One of the side jobs that I take a lot of pride in is the supervision I provide to counselors and art therapists in training. One of the things I try to integrate is a multicultural perspective through the viewing of art, and learning a bit about the culture that we are viewing. As a therapist, we must always look at the cultural piece that makes up the story of our clients, and artists notoriously create art as a reflection of what is going on in their lives while they create. Even the still-life is a reflection on society and what the artist is experiencing.
Today, we visited the Dallas Museum of Art, in particular the Keir Collection of Islamic Art , which will be on Exhibit through April 26, 2020. So you definitely have time to make your way to visit! I wanted to understand a bit about the artists, both from a historical aspect, and from a modern take on what the artist might be experiencing from their perspective, and I was pleasantly surprised to see such a diverse array of subject matter and material. Some of the art is more religiously focused, while others are a reflection on society. Take a look at some of the images we were able to experience.
We chose this exhibition this month, after spending time at the Irving Arts Center in November. We do field trips about once a month, and they hosted the 6th annual Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Islamic art. The Exhibition ended a few days ago, but I was so impressed with what they had to offer. We will definitely make our way back there as well. Between the two exhibitions, I have gained quite an appreciation for the historical plight of the Islamic artist. And, the smaller venue lent an amazing opportunity to engage with volunteer docents that were more than happy to help us understand a bit deeper what it was that we were looking at. This current collection was far more a reflection of historically traditional Islamic art, while the contemporary exhibition gave us an understanding of the duality that the artists are currently experiencing as their Islamic heritage is challenged and merged in with this new American culture.
For a bit more info about Islamic art, I checked out a few websites! Here is a link….. and here is another… and here is a link to a video that gives a good overview of the common historical art and architecture. feel free to comment below with any personal experiences, or articles that you might think wouldn’t help us understand further!
And, if you get a chance to go to the Dallas Museum of Art, be sure to look up Major Tom across from the dog run at Klyde Warren Park. He does single card Tarot readings. We had a blast. I got the Wheel of Furtune, and I’m not surprised at all that there is a monkey on there. Anyone want to venture some of their own talents at reading Tarot cards? For at least two of us, his reading had some interesting insights. Worth checking him out as well! 
