Ode to my Architect, G_d : Verses and Sound of an Islamic Art (Uzma Mirza)
Description
ISBN: 97814611117896
Author: Uzma Mirza
Publisher: Uzma Mirza (2012)
Pages: 116 Binding: Paperback
Description from the publisher:
Writer, artist and architect Uzma Mirza shares her spiritual meditations in “Ode to my Architect, G_d,” a unique collection of Islamic calligraphy, essay and verse. As a Muslim woman raised in the West, Mirza takes pains to reach her audiences, clarifying terms from the Quran, from architecture, science, music and art without lessening the intricacy and challenge of her material. She does this in the tradition of illuminated manuscripts, wherein radiant images accompany sacred thoughts, each supporting yet not duplicating the other. In the tradition of sacred writing, Mirza uses metaphors, similes and other evocative devices, often phrasing her spiritual thoughts in the language of music... “Essentially, each of us live on an harmonic staff (life) on which we can score notes to reverberate a symphony reflecting God's Attributes." It is her discovery of the divine in the most ordinary of actions:... “seeing the greatness that surrounds us… [in] the most minuscule of miracles, daily…reading the universe and drinking a glass of water slowly.”
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About the Author
Uzma Mirza, is a registered and licensed architect with NCARB in the United States; LEED certified with the US Green Building Council with membership with various professional affiliations. Presently, she is a founder and owner of a green consultancy; a writer of prose and verse; and a published Islamic calligraphic artist with a work unique to her approach. She is a graduate of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, with a 5 year professional degree in Architecture, with High Distinction and Honors, and a recipient of the Ontario Association of Architects Medal. She exhibits her Islamic art, speaks on her essays and advances green architecture at various venues and universities. In addition, she is a founder of a 501c3 non-profit charitable organization, The Pen and Inkpot Foundation. Presently, one of her art pieces called Green Notes: A Goodly Tree, was published, where she was represented as a contemporary Muslim artist in North America by two authors who use art as a dialogue in Muslim-Christian relations. In addition her art and poetry has been published by various organizations. Her art is used by non-profit organizations to raise funds; two of her works are presently at the embassy in Qatar in Washington. Her art has been selected for various exhibits as the Woman Made gallery’s HER MARK and its 9th International Juried Exhibit in Chicago; City Wide Open Studios in New Haven Connecticut; the 4th Presbyterian, Michigan Ave group interfaith art exhibit in Chicago Illinois; Auburn University Islamic art exhibit and Indiana University with the Bloomington Area Arts Council Art exhibit at the John Waldron Arts Center Gallery, Voices and Visions, Bloomington, Indiana. Her art work has been published in the Chicago Gallery News, the ISNA 2008 calendar and Horizon magazine, A Word in the World. She has been interviewed with an Islamic Radio podcast in Cairo, Egypt, the Chicago Crescent and a podcast interview with Muslims Voices, Bloomington Indiana. She has worked on various sustainable design projects; a library for the Lost Boys of Sudan and various visions for a sustainable design for several communities locally and internationally. In short, all her work attempts to maintain, without complacency, a renewed thinking through a social activism, by her pen in both prose and verse, and in her art.