umuc helen zughaib exhibition, 2015

Arts Program | University of Maryland University College

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HELEN ZUGHAIB

CONFLICT WITHIN

Arts ProgramUniversity of Maryland University College

January 11–March 29, 2015

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Dear Patrons of the Arts,

The Arts Program at University of Maryland University College (UMUC) prides itself on providing educational opportunities through the arts and showcas-ing the creative talents of its community of artists. The 2nd Biennial Maryland Regional Juried Art Exhibition (BMRE) introduced us to an artist whose works are exceptional. In 2013, Helen Zughaib was chosen by three judges as the BMRE 1st Place/President’s Best of Show Award winner. Honoring our commitment to the artists and the BMRE, UMUC has now invited Zughaib to return with an exhibition of her own work. For this exhibition, she has assembled a body of works that is designed to teach the viewer about Arab life and culture. Through her art, she teaches, empowers, and fosters a new perspective—an important goal for any major educational organization such as UMUC.

The overall mission of UMUC is to provide career-relevant education to busy professionals. As members of an institution of higher learning, we understand that there are different ways to disseminate information. The arts at UMUC constitute one path—a way to enhance the learning experience of its students, staff, and faculty and the public. Through the creative artistry of Helen Zughaib, our constituents can gain a greater understanding of life in the Middle East and the values that we share.

To us, art is a tool to educate, and this thought-provoking body of works by acclaimed Washington, D.C., artist Helen Zughaib certainly is a fine example of both art and education.

I congratulate Helen Zughaib for her fine work as an artist and for being selected as the 1st Place/President’s Best of Show Award winner and welcome her back to UMUC, where she will always be a Friend of the Arts. Additionally, I hope you as a viewer will enjoy learning from this exhibition.

Sincerely,

Javier MiyaresPresidentUniversity of Maryland University College

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ترحيبWelcome

Javier MiyaresPresidentUniversity of Maryland University College

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On November 3, 2013, the UMUC Arts Program hosted its 2nd Biennial Maryland Regional Juried Art Exhibition (BMRE). A pool of culturally diverse works of art in virtually all art mediums except digital art were presented to a jury of three well-respected art professionals—Faheem Majeed, Nona R. Martin, and Amy Eva Raehse. These jurors were charged with selecting approx-imately 50 works for the show and choosing the award winners. Out of 400 entries by approximately 200 artists, 47 works of art by 42 artists were selected for the exhibition. The 2013 award winners were Marcia Wolfson Ray, Nicholas Harris, Sean FitzPatrick, George Smyth, Greg Minah, Sy Wengrovitz, Sebastian Martorana, and Helen Zughaib, who won the 1st Place/President’s Best of Show Award for her entry Veiled Secrets. One element of the Best of Show prize is a one-person exhibition in the year following the award.

Helen Zughaib is a petite woman who speaks with a very soft voice but whose art commands the attention of the art world. She uses various media to shed light on the life of Arab women as well as people everywhere. Her goal, she says, is “to bring about positive dialogue about the Middle East.”

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Zughaib spent much of her early life, before college, in the Middle East and Europe. As an Arab American who received her BFA from Syracuse University, she feels that her life in America and in the Middle East has given her a unique perspective, allowing her to create works that are reflective and expressive of both communities. Her works reflect her personal experiences, as well as her reaction to them. Her art aims to bridge the gap between her two communities.

Zughaib has immortalized her experience as an Arab woman on canvas, board, fiber, and paper. Veiled Secrets is only one of many works that she created to address social, political, and economic issues surrounding her heritage.

Veiled Secrets certainly raises questions for the viewer. The work features what appears to be a woman in a black veil, with Arab text across the image. In the Muslim world, this type of headdress is called khimar. From the artist’s perspec-tive, the dialogue begins with questions embedded in the minds of the viewer. Why the veil? Why all black? Do women in the Middle East really dress like this? What does this mean? What does the Arab text mean? I believe it is her intention in this particular work to raise just such questions, so that viewers will seek answers. Thus, the dialogue begins, and the artist has advanced toward her goal.

This invitation to dialogue manifests itself in all her works. Imaginative or real, the colorful and geometric paintings reflect life in the Middle East and provide a glimpse into Arab culture. In light of the education mission of UMUC, the Arts Program is proud to encourage the dialogue on life in the Middle East through the works of art by Helen Zughaib.

