A L Y A H U S S E I N I

O I L P A I N T I N G
Alya Art
About Alya
Paintings
Tiles & Mosaics
Contact
 

Biography:  

Born in the coastal city of Tartus, Syria, in 1954, Alya Husseini spent the first 23 years of her life in the Middle East. She obtained her Bachelors Degree from the University of Damascus in French Literature and Art History.  Alya moved to the United States in 1978 with her husband, Dr. Faleh Husseini, settling in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, where she resides today.  She has two children, Salah and Faye.

 

Alya's art career began in 1998 when she enrolled in her first art classes.  She progressed quickly, moving from pencil and watercolor to oils within a few short months.  She began to focus almost exclusively on oils and painting in the realist style, which she continues today.  Alya improved her technique by emulating the famous artists that she studied in her youth by recreating many of the great masterpieces she grew up admiring. This process helped her grow tremendously as an artist,  establishing the skills she would later use to create her own works.

 

Alya's current passion is painting scenes of the Middle East and North Africa, which she feels act as a form of cultural diplomacy, in the sense that it turns images that appear foreign and alien into something familiar and intimate.  She has found that art works as a bridge between cultural gaps, as it transcends linguistic, ethnic and religious differences.  As a testament to this idea, one of Alya's works was chosen to be displayed at the American Embassy in Damascus, Syria, in order to share the work of Arab-Americans with Middle Easterners.  The program, Art in Embassies, was established for the purpose of highlighting the diversity of American society.  Alya was recently profiled in the Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists: Artists of the American Mosaic, by Dr. Fayeq S. Oweis (Greenwood Press, 2008).  

 

 

Past Exhibits:

  • Arab-American National Museum, Dearborn, Michigan, August 2006 - November 2006: "The Paintings of Alya Husseini"

 

  • Unity Center of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, May 2006: "Muslim-American Artists"

 

  • University Liggett School, Grosse Pointe, Michigan, April 2006: "The Paintings of Alya Husseini"

 

  • Sterling Heights City Hall, Sterling Heights, Michigan, September 2005: "The Paintings of Alya Husseini"
    • Selected as the "Artist of the Month" for the city of Sterling Heights, Michigan, Sept. 2005

 

  • Unity Center of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, May 2005: "Muslim-American Artists"

 

  • Pontiac Creation and Art Center, Pontiac, Michigan, June 2004: "Woman Artists"

 

  • Grosse Pointe Art Association, Grosse Pointe, Michigan, October 2004: "Annual Juried Exhibition"

 

  • University of Detroit-Mercy, Detroit, Michigan, April 2004: "Voices of Peace"

 

  • Flint Cultural Center, Flint, Michigan, November 2003: "Art and Culture Exhibition"

 

  • Grosse Pointe Art Association, Grosse Pointe, Michigan, October 2003: "Annual Juried Exhibition"
    • Awarded "Best Traditional Oil Painter" by the GPAA, October 2003

 

  • University Liggett School, Grosse Pointe, Michigan, April 2003: "The Paintings of Alya Husseini"

 

 

Professional Membership:

  • Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) Art and Culture Association

 

  • The Scarab Club of Detroit, Michigan