Arts and Crafts Doha promises to teach and hone your creative

abilities across a wide range of mediums, writes Umer Nangiana

All you need to have is passion to goad your creative instincts, Arts and Crafts Doha will take care of the rest. Providing a creative space for learning different forms of art, this centre has already attracted scores of the city’s art enthusiasts within just over a year of opening. The number continues to swell.

Focusing particularly on the less explored forms in Doha such as pottery and ceramics, the Arts and Crafts Doha caters to the needs of all age groups. It is a platform for not just learning but excelling in your area of interest.

Whether you intend to learn just the basics of arts, hone your existing skills, experiment with your methods, try your hand at new techniques and forms or you are one who has secretly nurtured a desire to be an artist but could never get time and opportunity, Arts and Crafts Doha promises to be the place for you.

Located behind Landmark Mall, the Arts and Crafts Doha boasts its own kilns and workshops to make ceramics in thousands of moulds besides the capability to create tiles and murals. The centre has professionals in its faculty to teach art forms from painting to sketching and design. It has time slots available for all from children to adults and both men and women.

“We sharpen the talent. We help people on personal basis. We help them according to their needs varying from case to case. Not everyone is equal in level. Even in one class we have different levels and the teachers would go accordingly, looking after each one of them,” Lina Lotfi, the Manager of Arts and Crafts, told Community in an interview recently at the exhibition of students’ work at the centre.

Since its opening in November last year, the centre has provided training to a number of children and adults including those who went on to pursue careers in the fields of art.

In the diverse mix of its students, the centre receives those preparing to begin college. Then there are others who are about to build their careers around art.

“They need a strong base. Yet, for some, it has just been a hobby. For instance, there was this lady who came to us and took a few courses. Now, she has gone to a really high level and we are thinking of making an exhibition of her work,” said Lotfi.

Referring to another student, Jassim al-Mussalam, the manager said he is a gifted artist and a natural talent. Jassim, she said, is right on course to achieve big in future. “When he came to us, he used to draw very nice sketches. He sketches really well. He had some sketches made at home and they were really good. His family also encourages him,” she added.

Lotfi said Jassim has been with the centre for a year. He is a committed student and has a very bright future ahead of him.

The centre helps students attain high levels. It gets students who aspire to become architects or engineers and trains them to find strong basis to achieve their goals. Such students are particularly keen in taking sketching courses, so they are put together with established artists.

Arts and Crafts Doha registers students for monthly courses; however, they can extend it to as long as they need. “We have students who have been with us since we opened in November. We have students for over six months with us. Art needs time. It cannot be learnt overnight. It needs time, patience and commitment,” said the manager of the centre.

As a private art centre, it provides coaching and training in all forms of art providing various kinds of workshops for painting in all mediums such as oil, glass, silk, and ceramic etcetera. At the centre, they also teach how to make murals. It is the only private art centre to have its own workshop to create its own ceramics in Doha.

The centre already possesses over 16,000 moulds and is making its own moulds for creating ceramic designs now. In its faculty of permanent and part-time teachers, the centre has professional artists from Iraq and Lebanon. Many local Qatari artists have also shown interest to join.

With flexible timings, the centre offers weekly workshops for oil painting for women in the morning sessions. It has workshops for children in the afternoons and on weekends where they are taught all kinds of art forms from pottery to mixed media, painting and crafts.

The art coaching centre also comes up with special themes on special occasions in the country. For the National Day, for instance, they have the national flag printed on ceramics this time. For Ramadan and Eid, they hosted many events besides engaging school children in various activities at their premises.

The children activities include workshops in mosaic and ceramics paintings where students visit the centre and participate in the workshops.

“We have assistants at our centre who are very well trained. We trained them for six months so that they are capable of managing all various forms of arts and students,” said Lotfi.

“We have an Iraqi artist Ammar Yasser, who is working with us full time now. He is an expert in murals. He teaches the oil painting workshops and he does the murals and designs. He has assistants working under him but he is the master of murals and ceramics,” she added.

The manager said more artists are keen on joining Arts and Crafts Doha and would be part of the team soon.

She said the centre is looking to expand to have its own workshops to make corporate gifts as it has both the capacity and the capability to do so. From establishing workshops to arranging license, workers and equipment, the project is half completed. In another two years, the art centre aims to have another branch in Qatar.

The manager also plans to hold an exhibition of the work of her students at some independent space in future so that it can reach a larger audience.

Lotfi has been running the centre with passion. She says the Arts and Crafts Doha has been like a family member to her.

“I didn’t study art. I was always interested in literature and poetry. I started developing interest in art around 10 years ago when I took lessons in silk painting. We were here in Doha and I took a few classes here and also back in Lebanon,” said Lotfi.

From thereon, she worked hard to establish herself as an artist. “When I opened this business, I loved it. The centre is my passion and I feel it is part of my family. It is a part of me,” she added.

“At the centre, I sometime join classes to learn because you never seize to learn. You are always improving your technique. I teach silk painting at the centre to juniors and women. I love acrylic and abstract art,” said the manager of the centre.

“When you love art, it inspires you by itself. You do not need anybody to encourage you. It has a magnetic force in it. It pulls you towards it,” said Lotfi.

She said Qatar has a lot of talent — the art centre has a lot Qatari students. Qataris have been providing tremendous support to the centre, Lotfi said. She wants people to know that the Arts and Crafts Doha is there to provide quality art education to whoever has the urge to learn.