Artist profile
Passionate about Arabic calligraphy since a very young age, He taught himself calligraphy by closely observing Lebanese calligraphy masters. He has participated in many local and international competitions and exhibitions where his works have been noticed in the Middle East as well as in BC Canada. In addition of his involvement in the preparation of several international calligraphy events - including the Riyadh International calligraphy Exhibition 2006 - he is a regular contributor for the West Coast Calligraphy Society in Van and has designed many logos for companies, institutions, books, magazines and newspapers as well as unique calligraphic works for mosques and private collections in the states & North America. Currently, He works as a designer and consultant, specialized in Islamic Arabesque & illumination art.
In Saudi, his most noticeable works included a calligraphy wall of ceramics at the Riyadh National Museum & in Canada the Calligraphy work on the dome of Richmond Mosque.
He was a participating artist & active member of the preparation committees of several local calligraphy functions and events, like:
- The Spirit of Islam (UBC Museum of Anthropology 2003)
- The History of Book Binding exhibition at down town public library.
- The annual Canadian Islamic Cultural Expo (Vancouver Art Gallery)
- The living Art of Islamic Calligraphy (Van Law Court) with Calligrapher
Moh'd Zakariya - creator of the popular U.S Eid postage stamp, and many
charity fund raising events.
Born in Beirut-Lebanon, 1968, Bilal started practicing calligraphy at age 12, when the primary school teacher & his parents guided, supported & encouraged him. and since that he became passionate to the art of Arabic calligraphy till he started his career as a Registered Nurse where he had to pay more attention to his future & family. After his graduation from the traditional Islamic fine art program at King Saud University in 2007 he carried on self-taught by observing and studying the styles of the masters of this art like Mahjoub Hasan in Riyadh, Moh'd Farshijian from Iran & Sami Efindi, Mohammed Nazif, Hamid Al Amadi and Halim Efindi from Turkey. During his 2 years work in Saudi he joined Lahd Art association for arab artists under the direction of Princess Nouf Bandar Bin Muhammad Al Saud.