Last day at Zayed University/ Exhibition at Tashkeel

E- On our last day at Zayed, we finished up the individual part of the work on the panels, and moved quickly to get the backs painted. We laid all of the panels out and decided what composition looked best based on the imagery and colors that we chose, then flipped the panels and painted them a solid black. Once they dried we stenciled the quote "The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety"- a quote that we think really sums up what we wanted to achieve through our work.

At the actual exhibition we faced several obstacles when installing our work. We couldn't hang anything on the walls so we had to create a tiered platform by stacking tables and benches of various heights. We ended up covering our makeshift display with brown craft paper, as to not distract from the work itself. It worked out quite nicely, but boy was it a lot of work.

We weren't sure what to expect regarding the presentation of the work, were we doing a presentation to the whole crowd or were we going to just stand by the work and explain it to individual viewers? We prepared for the latter and therefore our presentation was somewhat short and disorganized. After the presentation we received comments and questions from several people. In general the feedback was positive, and the only criticism we received was about the presentation.

When the critique was over, the Zayed girls gave us amazing gifts like books, dates, burqas, textiles, and lots more. We had given them our gifts a few days before. The gift exchange was really great, and saying goodbye made me realize how close everyone had really gotten in such a short time. I can definitely say that working with the Zayed girls has had a great impact on my art and my whole way of thinking. It's been a fantastic experience. I hope that this program will continue for many years to come. Maybe next year the girls can come to the states!

Here are some of mine and Sunny's photos from the last day in the studio and the exhibition at Tashkeel.