As a Muslim American woman, I have had significant cross-cultural experience from which to draw upon as a source of inspiration for my art and teaching. I believe that great art always maintains a fine balance of intellectual, intuitive, and physical processes. No matter what the student’s ability level or interests, my goal for students is to achieve both the technical skills, and, more importantly, the conceptual problem-solving skills they need to adapt and succeed in today’s ever-changing world.

Through comparative studio art projects, presentations and group discussions, students are made aware of how color, pattern and spatial arrangements in Mogul miniatures, African masks and Japanese screens influenced western art and the modernist movement. By integrating my knowledge of non-western painting, such as Persian miniatures, Islamic Calligraphy, and Indian Folk art traditions into my slide lectures and studio projects, students are exposed to different worldviews in art.

Often projects start by being structured, but eventually become more open-ended. Students are encouraged to think, and to find their own direction using the assignment as a guideline. This allows students to use their imagination; all the while, I help them to clarify their concepts and visualize their ideas. Students are then able to brainstorm a variety of different artistic solutions to one assignment, resulting in varied responses to the same project.

I challenge students to make connections between seemingly disparate subjects, by exploring how crossing disciplinary boundaries can lead to creative discovery. In 2005, at West Virginia State University, I brought together theater and art department students to create a one-day installation/performance. Students made and installed sculptural forms throughout the entire space of the theater. They worked together to create a lighting/color sequence that coordinated with a recorded sound arrangement. The project resulted in an eight-hour interactive/theatrical art installation, which was open to the public.

I believe it is important to introduce students to minority American and non-western, international artists who are not often included in official textbooks like African American artist Kara Walker, Iranian artist, Shirin Neshat and Chinese-born, New York-based artist Xu Bing. Students are forced to think about larger issues of race, global politics, and feminine identity when they are exposed to Palestinian American conceptual artist, Emily Jacir, who asked other Palestinians from around the world, “If I could do something for you, anywhere in Palestine, what would it be?” She used her American passport and its accompanying "freedom of movement" status in an attempt to realize desires of people who have limited or no access to their own nation. This pluralist and multi-ethnic approach to art leads students to learn and develop their own artistic vocabulary in the context of today’s critical art world. In my teaching and art – work, I seek to synthesize these cross-cultural and multi-dimensional worldviews, reaching out to a larger audience, touching their human sensibilities with a universally shared experience.

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