Engaging Islamic Art

Islamic Art with ChYpPS

This Summer the Centre is proud to be part of the Cambridge Council and Fitzwilliam Museum events at ‘ChYpPS’ – these are family-oriented activity days held at Coldhams Common and this year will include a hands-on session for children to see, explore and create their very own Islamic Art. See the Fitzwilliam family page for more info – and see below for a few photos from one of this year’s sessions:

Islamic Art and the Cambridge Sutton Trust Summer School

For the last two summers, Deniz Türker has given thematic art history masterclasses on Islamic art and colonial representation for the Sutton Trust Summer School. On July 27 (2019), a new group of art history summer school students will experience first-hand a few of the most exquisite Islamic manuscripts in the University Library, familiarize themselves with Islamic calligraphy, codicology, illumination and different narrative genres.

Islamic Art and the Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education

For the first time this year, University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education will run a summer session coordinated by Dr. Victoria Avery (Fitzwilliam Museum) and Dr. Lydia Hamlett (Newnham College) titled the Art and Visual Culture Summer Programme under the theme of the Moving Images for a diverse body of students with different educational and professional backgrounds. Deniz Türker will give a lecture based on her research on late-nineteenth-century Ottoman prefabricated homes. She will also lead gallery tours at the Fitzwilliam Museum as part of the ICE session.

Islamic Art Taster Session at the Fitzwilliam Museum

On the first week of April (2019), members of the Fitzwilliam Museum’s learning team and curatorial staff and CIS’s Dr. Türker will run an Islamic art Taster Day for a group of Y9 students from local Cambridge schools. The students will experience hand’s-on sessions with Islamic objects in the museum’s study rooms, visit departments, and design ornamental patterns drawn from the collections. They will not only learn about Islam as a religion, but also the globality and diversity of Islamic cultures through the collection’s unique objects. The taster session will also include college tours.

Lunchtime Talks at the Fitz

Dr. Türker gave a Wednesday Lunchtime Talk at the Fitzwilliam Museum on 5 September 2019 on Owen Jones and the Alhambra casts of the museum. The event was packed and very well received by an interested and informed audience.