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Eric KeyDirector, Arts ProgramUniversity of Maryland University College

مقدمةIntroduction

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Born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1959, Helen Zughaib left there in 1975 when that country’s civil war began. Zughaib first went to Athens, Greece, then to Paris, France, where she attended high school. In the fall of 1977, she moved to the United States to pursue a BFA at Syracuse University. As an Arab American and as an artist, Zughaib feels a responsibility to be a meaningful observer of both Arab and American cultures. Oftentimes, her work is most poignant when she illuminates the intersection of those cultures, especially following the recent upheavals in the Middle East.

Helen Zughaib: Conflict Within presents some of Zughaib’s earlier, abstract imagery as well as her latest work, which chronicles the conflicts in the Middle East and their implica-tions for Arabs, Arab Americans, and those who are curious about their cultures. Zughaib readily acknowledges that after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there was a reaction against those who belonged to or had ties to Middle Eastern cultures. In an era with 24-hour news cycles, pointed political commentary (especially on the largely anonymous Internet), and global conflicts, it would be easy for Zughaib to offer acerbic commentary on current affairs via her art. Surprisingly, she does not appear to take sides. She has stated, “Being in the United States has allowed me the free-dom to explore my artistic career and education and granted me a stable, peaceful environment, free of war and disrup-tions. In a broader sense, living in America has enabled me to express both sides of my heritage, Arab and American, in my personal life as well as through my art. This, to me, remains an invaluable and humbling gift.”

By avoiding overt political and social commentary, her work has universality but with an overarching concern: Zughaib wants her viewers to think about those left behind during

conflict, namely women and children. This exhibition gives voice to that issue without direct reference to the political conflicts that arose during the Arab Spring, a wave of protest centered in the 22 Arab nations.

This exhibition might begin with Map of Home (2010), a self-portrait that includes Zughaib’s beloved cat. At first glance, this work appears to be a fractured image with painted lines dividing the figure, but a map of the Middle East reveals them as the outline of her home country of Lebanon. Metaphorically, one might read the stylized self-portrait as inextricably linked with her homeland. Map of Home is at once stark, with unmodulated colors: the blue on the left is symbolic of water while the brown references mountains. Her necklace, a beloved gift from a family member, is the hand of Fatima, a design that commemorates the Prophet Mohammed’s daughter Fatima. Visually, the piece has Zughaib’s characteristic flattened space, but its rich symbols also make it a highly personalized work that even allows a hint of vulnerability. That characterization might apply to many other works in this show and throughout Zughaib’s oeuvre.

الصراع في الداخلHELEN ZUGHAIB | CONFLICT WITHIN

Map of Home, 2010, gouache and ink on board, 20 x 15 inches

Brian Young, Curator, Arts ProgramUniversity of Maryland University College

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Chronologically, the show begins with Lincoln Memorial (1990s), part of Zughaib’s larger Washington series where she reimagines some of the capital’s most noted monuments through her vantage point. More than any other work in this exhi-bition, Lincoln Memorial exudes pure optimism. Zughaib has remarked, “I want people to look at those monuments (from the Washington series) and see the concepts they represent.” While American politics may be polarizing, the institu-tions and founding documents represent an idealism worth commemorating.

Elsewhere in this exhibition, we see work that is at once both highly personal and indicative of larger narratives that involve large groups of people, including other women from her homeland, people of the Middle East, and even Arab expatriates in the Mid-Atlantic region. Zughaib learned her passion for narrative from her Lebanese father. She commemorated that relationship through a narrative cycle entitled Stories My Father Told Me (2003–5), which includes Coming to America (2005). In this early work, she acknowledges a debt to the powerful, early influence of Jacob Lawrence’s sequence of 60 paintings entitled the Migra-tion Series, now divided between the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Like Lawrence and countless narrative specialists going back hundreds of years, Zughaib draws on a tradition of reduc-ing stories to their essence, using backdrops, gesture, and staging. She uses the core elements of each story to represent the whole and then enriches the backgrounds and other elements. The result is a harmonious and personal nod to multiple sources, including the art of self-taught 19th-century painter Edward Hicks, Byzantine mosaics, biblical manuscripts, and architectural orna-ments, as well as the work of Lawrence. The primary difference between Zughaib and her predecessors is that her work is personalized, referring to her own evo-lution as an artist and woman. The Stories My Father Told Me Series is the pictorial manifestation of an oral history that otherwise would have been handed down through the family.

