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My father's home

The British Council is orchestrating an event that concentrates on acclaimed photographer Camille Zakharia's two day photo collage workshop throughout the sultanate. Camille was born in Lebanon, and has since perfectd the art of the photo collage through his many projects around the world. This event is planned to take place between February 6-8. Camille's objective is to guide a group of around 12 participants in order to explore the notion of their identity through the depiction of their surrounding environment. This will be in the form of architecture and landscapes, using photo collage techniques.

The workshop promises to create a photographic portfolio that captures the spirit of the sultanate and present a portrait of its people, suitable for exhibition and reproduction in the form of a high quality art book. The images collected throughout the workshop will focus on places that have benefited for centuries from the ground water in the form of agriculture and the sea in the form of fishing, ship making and interaction with the rest of the world. A great emphasis will also be put upon the daily activities of the fishery sector as well as the surrounding architecture and local jewellery to influence and inspire.

At the end of the workshop, it is hoped that the photographs along the three-week trip will constitute a comprehensive documentation of Oman and its people, alongside modern and traditional architecture, Omani landscapes, agricultural areas and desert. The collection of around 50 archival prints is intended to serve as a look at areas undergoing changes compared to traditional areas.

During his stay in the sultanate Camille will visit different villages and towns surrounding Muscat in order to inspire her work. Such places will include As Suwayq, Al Hazm, Bahla and Nizwa to name but a few. In addition while in Oman, Camille will carry out a presentation on the history of collage at the Cultural Centre in Qurum, as well as a presentation regarding her work and the ways in which it has developed over the past ten years. He also plans to execute a photo collage on the walls of The British Council to showcase her work.

As a memento of her trip around the sultanate, Camille will also create an artist's book, which will include studies, reflections, comments, notes and test strips. This will act as a valuable source of information, cataloguing her adventure and the describing the creative outcome of her journey.


The alchemist

The British Council's art, architecture and design team has decided to extend their ten year old design programme into the Middle East by introducing Alchemy, an exhibition, which is influenced by the stereotypical bejewelled riches of the East. In the region, gold is a vivid and significant commodity and jewellery itself is acknowledged as a social signifier. Fine craft traditions of jewellery-making go back centuries. The British Council decided that it would be fascinating to compare these firm traditions of value with the more distorted

consumer culture that we see today, where a range of movements from pop art to punk rock have influenced us.

This British aesthetic history is what has been attempted to capture in the title Alchemy, which (in both English and Arabic) refers to the renaissance practice – part science, part magic – by which it was believed that low-grade metals could be turned into gold. This can be seen within the eight young jewellers' work, which will be exhibited as part
of the programme.

The exhibition contains both a cultural as well as commercial message due to the fact that it is The British Council's purpose to build a mutually beneficial relationship between the UK and other parts of the world, including the Middle Eastern regions. As well as celebrating sheer creativity in art, craft and design, Alchemy aims to make a strong case for jewellery as one of the most creative industries with significant potential for commercial growth in the Middle East. During the exhibition, a diverse programme of workshops, lectures and events will be developed for each of the six countries it will visit, with an emphasis on education and business aspects of design.

The UK made an international name for itself in the world of contemporary jewellery in the 1970s and 80s with the work of jewellers such as Wendy Ramshaw, David Watkins, Susanna Heron and Caroline Broadhead. Their jewellery challenged traditional preconceptions through materials, methods and wearability. Their departure from tradition has had a lasting effect on the subsequent generations of jewellery designers, who are enlarging the form and meaning of jewellery in the UK. In celebration of this, Alchemy promises to examine a spectrum of practitioners from recent graduates to those well established across the jewellery and fashion industries. The artists challenge conventional parameters of jewellery design through the use of materials, questioning notions of value, identity, scale and adornment. Although each artist and jeweller addresses a particular issue, parallels and contrast can be drawn to illustrate a story or a line of thinking. Displayed alongside the work of each jeweller will be supporting sketches, photographs and a selection of the materials used to create the piece, which come together to uncover the methods and processes behind the finished pieces as well as the train of thought behind each jeweller's work.

The jewellers taking part in Alchemy are Solange Azagury-Partridge, Naomi Filmer, Tanvi Kant, Andrew Lamb, Shaun Leane, Lina Peterson, Laura Potter and Scott Wilson.

Solange Azagury-Partridge plays with tradition and subverts our expectations of how precious stones and metals are traditionally combined through her work. Drawing on the iconography of pop art, her work combines intricate stone in-lay work with costume jewellery.

Naomi Filmer continually pushes boundaries, which has brought her an international reputation as a conceptual designer. Her alternative positioning of jewellery on the body, such placing items between the digits rather than around them is showcased with flair and ingenuity.

Tanvi Kant draws on her own experiences for her pieces. Made from her mother's saris, Tanvi has made recycled and sustainable necklaces and bracelets, which challenge her family's perceived views regarding Indian jewellery design.

Andrew Lamb's handcrafted precious jewellery references the visual experience and optical illusions that can be seen in nature. When viewing his work from various angles, the same piece of jewellery can at one point appear silver whilst at another, appear gold.

