CLAY and QUILL

Ceramics, paintings and calligraphy by Master Painter & Calligrapher Alibaba Awrang and Master Potter Matin Malikzada

Alibaba Awrang is a leading contemporary calligrapher. Trained in Iran as a traditional Persian calligrapher, Awrang’s work has evolved to a new artistic form of calligraphy that blurs the lines between textual and visual expression, weaving letters and words into vibrant, lyric, and evocative paintings. In the artist’s own words: “In my painting, I present a contemporary, abstract approach to a traditional art form.”

At the pinnacle of his artistic career, in 2021 Awrang and his family were evacuated from Afghanistan by the U.S. Department of State, when the Taliban took control of the country.

Told to bring only what was essential for his family’s journey, Awrang packed a few sheets of paper, bamboo pens and a bottle of ink. Now resettled in Northwest CT, his richly layered work continues to tell stories, inspired by his life experience and ancient poetry.

Awrang’s work is included in esteemed private and public collections worldwide, including the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Quatar, the IFC Collection/World Bank Group in Washington DC, the RMIT Museum and Gallery in Melbourne, Australia, and the Etihad Museum in Dubai.

His work is currently featured in a show at the Wadsworth Atheneum (through April 13, 2025), entitled Divine Geometry: Islamic Art, as well as a year-long installation of his calligraphy on the four walls of the entry hall of the museum; in the 2024 Sydney Biennale; and in two prominent exhibitions in Connecticut: a 2023 show at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, entitled Uprooted: From Afghanistan to Connecticut; and a 2022 sold-out exhibition at the Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens in Litchfield County, entitled From Kabul to Connecticut. His work is well known in the Eastern world, with prior exhibitions in Kabul, Tehran, Bahrain, Dubai, Istanbul, among others.

Alibaba’s first west coast solo show will be at 836M, a San Francisco-based gallery, entitled Didar that opened on January 16, 2025.

Awrang was born in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan in 1972. He received his Bachelor and his Master of Calligraphy degrees at the Iranian Calligraphy Association, respectively, in Shiraz and Tehran, Iran. He taught painting and chaired the Calligraphy and Miniature Painting Department at the Turquoise Mountain Institute, established in Kabul by King Charles III of the United Kingdom, to preserve the cultural heritage of Afghanistan.

His work has been published in several books, including Kelke Khyal (Calligraphy of Alibaba Awrang), 2015). In 2024, Awrang received an Assets for Artists award from the MASS MoCA Museum in North Adams, Massachusetts.

A seventh-generation Afghan master of traditional pottery, Matin Malikzada is internationally recognized for his technical skill and elegant designs.

A native of  Istalif, Afghanistan, once a vibrant center of ceramic art and commerce, Matin was forced to flee Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover. Along with his family, he is now resettled in Northwest Connecticut, where he continues his journey as an artist.

In Kabul, Matin served as head of the Ceramics Department at the Turquoise Mountain Institute, where in his youth he studied and honed the skills inherited from his father. Upon graduating, he was hired as a Master of Ceramics, and ultimately rose to lead the department.

Matin revitalized a nearly lost art of symmetrical design and turquoise glaze derived from natural pigments unique to Istalifi pottery and has trained over one hundred artisans in these ancient techniques.

In addition to holding a bachelor’s degree in Law from Tabesh University in Kabul, he has earned Certificates in Design and Crafts from the City and Guilds Institute of London, been a visiting artist at the Institute of Ceramic Studies at Shigaraki, Japan, demonstrated his skills at Davos, and authored books on Istalifi pottery.

Matin was awarded an NEA Creative Partnership Grant from the NW CT Arts Council to support his teaching a series of master classes as well as a traditional arts teaching grant from the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. Additionally, in an exhibition entitled Uprooted: From Afghanistan to Connecticut at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Matin tells the story of the impact of displacement on and through his work. One of three artists in the state, Matin received the Emerging Creative Award from the CT Office of the Arts. And recently, in collaboration with designer Bunny Williams and Bunny Williams Home, Matin created an exclusive collection of tableware and decorative pottery.

As a practicing artist for nearly twenty years, Matin has exhibited his work and demonstrated his skill to heads of state, dignitaries, artists, educators, as well as museum- and gallery-goers around the world.