Moonlight Fishing (2012) is an unmistakable descendent of Stories My Father Told Me. It shows one of the famous pearl divers of Kuwait in an Eden-like embodi-ment of the richness of the natural world rather than a chronicle of a simple task. The myriad of patterns—from the peacock to the waves and foliage—serves to portray the Middle East as an oasis. While Zughaib may not have intended for this piece to offer additional commentary, it presents a contrast to the West’s narrative of that region as a desert repository of oil and conflict. It might be worth pointing out that Picasso’s similarly titled Night Fishing at Antibes (1938) is widely seen as a metaphor for violence against innocents. Perhaps it is ironic that while Zughaib’s piece lacks the bellicose vocabulary of Picasso’s work, the same message is present.

Coming to America, 2005, gouache on board, 15 x 20 inches, Collection of Bruce and Patricia Harrison

“With stunningly rich paintings, Helen Zughaib brings her father’s stories of family and tradition to life. Her style is a welcoming mix of detail and color that immediately draws viewers in and leaves them smiling.”

Elizabeth Barrett SullivanCurator of Exhibits Arab American National Museum

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While Map of Home, Moonlight Fishing, and Stories My Father Told Me contain the visual anchors (such as her need for storytelling) that much of Zughaib’s work re-visits, her monochromatic and astonishingly repetitious and abstract pieces such as Veiled Secrets (2013), Seen/Unseen (2011), and Circle Home/Beit (Black) (2010) may be more familiar to UMUC’s wider audience. Zughaib’s work was presented in the first two Biennial Maryland Regional Juried Art Exhibitions of UMUC in 2011 and 2013. Veiled Secrets, Seen/Unseen, and Circle Home/Beit owe a visual and cultural debt to the general taboo in the Middle East against depictions of God in favor of more abstract references, including text. Because Lebanon is home to many religions, including Islam and Christianity, it is easy to overgeneralize about the traditions of the visual arts there. Still, pattern plays a large role in its indig-enous visual arts—ceramic tiles; textiles, including rugs and wearable clothes; calligraphy; architecture, with its arabesques and mashrabiyas (type of oriel win-dow enclosed by carved latticework); and other forms. Circle Home/Beit embraces those influences and offers a relatively simple take on the struggle that Arabs have had in their homeland: the piece is about starting and ending. The struggle seems to follow a continuous cycle.

The two Circle Home/Beit works also deal with the idea of home and the circular nature of belonging to one culture, then another, and then circling back. In this piece, the artist has written “beit” and “home” over and over again. “Beit” is from the Arabic word for “home,” but Zughaib is clear that the term refers to more than the physical structure. Home and community become inseparable.

Veiled Secrets shares intellectual and visual elements with the Circle Home/Beit pieces while incorporating one of Zughaib’s strongest recurring motifs, the abaya, the loose over-garment, and the niqab, the mask covering the face. In Veiled Secrets, she superimposes the phrase “there are many secrets under the veil” in Arabic calligraphy. While this is executed in her typical lyrical fashion, the key figure appears to be drowning in words derived from a tradition- bound society with a dominant patriarchy. However, if you feel the drowning metaphor appears to fit this pic-ture, the artist might counter that the water is receding and that the woman is beginning to emerge and manag-ing to keep her head above water.

Women Against the Night (2009) displays the artist’s pains-taking placement of minute components. The painting shares the sobriety of Veiled Secrets but adds the strong elements of color common in Zughaib’s later work. Unless one is familiar with her frequent reference to the abaya, it would be easy to view Women Against the Night as abstract in nature, akin to pieces we might expect from

Simon Gouverneur or Alfred Jensen with their sophisticated patterns. Instead, because the piece is so very personal, viewers may enjoy the chromatic, danc-ing rhythms while contemplating the anonymous, nocturnal figures that hide beyond the black shapes.

Eye of the Beholder (2008) features the abaya, but in an unexpected turn. The figure holding the mirror is clearly wearing the dark cover as she looks into her reflection, which shows a stereotypical American with blonde hair, blue eyes, and lipsticked mouth—a clear reference to the work of pop icon Roy Lichtenstein. The use of cultural stereotypes here offers a sense of levity and humor and perhaps takes a possibly deserving stab at the relative vacuity of American pop art. Arab Spring Quilt (2014), Arab Spring II (2011), and Arab Spring Exodus (2013) all share

Veiled Secrets, 2013, gouache and ink on board, 40 x 30 inches

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similar imagery, but their titles add an ominous overtone. Or are the images, with their lyrical lines and motifs, really about hope prevailing over oppression? I believe the works themselves have the ability to morph, in a sense, to resemble the political climate of the region. Perhaps we are not sure which element will prevail: the conflict or the beauty. We also do not know the fate of the women beneath the abayas. Zughaib has even suggested that the abaya, oppressive to some, may offer a bit of refuge for others.

