Abeera Atique lives in the magical world of colors. As a housewife and teacher, however, her feet are firm on the ground of reality of life. Atique, from Pakistan, is an art teacher at the art department of the Dhahran High School (DHS). If not in the school and during her spare time as housewife she paints to raise funds, which she donates to charity organizations in the Kingdom and back home. “I paint for a noble cause. The money I raised from the auction of my paintings goes to the needy. This gives me satisfaction and drives me to paint more,” she said. Professionally, as a painter, Atique is successful. She made the illustration of the book Lawrence of Arabia by the famous author Mark Chamberlain. She also executed illustrations for various publications of Amazon.com, the publishing house Barnes and Noble, and many others. Her paintings, be it a portrait or a landscape, breathe life, tell a story. “There is life – the reality – in them,” she said of her paintings. As a school teacher, she inspires and motivates her students by displaying in her websites their paintings, giving words of encouragement to them. Her students participate and support her in her fund raising works. “The recent exhibition held at Dhahran High School included the works of my students and we were able to raise about SR23,000. We are really proud of it,” she said. I teach my students how to be creative by using various material and technique, and encouraging them to donate the proceeds of their artwork to charity. Born and brought up in Pakistan, she says she is always intrigued what lies in the reality of the peoples around her. “This thought motivated me, and so I started painting when I was three years old. My father is my guiding star,” she said. “Being a teacher now, I am happy I am able to touch the hearts of so many little children and guide them to the world of paintings like my father had guided me. I always tell my students to use and improve their talents in painting because they are God's gifts to help humanity.” Among charitable organizations that are beneficiaries of Atique fund raising work are the Arabian Reading Association (TARA)), and The Citizen Foundation (TCF). Since she started her career, she has participated in many exhibitions. She is well known among the artists not only in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, but also throughout the NESA (North East South Asia Conferences) region. She has done numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the world. A multi-faceted person, Atique has a Masters in Fine Arts and also a BSc in home economics. She also holds certificates in the field of ceramics, computer programs, interior designing and English. She has travelled around the world and has a very good understanding of history of arts. She has been a part of NESA since 2000, and has been attending all their conferences in different parts of the world. She has been a regular presenter in TARA (the Arabian Reading Association) held in Bahrain and NESA Conference held in Thailand. She has also represented the ISG (International Schools Group) in the NESA conference for the past two years and has been designing the cover pages for NESA Conferences. She is due to travel to Nice, France, to attend the ECIS (European Council of International Schools) conference as a guest speaker. “Art, to me, was always more of a passion than a hobby. At the early age of three, my mother would give me some of her paints to play with while I curiously watched her paint. Throughout the course of my primary and secondary education I received numerous awards for my various drawings and paintings. By the age of 14, I already had an interview published in newspapers across Pakistan. I got much of my confidence and encouragement from my father as he always made it a point to proudly display my work around the house. It was his confidence in me that led me into making the decision of taking up art as a profession” Atique has displayed her works in several solo exhibitions and participated in 30 group shows around the world. For the past six years she has been designing the cover pages for international conferences held across the globe. “Today I am a successful artist, a fine arts teacher, and the department chair of arts at Dhahran High School in Saudi Arabia. But my greatest success and accomplishment is giving to charity whatever I earned through my paintings. I am happy to make sacrifices for charity purposes,” she said. __
