On August 1, 2008, for the very first time, a line of graduates from the Dar al-Kalima College filed into the Ad-Dar Hall at the International Center of Bethlehem. 

Accompanied by fanfare, these graduates from the documentary filmmaking and the glass and ceramic arts programs followed Rev. Dr. Munib Younan (bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land – ELCJHL, middle), Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb (pastor at Christmas Lutheran Church and president of the Diyar Consortium, left), and Dr. Nuha Khoury (Dean of the Dar al-Kalima College, right) to the stage, where their diplomas awaited them.

Mrs. Faten Nastas Mitwasi, head of the art department, facilitated the ceremony and delivered opening remarks.  Speeches by Rev. Dr. Younan, Rev. Dr. Raheb and Dr. Khoury were interspersed with video presentations highlighting the work of the students.  One film highlighted the achievements of the art students, focusing on the gallery exhibition with their final projects.  The second film featured clips from the documentary film students’ movies, which delighted and moved the assembly with their range of topics and styles of presentation.

Najah Abu Tair, one of the graduates from the art program, finished the round of speeches with her graduation address, and then the presentation of the certificates and diplomas commenced.  Several students received certificates in various taught subjects, and then Associate’s degrees were awarded to 5 art students and 11 documentary film students.  The graduates celebrated by throwing their caps into the air before processing out of the hall to be greeted by jubilant friends and family members.

Many of the graduates have internships and jobs already lined up, with the help of the staff at Dar al-Kalima College.  Some students will be working in The Cave workshops and at Dar al-Balad, helping to fill orders for ceramics and stained glass art, and others will be working for the Bethlehem Media Center, producing films and other multimedia that will help tell the story of Bethlehem to the world, and help Palestinians express their own ideas and discuss social issues.

The potential and talent that this class of graduates displays sets the bar high for all successive classes of Dar al-Kalima students.  We look forward with great anticipation to see what the future will bring.

Student Spotlight

Tha’er al-Azzeh, Associate’s Degree in Documentary Film
(right, with classmate Ghassan Shosheh)

After two years in the documentary filmmaking program at Dar al-Kalima College (DAK), Tha’er finds that many things have changed about him as a filmmaker.  “I didn’t understand the different methods before, I just had one way of doing things, but now I understand many structures for making films.  It has changed my style, and given me the technical knowledge to make films how I want.”  Tha’er wants to continue his studies, but since DAK is the only media arts college in the area, he will have to improve his English and go abroad to either the US or the UK.  Finding a job in film in Bethlehem may prove difficult, but Tha’er says he will still continue filming with his own equipment:  “This is my life now, this is my way.”

Tha’er names teachers Hanna Musleh from Beit Jala and Suha ‘Araf from Haifa as influences during his studies at DAK, saying that different teachers give the students a diverse range of ideas on ways to make and watch films, but also how to view the world.   “We’ve benefited a lot from this study,” Tha’er says.  “I now look differently at how we live, how our nation is.  I discovered many problems in our society.  Before I came here, I didn’t care as much, but now I don’t see the Occupation as the only problem between us and independence that we have to fix.”

Najah Abu Tair, Associate’s Degree in Glass & Ceramics
(right, with art department head Faten Nastas)

Unlike many of her classmates, Najah’s quest for higher education spans two decades.  In 1986/87 she graduated from high school with her Tawjihi qualification, and wanted to study art in Iraq.  However, she was from a conservative family who wouldn’t let her travel alone, and art was viewed in society as something that is not useful or important.  Her family allowed her to go to Jordan to study laboratory science, but she studied there only 3 months because the first Intifada broke out, and Palestinian students were returning home to support it.  She was then accepted to a university here, but the Intifada kept her at home, and then all the universities closed for the year.  Not long after returning home, she got married. 

In 1998 she went to the Open College in Jerusalem to study Arabic.  She studied there for 2.5 years, but she didn’t like the system there, so she got a job as a kindergarten teacher on the basis of her Tawjihi results from 1987.  She is still working as a kindergarten teacher, but she is thinking of quitting teaching to do art full-time.  Having long been interested in art, she is in the process of equipping her home studio.  She says that “even though finding work is sometimes difficult, I will keep searching and improving my technique.”

Najah says that her knowledge of art has increased (during her two years at DAK, she has studied glass art and glass sculpting, her major concentrations, but also computer design, drawing, gouache painting, mosaic, art appreciation and history, sculpting, and silk printing), and that now she has the knowledge to develop designs and express herself through her artwork.  The main themes of Najah’s work are the suffering of women, and the struggle for the Palestinian homeland.

Ramy Sahoury, Associate’s Degree in Glass & Ceramics

Ramy is the youngest of her siblings (2 sisters and 1 brother) and the second to attend university.  The daughter of an artist, she has been interested in art and had it as a hobby for some time, so it was natural for her to select DAK for her studies, because only DAK had the classes that she wanted.

Faten Nastas Mitwasi, art teacher and head of the art department at DAK, was an influence on Ramy’s work, teaching her about realism in art and how to sculpt faces.  Ramy used this technique in her final project, “Mirrors of the Heart”, which illustrates the different emotions and feelings different people express in their faces.  Ramy’s work tends to deal with people:  one project was on teenagers, and another was on generations of people in society.

Ramy works mainly at the art workshops at Dar Annadwa, but she says that in the next year she would like to open a studio nearer to her house.  She also wants to continue with her education at the BA and MA levels, but will wait until DAK offers these degrees rather than seeking them abroad.  In the meantime, Ramy is optimistic about finding work.  She has already worked on several commissions, including the stained-glass mosaic at the Al-Amal Sports Center in Bethlehem, and has taught glass art at the Terra Sancta School in Bethlehem as part of a college seminar on art education.  With the encouragement from her parents and from having worked as a paid artist even before graduating college, Ramy seems confident of her career choice and looks forward to growing more as an artist in the future.