Tinderbox (2013) takes Zughaib’s loosely-knit abaya series to a direct and serious tone. The collage with the tranquil blue background is simply a series of headlines about the Arab Spring. In this context, Zughaib’s work mirrors actual events. Even the title of the piece is lifted, in part, from one prominent headline, “The Syrian Tinderbox.” Among the others is one that reads, “Arab World Roils in Uncertainty.” Read one after another, the headlines mimic the usual nonstop media coverage, taken from a pessimistic vantage point. While the headlines speak in generalities, the individual words (tinderbox, tug-of-war, uncertainty, protestors, rebels, gun-men, evil, roils, uncertainty, tense, etc.) clearly have negative connotations.

In a work like Chiclets (2014), we glimpse the consequences of the uncertainty in the Middle East. In this work, Zughaib brings attention to the fact that some families in Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere are so poor that their children take to the streets to sell individual pieces of gum rather than attend school. In a more general sense, this is part of the message of Left Behind Too (2014), a painting that shows a staged, graphic depiction of the lone-liness that besets women and children who are collateral damage of the upheavals in the area. Likewise di/as/pora (2013), a triptych, has two pos-sible readings. If one “reads” the piece from left to right, as Westerners naturally do, the population of refugees appears to increase. Read from right to left, the women seem to be slowly disappear-ing. Either way, the colorful garments cannot cloak the tragedy.

While Zughaib leaves much of her work to the interpretation of the viewer, there are glimpses of optimism throughout. Another Wall (ongoing) and Pieces of You (2013–14) are largely celebrations of pattern and color. The latter, placed on the floor, subtly calls attention to the destruction of homes during the recent conflicts, especially in Syria. Yet together, the works speak to the resiliency of the artistic culture in the region. There is damage but not obliteration; the tiles can be restored. Out of the Box Too (2014) is another ambiguously humor-ous work that layers the abaya with a particularly colorful variation on an American icon: the smiley face. The mixed-media Keffiyya Spring Memorial (2012), despite its somber title, has bold fabric flowers sewn on to form a three-dimensional equivalent of the gouache Arab Spring II (2011). Does this installation merely serve as a reminder of ultimate sacrifices in this region, or does the overwhelming layer of flowers suggest a rebirth?

In Door/Key (2008) and Girl Waving (2014), it is difficult to determine whether the works are frozen emblems of pessimism or symbols of hope, i.e., the key to lock or to unlock, a symbol of love and compassion. I for one think their overall tone will be revealed as the next wave of the Arab Spring plays itself out.

Chiclets, 2014, acrylic gouache on canvas, 2 panels, 24 x 35 inches each, and 1 panel, 6 x 8 inches

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In Helen’s work, she has deepened her

explorations of herself and her relation

to society and her own history, while

retaining and refining her meticulous

technique. She paints in the service

of beauty, seducing her audience

into looking and ultimately seeing.”

Dagmar Painter, Curator The Jerusalem Fund Gallery Al Quds

Spring Flight (detail)

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Lincoln Memorial, circa 1990s, gouache and ink on board, 20 x 30 inches, Collection of Earl F. Glock and Jean Newman Glock

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Door/Key, 2008, wood, keys, 45 x 27 inches

Door/Key (detail)

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Eye of the Beholder, 2008, gouache and ink on board, 20 x 15 inches

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Women Against the Night, Series 2, 2009, gouache and ink on board, 14 x 29 inches

Women Against the Night, Series 2 (detail)

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Circle Home/Beit (White), 2010, acrylic ink on paper, 30 x 30 inches

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Arab Spring II, 2011, gouache and ink on board, 20 x 15 inches, Collection of the Arizona State University McCain Institute for International Leadership

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Seen/Unseen, 2011, gouache and ink on board, 40 x 30 inches

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The Family, 2012, gouache on board, 30 x 20 inches

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Keffiyya Spring Memorial, 2012, cloth, sewn flowers, variable dimensions

Spring Memorial, 2012, dishdasha, sewn flowers, variable dimensions

Spring Memorial (detail)

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Moonlight Fishing, 2012, gouache and ink on board, 24 x 24 inches, Collection of Douglas Hansen and Russell Conlan

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Circle Home/Beit (Black), 2013, acrylic ink on paper, 30 x 30 inches

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Arab Spring Exodus, 2013, gouache on board, 30 x 20 inches

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Dialogue in Black and White II, 2013, acrylic gouache on canvas, 48 x 30 inches

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di/as/pora (triptych), 2013, gouache and ink on board, 3 panels, 30 x 20 inches each, 30 x 60 inches total

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Left Behind Too, 2014, acrylic gouache on canvas, 15 x 60 inches

“Some of these paintings show the plight

of women and children left in poverty and

destruction. I ask you not to forget them.

