Giving Calligraphy a Whirl & Getting Your Ommmmm On

The Houston Arts Alliance will host an interactive workshop on calligraphy in religious expression May 22, featuring artists from Islamic, Jewish and Buddhist traditions.

Part of the Sacred Songs, Sacred Sites series, Calligraphy and the Call will offer attendees to give calligraphy a whirl (to use highly technical language) under the tutelage of four Houston-area calligraphers, including a Buddhist monk who believes the art form promotes "a calm and meditative state fundamental to Buddhism"; a Brazilian-born daughter of Holocaust survivors, who's known well in Houston's Jewish community for her Ketubbahs (Jewish wedding contracts); a Pakistan-born, self-taught calligrapher who practices in both Arabic and English; and a native Egyptian whose "interest in calligraphy was piqued by a teacher who told him that beautiful handwriting was a way of appreciating God."

Whether you want to appreciate God or just learn how to write real pretty-like, this workshop looks like another killer installment in the Sacred Songs series, which is the first major project of the Alliance's Folkslife & Traditional Arts program. Plus, it's free, thanks in part to the Houston Endowment, the National Endowment for the Arts, Sara and Bill Morgan, His Highness The Aga Khan Council for the USA, Humanities Texas and Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston.

Check the Alliance site for more information.