many different workshops with Baca,” she said.
“We are self-taught artists, we haven’t received any official training in the field of arts. However, through dedication and constant practice we have developed our skills,” added Maryam, aged 33.
The sisters, who fell in love with handicrafts and art at an early age, were exposed to it by their family.
“Art is a language of its own. For us, it is family bonding as we gather with our family to experience art together and share different ideas,” she said.
“Since we entered the art field we appreciate artworks and artists more, as we are familiar with the process and the hours spent in order to come out with a beautiful art piece.
“We always try to learn new arts, then master them in order to teach,” she added.
“We offer different art workshops for different age groups and skill levels.
“Our main workshops are painting and mosaic art. We also offer carpentry, mixed media, string art, gardening and resin epoxy workshops.”
Approximately 450 participants attended their coaster weaving, mosaics and bracelet-making workshops at this year’s 11th edition of the Bahrain Summer Festival held in the Nakhool Tent at Riffa Fort.
“We were happy with the response as many children liked the workshops and attended more than once and parents liked the ideas and found them easy to apply at home,” Marjan said.
Meraki usually takes part in six major events at the regional level each year and the sisters additionally conduct mini workshops during their participation in other events.
Their previous workshops include mosaic and clay workshops at Spring of Culture 2018, mosaic and string art workshops at Baca’s creative art workshop Hawa Al Bahrain from 2016 to 2018 and the Nakhool Tent, amongst others.
Maryam, who used to work as an accountant at Karami Catering, and Marjan, who is a senior officer in training and academic affairs with Golden Trust Training and Consultancy, believe there is scope for more workshops.
“We are living a very busy and stressful life, so people’s demand for art is increasing as it helps them to relieve their stress through spending their time in learning new skills which might benefit them in the future,” Maryam added.
The series of artistic workshops set to begin next month at the Art Centre in Manama are being held as part of Baca’s summer programme.
They include the Art of Mosaic on Saturday, Woodworking (August 13), Techniques in Acrylic Painting (August 17) and String Art (August 24).
Check out Meraki’s schedule @meraki.art.bh on Instagram and Facebook.