The somber colors in Left Behind Too,

reflect a box of old, forgotten photographs,

aged and turning brown. In Generations Lost,

the women hold up photographs of ghostly

images, lost lives, gone. In di/as/pora, the

forced leaving, exodus, and displacement

of families left behind is shown.”

Helen Zughaib

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Generations Lost, 2014, gouache on board, 40 x 30 inches

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Veil of Dreams, 2013, gouache and ink on board, 30 x 20 inches, Collection of Dominique Lallement, Washington, D.C., and Paris, France

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Pieces of You, 2013–14, gouache on tiles, 22 x 39 inches

Arab Spring Quilt, 2014, gouache on board, 40 x 30 inches

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Out of the Box Too, 2014, black abaya, 70 x 40 inches

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Out of the Box, 2014, gouache on board, 9 panels, 20 x 15 inches each, 60 x 45 inches total

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Spring Flight, 2014, gouache and ink on board, 12 panels, 15 x 20 inches each, 60 x 60 inches total

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Another Wall (details)

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Another Wall, 2012–present, gouache on wood panels, 25 panels, 6 x 6 inches each, 6 x 150 inches total

Another Wall (details)

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Tinderbox, 2013, gouache, mixed media, 30 x 20 inches

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Quilt of Unfinished Dreams, 2014, acrylic gouache on canvas, 77 x 51 inches

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Helen ZughaibBorn Beirut, Lebanon

EducationBFA, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

Selected Solo Exhibitions2014 Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, Michigan

2014 The Jerusalem Fund Gallery Al-Quds, Washington, D.C.

2014 Expo Centre Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

2013 Syra Arts Gallery, Washington, D.C.

2013 Protea Gallery, San Diego, California

2012 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C.

2012 Stimson Center, Washington, D.C.


2010 Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2008 International Visions Gallery, Washington, D.C.

2007 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C.

2007 ART Station Gallery, Stone Mountain, Georgia

2006 The Watergate Gallery, Washington, D.C.

2005 Dadian Gallery, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.

2005 Richard Hugo House Gallery, Seattle, Washington


2004 Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Annapolis, Maryland


2003 The Watergate Gallery, Washington, D.C.

2002 Europ’Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania


2001 Syracuse University Greenberg House, Washington, D.C.

2001 Embassy of Lebanon, Washington, D.C.

2000 National Republican Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania



1997 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

1997 Artifice Gallery, Syracuse, New York

1995 Arts Club of Washington, Washington, D.C.

1993 Artifice Gallery, Syracuse, New York

1990 Alif Gallery, Washington, D.C.

1988 National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

1987 Arts Club of Washington, Washington, D.C.

Selected CollectionsAmerican Embassy, Baghdad, Iraq

Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, Michigan

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Collection of Nouri al Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq (Gift from President Barack Obama)

Collection of Mohammed VI, King of Morocco (Gift from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton)

Palestine Center, Gallery Al Quds, Washington, D.C.

Syracuse University Greenberg House, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Consulate General, Vancouver, Canada

U.S. Embassy, Bandar Seri Begawan, Sultanate of Brunei

U.S. Embassy, Managua, Nicaragua

U.S. Embassy, Port Louis, Republic of Mauritius

The White House, Washington, D.C.

World Bank, Washington, D.C.

