Contact: Isobel Schneider
Librarian
Berkeley Public Library
510-981-6150
ischneider@ci.berkeley.ca.us
Berkeley, November 22, 2013- The Berkeley Public Library presents artist and author, Salma Arastu, and the Poetry of Rumi: a reading and an exhibit of original art on Saturday, December 14, 2013, 2:00 to 3:30 pm, in the 3rd Floor Community Meeting Room at the Central Library at 2090 Kittredge Street. This free program will include readings, a slideshow and examples of artist Salma Arastu’s art. She will also present her new book, Turning Rumi: Singing Verses of Love Unity and Freedom. The book will be will be available to purchase and Ms. Arastu will be available to sign copies.
Salma Arastu will display some of her original multimedia and multicultural artworks, and read from the works of Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet, and Sufi mystic whose poetry inspired her art. Salma has written: “Through my art I have been able to transcend all physical and mental limitations to create images of transformation. As a woman, Hindu, Muslim, artist and mother, I see this challenge as a unique opportunity to create harmony through the expression of the universal in my art.”
Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, Sufi mystic, jurist, and theologian. For seven hundred years his poetry and spiritual teachings have been revered by peoples throughout the world crossing borders of ethnicity and religion. His poems have been translated into many of the world’s languages and he has been a widely read and long admired poet in the United States.
Salma Arastu is an Indian artist, living in North America. Arastu is a native of Rajasthan and has a master’s degree in fine arts from MS University in Baroda. Her art works, whether paintings, sculptures or poetry speak of human universality. Her art form and techniques are greatly inter-woven with Arabic calligraphy, miniature arts and folk patterns.
Salma Arastu has almost 40 solo shows to her credit and has won several awards including East Bay Community’s fund for artists in 2012. Her works are displayed in public venues and she has authored three books: Dard Ki Seedhiyan in Hindi, The Lyrical Line: Embracing All and Flowing and Turning Rumi: Singing Verses of Love Unity and Freedom. For more information, call 510-981-6148
The Central Library is open Monday, noon-8 p.m., Tuesday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday afternoons from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. For more info please call 510-981-6195 or visit www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.
Wheelchair accessible. To request a sign language interpreter or other accommodations for this event, please call (510) 981-6195 (voice) or (510) 548-1240 (TTY); at least five working days will help ensure availability. Please refrain from wearing scented products to public programs.
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