Beauty Made By the Unseen - Art by Saudi Women

A group of ten Saudi women living in the U.S., all of them artists, most of them students, will be featured in an upcoming art exhibit in Minneapolis entitled "Beauty Made By the Unseen."  The exhibit will be held at the Vine Arts Center (2637 27th Ave. South, Minneapolis) from March 8-10, 2013.

The exhibit will include works in oil, acrylic on wood, watercolor, and digital media.

The artists, all originally from Saudi Arabia, come from across the United States - California, Florida, Chicago, Texas, Minnesota, Virginia and Massachusetts. Many of them will be traveling to Minnesota to attend the exhibit. This will be a rare opportunity for Americans to see the artwork of Saudi women and to meet the artists in person.

The publicity for the event states, "Their art shows their journeys of self-discovery as part of their learning process while they are away from home. They try to find artistic voices that truly reflect who they are. These voices not only represent the individual artist, but also portray a picture of the new Saudi woman as she opens up to the world. The art in this exhibit will further illuminate how their transitional path in America changed the way they see themselves and how they deal with western culture. Their art will reveal to us their real concerns and issues."

The exhibit's opening reception on March 8th, International Women's Day, will feature a lecture by Dr. Mody Alkhalaf about women in Saudi Arabia. Dr. Alkhalaf is the assistant attaché for cultural and social affairs at the Saudi Embassy in Washington. She is also an advocate for women's rights.

Dr. Mody Alkhalaf will speak at the opening

Magied Alsqoor, a graduate student from Saudi Arabia who is pursuing a Master's at Minnesota's University of St. Thomas in educational leadership, got the idea for the exhibit last summer. "I have been involved in Saudi students clubs in MN since 2006," he writes. "We had no activities at all to introduce Saudi women to the community here in Minnesota." He worked with artist Hend Al-Mansour and the board of the Arab American Cultural Institute to organize the event.

Location:
Vine Arts Center - 2637 27th Ave. South, Minneapolis

Friday Evening, March 8, 2013
4:00 - 7:00 PM - Public Reception
6:00 - 7:00 PM - Public Lecture by Dr. Mody Alkhalaf about Women in Saudi Arabia

Saturday, March 9, 2013
2:00-6:00 PM - Availability of Artists

Sunday, March 10, 2013
10:00AM - 2:00PM - Availability of Artists

The event is being organized by the Arab American Cultural Institute in Minnesota and is sponsored by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission in Washington DC.