Sara Shamma: Q

Sara Shamma was born in Damascus, Syria (1975), to a Syrian Father and Lebanese mother, a family of intellectuals. Shamma graduated from the Painting Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus in 1998.

Following her graduation, Shamma participated in a number of solo and group exhibitions including (solo): “World Civil War Portraits” curated by Sacha Craddock at The Old Truman Brewery, London, UK, “Diaspora” Art Sawa Gallery, Dubai, UAE, 2014, as well as “Q” Royal College of Art, London, UK, 2013, “Birth”, Art House, Damascus, Syria, 2011, “Love”, 360 MALL, Kuwait, 2009, and (group): The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition, The Mall Galleries, London, 2013, Nord Art 2012, Annual International Exhibition, organized by KiC – Kunst in der Carlshütte, Büdelsdorf, Germany, Art Prize 2010, Kendall College, UAE Through Arabian Eyes, the International Financial Centre, Dubai, UAE, 2008, Syrian Artists, Souq Wakef Art Center, Doha, Qatar, 2008, The Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia and the National Archives of Australia in Canberra, Australia, 2008, Panorama of Syrian Arts, Catzen Arts Centre at The American University Washington, D.C. USA, 2007, International Painting Prize of the Castellon County Council, ESPAI (the Contemporary Art Centre), Castellon and the Municipal Arts Centre of Alcorcon, Madrid, Spain 2005, Women and Arts, International Vision, Expo Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE, 2005, BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK, 2004.

Shamma was invited to join the teaching staff of the Adham Ismail Fine Arts Institute in Damascus, where she taught for three years from 1998. Besides her own practice and her involvement in the education of young artists, Shamma has been consistently active in the Syrian art scene. She was a member of the jury for The Annual Exhibition for Syrian Artists held by the Ministry Of Culture, Damascus, Syria in 2006.

Shamma has been the recipient of various regional and international art awards including First Prize (The Golden Medal) in the 2001 Latakia Biennial, Syria, Fourth Prize in the 2004 BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK and First Prize in Painting, The Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, The South Australian Museum, Adelaide, Australia in 2008, Fourth prize in painting, and Special Mention, Florence Biennial, Florence, Italy 2013.

Shamma’s works can be found in public and private collections in different countries including: Austria, Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Qatar, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

In 2010, Shamma was invited to become the United Nations World Food Programme ‘Celebrity Partner’. In 2010 she created a painting for them entitled: Fighting Hunger (2010). impressed and touched by their work she continues to support them as her chosen charity.

She moved to London in September 2016 under the auspices of an Exceptional Talent Visa. She now lives and works in London, UK.

Law and Arts Event

Lethbridge House, an ambassadorial home overlooking the Regent’s Park was the venue for an event with over 100 guests from the art and property world hosted by Artmasters, Oakmayne Bespoke Ltd and Mishcon de Reya’s Art/Law Department; Karen Sanig of Mishcon’s spoke on recent developments in the Russian Art Market, Paula Lent of Artmasters on the significance of an Arts Strategy for Developers and Bill Clark of Clark Art Ltd on the Internationalisation of Northern Art and the Lowry art inheritance.

Minoli/Artmasters Event at The Minoli London Showroom

The Minoli flagship Showroom in London, The Surface Within, became the centre stage for guest speaker Paula Lent, the Art Consultant and Director at Artmasters. Paula entertained guests with an enlightening talk on how art can add value and enhance the interior design of a new build development or renovation project.

Minoli’s stylish flagship showroom was a fitting setting for the event. Guests included interior designers from Ralph Lauren, LINLEY, DAPA, Honky, OS Designs and many more notable brands as well as leading house builders, developers and retailers. The evening was supported by Santome Prosecco, in keeping with Minoli’s Italian roots, while Home House, the private members club on Portman Square adjacent to the Minoli showroom, supplied the canapés and service, which as ever was second to none. Guests were able to take advantage of exploring the variety of the latest Minoli launch of Italian produced large format porcelain during the event.

Paula treated guests to an exploration of the relationship between the art industry and interior design. Paula used previous case studies where she had collaborated with interior design teams (i) on properties where they designed around the art collection, and (ii) cases where the art was added afterwards. She demonstrated how it is possible to mix art from previous centuries with photography and contemporary pieces and illustrated her presentation with stunning imagery of the various projects in her extensive portfolio.

Suiting a range of budgets, Paula tailored her talk to appeal to every guest in the room. Paula’s expertise and commercial ability have been demonstrated in the examples of her previous work in £50 million mansions to £500,000 apartments. Her skill in combining fine art with work from graduates to photography, design art and mixed media was evident throughout her presentation and appreciated by guests.

Jonathon Minoli commented, “Minoli have a history of support and recognising the value that art gives a home. Our products can be used in many interesting ways to enhance a home and it was interesting to learn how to combine the old with the new in Paula’s presentation”.

Paula appropriately ended the talk by discussing porcelain as an art form, using examples of the new porcelain ranges within the showroom demonstrate the artistic link.