Brent Haug's recent solo art show at the Dhahran Art Gallery featured a series of oil paintings inspired by the 1964 Simon and Garfunkel song "Sound of Silence". The paintings depicted words from prayer, meditation, and previous works. During the opening, dancers performed to illustrations in the paintings accompanied by lighting and sound. The show was well received with students and community members in attendance. Haug donates proceeds from his shows to charity and hopes to expand support for local artists.

1. by Dia Karanouh
by Kainat Qazi
the arabian sun
5community news
Artist Brent Haug's most recent show at the
Dhahran Art Gallery featured contemporary
oil paintings based on words from prayer and
meditation, as well as artwork from previous
exhibitions.
Photo: Ding/MPD
Haug's 'Sound of Silence' reverberates
Dhahran — When a song inspires you, what do you do? If you’re
Brent R. Haug, an art teacher at the Dhahran Hills School, you’ll
stand palette knife and paint brush in hand, channel that musical
stimulus onto an easel, and craft a brilliant series of paintings
reflective of the song’s themes.
“Sound of Silence,” his recent hit solo show at the Dhahran Art
Group (DAG) Gallery, was exactly that.
The series was Haug’s rendition of Simon and Garfunkel’s 1964
song of the same name. It featured contemporary oil paintings
based on words from prayer and meditation, such as “dream,”
“vision,” “hope,” and “creation,” all of which he creatively merged
into his artwork. In an effort to tug at the spiritual strings intrinsic in
all of us, he said the song and pieces “talk about souls being (the)
point of light” and that the phrases are emblematic of what artists
do and the feelings they want to project.
Other images included stirring sayings such as “To thine own self
be true” and ‘We are all 1.’ The latter caught the eye of Howard
Schmidt, a first-timer to friend Haug’s show, who found the drawing
to be insightful and a great visual representation of what he does.
Artwork from previous exhibitions was also on display, including
award-winning oil paintings and those from his five acclaimed
shows in the U.S. and five in Dhahran. Former shows include Art
Goes Boom, “10” Arabic Numbers, Right Here Right Now, and last
year’s Applause.
More than just a gallery viewing, Haug’s productions typically
feature a performance piece during opening night. This year,
choreographers Barbara Fitzgerald and Cea Catuccio, along
with Alexia Norman, Sofia Fitzgerald and Nina Krinis, performed
seamlessly to illuminate the movement in each painting. Erik
Melver lent his expertise with stage lighting and sound to provide a
stunning display of visual artistry.
The audience’s response was one of the painter’s best and
attendees included his students, such as second-grader Kavitha Farr,
who admired both the textures and the fine details of her favorite
artist’s works.
As part of his mission to give back to the community, Haug
regularly donates a portion of the proceeds to the Saudi Cancer
Association. As former president of DAG, he would also like to see a
continued increase in local support for artists.
When asked about future projects, he meekly chuckled and
admitted the dream would be to have his work shown at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The sounds from such a
feat would surely be anything but silent.
freelancer
Spreading the message of recycling
and renewal with posters
In celebration of Earth Day, the Recycling
Group (Central Community Services —
Gardening Division) recently conducted
the sixth annual Recycling Competition for
Saudi Aramco Schools.
This year, students were asked to design
a poster that encouraged people to recycle.
Winners were chosen based on several
criteria, including overall impression,
innovation and originality, and delivery of
the recycling message.
Dia Karanouh, Zeina Atie, and Ifeyinwa
Obi from the Recycling Group distributed
prizes to winners. As always, the quality of
entries was remarkable, and the Recycling
Group applauded all of the participants for
their efforts and submissions.
The competition is conducted annually
to increase awareness about recycling and
environmental stewardship among students.
It is open to students in all Saudi Aramco
Expatriate Schools.
Virtually every student between second
and seventh grade at Abqaiq School
participated in this year’s competition, as
well as many students from first and third
dia.karanouh@aramco.com
grade at Ras Tanura Elementary School.
Winners this year included, from the
Abqaiq School: (Grade 7) Akmal MD
Idris and Clairemore Tango An; (Grade 6)
Czarina Tugano and Emma Singletary;
(Grade 5) Zoya Nadeem and Maria Victoria
Arias; (Grade 4) Madhur Sreekanth
and Kyra Nicole Minda; (Grade 3) Keira
Nengkoda, Jana White and Saadi Abbasi;
(Grade 2) Sarah Berkenou, Zainab Kashif
and Ayan Imran.
Winners from Ras Tanura Elementary
School were Charlotte Milos, Lamia
Siddiqui, Tomas Giraldo Huertas, Rhiane
Macapagal Padua, Ayaan Khan and
Michael Alexander McDaniel.
Abqaiq fourth-graders have their artwork depicting
recycling themes posted on the elementary school walls as
part of their efforts to spread the message of renewal and
recycling. See more photos on page 11.