Stability and change

Linda Bastian, US-based artist and art teacher

I look back at living and teaching in the middle east as a true adventure. Abu Dhabi was never part of the plan, but my experiences there have given me a wonderful mix of perspectives.

I taught art at the Zayed University in Abu Dhabi and around the Middle East.

During this period, I attended Emirati weddings; took a week-long dhow and diving trip to the Musandam; experienced a Turkish bath and trolled the souks of Damascus; rode a donkey on the slopes of Petra; sipped hot tea against the backdrop of snow-clad mountains in Lebanon; rode a camel to desert ruins outside Luxor; climbed through the passageways of the Giza pyramids; witnessed an impromptu folk dance in the Aleppo souk in Syria and stayed up all night chatting with two English teachers in Hadramaut in Yemen.

I've also travelled to the Himalayas, Rajasthan, Agra and Mumbai in India, Bangkok and tribal villages in the north of Thailand and China.

Now I am retired and live in my reconverted barn on the side of a hill in upstate New York.

The Middle Eastern experiences ...
I have dedicated most of my life to working as an artist and teaching art.

I taught for three years at the Zayed University. I was the first visiting artist at the Ministry of Culture in Doha. I taught at the American University of Cairo for one year.

I directed a Children's Art Festival for the Ministry of Education in Oman for three years. And wrote the curriculum for the Abu Dhabi Zayed National Academy.

I continue to explore different mediums. I have painted flora and landscapes for many years. And recently, painted tiles depicting Islamic script as seen under water.

Tiles in mosques and in fountains became a quest for me, everywhere I went. The more traditional arts of weaving, ceramics, basketry, metalwork and architecture of the Middle East have also influenced my art.

I exhibit at Bait Muzna in Muscat, Oman, and have exhibited at Hemisphere Gallery and the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi.

I also plan to exhibit in Dubai.

I have written a proposal to the concerned authorities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I would also love to hold an art event in the UAE similar to the one in Oman.

Colourful childhood ...
I grew up in the '50s surrounded by beautiful objects. Our home in Ayer, Massachusetts, a small town near Boston, was filled with an assorted collection of items bought on my parents' travels. There were rugs from the Middle East, plates from Japan, and fabrics and wood carvings from China.

My mother, Rachel Turner, owned and operated a local newspaper.

My father, Minot Bastian, was a writer. I have inherited my mother's love for aestheticism and my father's love
for literature.

I was 12 when my mother noticed I liked painting. She hired a local art teacher to teach me. I learnt to observe and draw targets, and paint landscapes which required abstraction or simplification.

The teacher didn't really tell me what to do, but I had to follow two important rules - do not copy any other artist's work and experiment as freely as I would want to.

It was around the same time that my father's business associate said to me in Latin, "Volere, potere." Translated it meant - where there is a will, there is a way.

The idea that I could do something unusual, though I wasn't the smartest, richest or best looking, was very appealing. I realised all I needed to succeed was a will and persistence.

Education set the tone for the futureI hated school though I did well academically. Schools weren't much fun; they were severely didactic.

As a result I was rebellious in class and was often pulled up by teachers.

But one teacher, who taught literature, was instrumental in giving me direction. She prompted us to look beyond societal constraints and expand our experiences. I dreamt of seeing the Egyptian pyramids and learning French in Paris. (I did both.)

In 1963, I graduated from Antioch College and went directly to the Navajo Indian Reservation, Arizona, to teach for a year. Then to New York City to live and teach.

I did my PhD at night. The classes started at 4 and went to 11 in the evenings. I was also teaching high school students from 7.30am to 2pm every day.

New York University allowed 10 years to get the PhD, I got mine in three. I knew my PhD was my passport to university teaching, which was only three days a week of work, and would allow me to paint.

Cultural adjustments
We are all unified by our struggles, regardless of culture and ethnicity. Getting over stereotypes and preconceived notions about people was an intellectually liberating experience. Also, learning about other cultures and making different friends was often a humbling but amazing experience.

I learned that there were parts of my culture that needed to be changed in the presence of globalisation, and parts to be preserved as my personal identity. This self redefinition is necessary when you travel, conduct business and live outside your natural habitat.

(For more information on the artist, log on to www.lindabastian.com)