I took in the Ink, Silk and Gold exhibit at the Cummer Museum a few weekends ago. The first Saturday of every month the museum offers free admission and I had been wanting to see this exhibit before it left on Sept. 3rd. This exhibit "features great works of Islamic art...covers virtually all aspects of Islamic art...from the 8th to the 21st century and from Spain to Indonesia."

This exhibit had many beautiful pieces of pottery, textiles and manuscript pages among other things. I wanted to see this because I know very little about these areas, governments and artistic styles. Seeing this exhibit made me realize I know even less than I thought.

My idea of Islamic art was limited to what I had seen in art history classes from southern Spain. This is a limited view of a wide variety of styles. I had not realized for instance how influenced much of Islamic art was by Chinese calligraphy, pottery and figural drawing styles. This has whet my appetite to not only learn more about the art but also the history of these regions.