سيرة الفنانArtist’s Biography

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Selected PublicationsBehiery, Valerie. “The Veil: Visible and Invisible Spaces.” Islamic Arts Magazine. 9 Dec. 2012. http://islamicartsmagazine.com/magazine/view/the_veil_visible_and_invisible_spaces/

Blumberg, Antonia. “Washington National Cathe-dral’s ‘Amen’ Exhibit Offers the World a Prayer of Hope.” Huffington Post. 23 Sept. 2014. http:// www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/23/washington- national-cathedral-amen-exhibit_n_5777308.html

Farhat, Maymanah. “An Introduction to Helen Zughaib’s ‘Stories My Father Told Me.’” Jadaliyya. 18 Oct. 2012. http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/ index/7869/an-introduction-to-helen-zughaibs- stories-my-fathe

Ferguson, Barbara. “Painter Helen Zughaib: A Foot in Two Countries and Two Cultures.” Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs. Aug. 2011. http://www.wrmea.org/2011-august/painter- helen-zughaib-a-foot-in-two-countries-and-two-cultures.html

Ferguson, Barbara. “Painter Helen Zughaib Interprets ‘Hakawati.’” Arab News. 18 May 2011. http://www.arabnews.com/node/377843

“’Fractured Spring’ by Helen Zughaib.” Islamic Arts Magazine. Aug. 2014. http://islamicartsmagazine.com/magazine/view/fractured_spring_by_helen_zughaib/

Jenkins, Mark. “D.C. Area Galleries: ‘Green Line,’ Our Lady of Perpetual Exhaustion,’ ‘Text/ Message.’” Washington Post. 29 Sept. 2013. http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/ museums/D.C.-area-galleries-green-line-our- lady-of-perpetual-exhaustion-textmessage/ 2013/09/26/61be3348-249c-11e3-9372-92606241ae9c_story.html

Jenkins, Mark. “Galleries: ‘Silver Clouds,’ ‘The Map Is Not the Territory,’ ‘Reminiscences & Current Musings.’” Washington Post. 4 Oct. 2013. http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/galleries-silver-clouds-the-map-is- not-the-territory-reminiscences-and-current- musings/2013/10/03/8bc180fc-29f9-11e3- b141-298f46539716_story.html

Jenkins, Mark. “Galleries: Wolf Kahn, Lauren Boilini, Michael Sellmeyer, Kesha Bruce, Helen Zughaib.” Washington Post. 4 Jan. 2014. http://www. washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/ galleries-wolf-kahn-lauren-boilini-michael- sellmeyer-kesha-brown-helen-zughaib/2014/01/02/09fa4e7a-7119-11e3-bc6b-712d770c3715_story.html

Jenkins, Mark. “Through Art, Creating a Dialogue Between Palestinians and Others.” Washington Post. 26 Sept. 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ entertainment/museums/through-art-creating-a- dialogue-between-palestinians-and-others/2014/ 09/25/129cdb6e-3271-11e4-9f4d-24103cb8b742_ story.html

Kirk, Mimi. “Artist Helen Zughaib Wants to Foster Dialogue Between People…and Cats.” Washington City Paper. 20 May 2011. http:// www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/ visual-arts/2011/05/20/artist-helen-zughaib- wants-to-foster-dialogue-between-people-and-cats/

Landau, Lauren. “Controversial Takes on the Stars and Stripes Explored in New Exhibit.” NPR. WAMU, 4 July 2014. http://wamu.org/programs/metro_ connection/14/07/04/controversial_takes_on_ the_stars_and_stripes_explored_in_new_exhibit

Mosalli, D’Irene. “Helen Zughaib: Vol Plané Pictural vs Vent Debout.” L’Orient Le Jour. 4 Jan. 2014. http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/849121/helen-zughaib- vol-plane-pictural-vs-vent-debout.html

Osseiran, Hashem. “Chaos on Canvas; Living Lebanon Through Art.” The Daily Star Lebanon. 5 Sept. 2014. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Life/ Lubnan/2014/Sep-05/269679-chaos-on-canvas- living-lebanon-through-art.ashx#axzz3G7nz1M8j

Ober, Cara, ed. “We Saw This, So Should You: For Whom It Stands at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum.” Bmoreart: 15 May 2014. http://bmoreart.com/ 2014/05/we-saw-this-so-should-you-for-whom- it-stands-at-the-reginald-f-lewis-museum.html

“’Women Call for Peace: Global Vistas’ Opens at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.” Artdaily.org. 8 Oct. 2013. http://artdaily.com/news/65466/-Women-Call-for-Peace--Global-Vistas--opens-at-John-Jay-College-of-Criminal-Justice#.VD0i4t6leS0

Zughaib, Helen. “Changing Perceptions.” International Museum of Women. 2013. http://72.5.117.101/ content/changing-perceptions

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Lincoln Memorial, circa 1990s, gouache and ink on board, 20 x 30 inches, Collection of Earl F. Glock and Jean Newman Glock