Shaun Leane's work varies
dramatically from small-scale commercial pieces to full body sculptures. According to critics, Leane's work, like that of his catwalk collaborator, Alexander McQueen, has some dark undertones, which are executed with dramatic effect. In addition, on a collaboration with milliner, Phillip Treacy, Leane developed lavish headdresses made from preserved birds of prey. A common theme that runs throughout his work is the use of black diamonds and red rubies. These effects are known to be his personal visual signature.

Lina Peterson concentrates upon creating quirky and interesting brooches that examine the relationship between clothing and jewellery. Drawing and creating forms using embroidery and crochet techniques, her brooches further extend the garments they are attached to into three dimensions.

Laura Potter's pieces incorporate familiar objects to create jewellery, which questions material and personal value. One of her pieces of work; Pricey, for example, is constructed from a series of blank price tags, transforming the object which usually indicates value, into a valuable object.

Scott Wilson works primarily in semi-transparent acrylic and exhibits it in such a way as to illustrate that it is not just an industrial material, but can also be used to create jewellery that is coveted by the fashion and music industries.


Offscreen

This coming March, the Offscreen Education Programme is planning to broaden the horizons of eight talented, young state school students from the UK. The group, which will include four girls and four boys will embark on a creative expedition to the sultanate where they will observe and record in art form; the kaleidoscope nature of life in a Middle Eastern culture.

This particular expedition aims to enrich the lives of the students as well as break down the barriers that stop many young people from interacting with the world.

Offscreen will be celebrating the experiences and subsequent artwork from the exhibition in a documentary film, a travelling exhibition and a schools lecture tour. It is hoped that the experience of these eight aspiring artists will act as a platform to inspire and inform many more.

The programme is a schools initiative born out of four British artists' first hand experience of the Middle East during the Visions of Islam expedition in 2002-2003. Art from the exhibition was published to critical acclaim in Offscreen, Four Young Artists in the Middle East and as a result, the subsequent exhibitions held in London, Amman, New York, Oslo and Tehran amongst others attracted much attention. Following their success, Robin Allen, former Gulf correspondent for the Financial Times said of the four: "They have done more for British-Middle Eastern relations than any Ambassador in the region this year."

Upon their return, the artists wanted to inspire young people to look at that particular part of the world without the usual filter of violence and negativity from television and print media, hence the name of the initiative was coined, as the founders wanted to take young people "offscreen." As a result, they developed a sustainable educational model and put in motion an ambitious and far reaching programme for 2005-2007. Stephen Stapleton, the founder of Offscreen, has, in the past, led art expeditions to northern Ethiopia, the great plains of North America and the Middle East and exhibited his expedition art worldwide. As Stapleton's brainchild, Offscreen's goal is to enrich the lives of students while encouraging understanding and challenging stereotypes.

To date, the programme has developed partnerships with the National Society for Education in Art and Design, The British Museum, the Royal Geographic Society iNOMAD and the Arts Council to reach as many young people as possible. Offscreen have already distributed resources to over 1,100 schools across the UK, as well as setting up workshops and offering support to teachers. They are also working on an innovative Middle East Artists in schools programme in London and Liverpool in the UK. Their latest expedition in March is touted as the next step on the ladder for the pioneering programme.


Looking through glass

Oman's first glass-bottomed boat, Gulf Vision, was launched by tour company Gulf Leisure. This is a 12.5m custom built boat, complete with ten plexiglass panels for underwater viewing.

The 22 seater offers an alternative to the usual boat trips and is said to be only the second glass bottom boat in the Middle East. With showers and toilets on board, guests can enjoy all the modern conveniences.

The boat is now available for charter from Marina Bandar. Sailing daily at 8:30am and 11:30am and ending with a sunset cruise, each two and a half hour trip is essentially four trips in one. "We offer dolphin watching from three angles - at sea level, from the top deck and through the underwater glass viewing panels. There is also an opportunity for guests to swim or snorkel at a designated coral reef and a coastal cruise from Muttrah to Bander Khayran including the Shangri-La's Barr al Jissah Resort and Spa area.

The '4 in 1 Charter' departs daily at 8:30am. The charges are: RO20 for adults, RO10 for children under 12 and free access for children under five years. It includes dolphin watching, looking through the plexiglass, cruising the coastline and snorkelling above coral reefs.

The 'Sunset Cruise and Coral Reef Experience' departs daily at 4pm. The charges for adults are RO10. Children under 12 will be charged RO5, while those under five can come for free.

If you think all this sounds like a fabulous idea – and it certainly is – you can even gift vouchers for the experience.


The Omani cabin crew is ready to fly higher

The first graduates of the National Hospitality Institute (NHI) Gulf Travel School Cabin Crew Certification programme are ready to hit the skies. This vocational NHI course is the first of its kind in the sultanate to offer external training for cabin crew, independent of the airlines.

Robert Maclean, principal of the NHI, explains that there is now such a huge demand for cabin crew that it made sense for them to start this innovative pre-training course. Although the graduates will still have to be trained by the airline of their choice, for specific requirements, the course greatly cuts down the workload of the airline as new recruits with this qualification would be already trained to a high level upon entry.

The course lasted six months, and cost each of the eight students RO850. Munir al Balushi, one of the graduates, explained that it has paid dividends towards his career. "Compared with what we've learnt on this course, the fee is nothing. My first pay packet will make it all worth it."

Maclean says there's more to come: new training facilities will be available later in the year. There are plans to install a mock-up of an airline cabin, giving students the opportunity to touch base with the real thing before even joining an airline.