Door/Key, 2008, wood, keys, 45 x 27 inches

Eye of the Beholder, 2008, gouache and ink on board, 20 x 15 inches

Women Against the Night, Series 2, 2009, gouache and ink on board, 14 x 29 inches

Circle Home/Beit (White), 2010, acrylic ink on paper, 30 x 30 inches


Arab Spring II, 2011, gouache and ink on board, 20 x 15 inches, Collection of the Arizona State Univer-sity McCain Institute for International Leadership

Seen/Unseen, 2011, gouache and ink on board, 40 x 30 inches

The Family, 2012, gouache on board, 30 x 20 inches

Keffiyya Spring Memorial, 2012, cloth, sewn flowers, variable dimensions

Moonlight Fishing, 2012, gouache and ink on board, 24 x 24 inches, Collection of Douglas Hansen and Russell Conlan

Spring Memorial, 2012, dishdasha, sewn flowers, variable dimensions

Arab Spring Exodus, 2013, gouache on board, 30 x 20 inches

Circle Home/Beit (Black), 2013, acrylic ink on paper, 30 x 30 inches

Dialogue in Black and White II, 2013, acrylic gouache on canvas, 48 x 30 inches

di/as/pora (triptych), 2013, gouache and ink on board, 3 panels, 30 x 20 inches each, 30 x 60 inches total

Tinderbox, 2013, gouache, mixed media, 30 x 20 inches


Veil of Dreams, 2013, gouache and ink on board, 30 x 20 inches, Collection of Dominique Lallement, Washington, D.C., and Paris, France

Pieces of You, 2013–14, gouache on tiles, 22 x 39 inches

Arab Spring Quilt, 2014, gouache on board, 40 x 30 inches


Generations Lost, 2014, gouache on board, 40 x 30 inches

Left Behind Too, 2014, acrylic gouache on canvas, 15 x 60 inches

Out of the Box, 2014, gouache on board, 9 panels, 20 x 15 inches each, 60 x 45 inches total

Out of the Box Too, 2014, black abaya, 70 x 40 inches

Quilt of Unfinished Dreams, 2014, acrylic gouache on canvas, 77 x 51 inches

Spring Flight, 2014, gouache and ink on board, 12 panels, 15 x 20 inches each, 60 x 60 inches total

Another Wall, 2012–present, gouache on wood panels, 25 panels, 6 x 6 inches each, 6 x 150 inches total

قائمة المعرضExhibition List

Unless otherwise noted, each work is on loan courtesy of the artist.

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About UMUCServing Busy Professionals WorldwideUniversity of Maryland University College (UMUC) specializes in high-quality academic programs that are convenient for busy professionals. Our programs are specifically tailored to fit into the demanding lives of those who wish to pursue a respected degree that can advance them personally and grow their careers. UMUC has earned a worldwide repu-tation for excellence as a comprehensive virtual uni-versity, providing educational opportunities through a combination of classroom and distance-learning formats. The university is proud to offer highly acclaimed faculty and world-class student services to educate students online, throughout Maryland, across the United States, and in 20 countries and territories around the world. UMUC serves its students through undergraduate and graduate programs, noncredit leadership development, and customized programs. For more information regard-ing UMUC and its programs, visit www.umuc.edu.

About the Arts Program at UMUCSince 1978, UMUC has proudly shown works from a large collection of international and Maryland artists at its headquarters in Adelphi, Maryland, a few miles from the nation’s capital. Through its Arts Program, the university provides a prestigious and wide- ranging forum for emerging and established artists and brings art to the community through special exhibitions and its own collections, which have grown to include more than 2,800 pieces of art.

UMUC’s collections focus on both art by Maryland artists and art from around the world. They in-clude the Maryland Artist Collection, the Doris Patz Collection of Maryland Artists, the Asian Collections, the Education Collection, and the International Collection. The university’s collection of Maryland art includes approximately 2,000 works and provides a comprehensive survey of 20th- and 21st-century Maryland art. The university’s Asian Collections consist of nearly 420 pieces of Chinese art, Japanese prints, and Balinese folk art, dating from the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD) through the 19th century— a historical reach of 13 centuries. The UMUC collection of Japanese prints includes more than 120 prints by 35 artists.

Artworks are on display throughout the College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center at UMUC and the Administration Building in Adelphi as well as at the UMUC Academic Center at Largo. The main, lower-level gallery in Adelphi is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, and the Leroy Merritt Center for the Art of Joseph Sheppard is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week. More than 100,000 students, scholars, and visitors come to the Adelphi facilities each year. Exhibitions at the UMUC Academic Center at Largo are open to visitors from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

UMUC Arts Program Mission StatementThe Arts Program at UMUC creates an environment in which its diverse constituents, including members of the university community and the general public, can study and learn about art by directly experiencing it.

The Arts Program seeks to promote the university’s core values and to provide educational opportu-nities for lifelong learning. From the research and study of works of art to the teaching applications of each of our exhibitions, the Arts Program will play an increasing role in academic life at the university. With a regional and national focus, the Arts Program is dedicated to the acquisition, preservation, study, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art of the highest quality in a variety of media that represent its constituents and to continuing its historic dedica-tion to Maryland and Asian art.

ContributorsProject Manager: Laurie BushkoffCurator: Brian YoungEditors: Sandy Bernstein, Beth Butler, Nancy Kochuk Director, Institutional Projects: Cynthia FriedmanDesigner: Jennifer NorrisProduction Manager: Scott EuryFine Arts Technician: René A. Sanjines

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS Oldtown Editions: pages 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20, 21, 22, 24-25, 26-27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34, 35John Woo: pages 4, 5, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23, 31, 33, 36-37, 38, 39, 40

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UMUC Art Advisory BoardJavier Miyares President University of Maryland University College

Anne V. Maher, Esq., Chair Attorney at Law Kleinfeld, Kaplan & Becker, LLP

Alvah T. Beander Entrepreneur/Appraiser Melanin Art Appraisals, LLC

Myrtis Bedolla, Vice Chair Owner and Founding Director Galerie Myrtis

Joan Bevelaqua Artist, Art Faculty University of Maryland University College

I-Ling Chow, Honorary Member Regional President and Managing Director, Ret. Asia Bank, N.A.

Patricia Dubroof Artist/Consultant IONA Senior Services

Nina C. Dwyer Artist, Adjunct Professor of Art Montgomery College

Jeannette Glover Artist, Program Manager Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission

Karin Goldstein, Honorary Member Collector and Patron of the Arts

Pamela Holt Consultant Public Affairs and Cultural Policy Administration

Michèle E. Jacobs, Past Chair Managing Director Special Events at Union Station

Eric Key Director, Arts Program University of Maryland University College

Thomas Li, Honorary Member Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ret. Biotech Research Labs, Inc.

David Maril, Honorary Member Journalist President, Herman Maril Foundation

Barbara Stephanic, PhD, Past Vice Chair, Honorary Member Professor of Art History, Ret. College of Southern Maryland

Dianne A. Whitfield-Locke, DDS Collector and Patron of the Arts Owner, Dianne Whitfield-Locke Dentistry

Sharon Wolpoff Artist and OwnerWolpoff Studios

UMUC Board of VisitorsMark J. Gerencser, Chair Chairman of the Board CyberSpa, LLC

Evelyn J. Bata, PhD Collegiate Professor University of Maryland University College

Richard F. Blewitt, Member Emeritus President and Chief Executive Officer The Blewitt Foundation

Joseph V. Bowen Jr. Senior Vice President, Operations, and Managing Principal, Ret. McKissack & McKissack

David W. Bower President and Chief Executive Officer Data Computer Corporation of America

Karl R. Gumtow Founder and Chief Executive Officer CyberPoint International

Anne V. Maher, Esq. Attorney at Law Kleinfeld, Kaplan & Becker, LLP

Donald S. Orkand, PhD, Former Chair, Member Emeritus Founding Partner DC Ventures and Associates, LLC

Lt. Gen. Emmett Paige Jr., U.S. Army, Ret. Vice President of Operations, Ret. Department of Defense/Intelligence Services Lockheed Martin Information Technology

Charles E. (Ted) Peck Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ret. The Ryland Group, Inc.

Sharon Pinder President and Chief Executive Officer The Pinder Group

Brig. Gen. Velma Richardson, U.S. Army, Ret. Vice President, DoD IT Programs and Special Projects IS&GS Lockheed Martin Corporation

Gen. John (Jack) Vessey Jr., U.S. Army, Ret., Member Emeritus Former Chairman U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff

William T. (Bill) Wood, JD Attorney at Law Wood Law Offices, LLC

Joyce M. Wright Senior Consultant, Fitzgerald Consulting

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© 2015 University of Maryland University College. All rights reserved. Copyright credits and attribution for certain illustrations are cited internally proximate to the illustrations. All rights reserved.

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umuc helen zughaib exhibition, 2015

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