Nosheen Iqbal Translates Islamic Ornament into Meticulous Wood-and-Thread Patterns

Meticulously cut wooden panels, semi-precious beads, and layered thread and cordage transform into intricate geometric reliefs by Nosheen Iqbal. The Dallas-based artist draws on her background in product design and illustration to create chromatic works that tap into craft, nature, and ancestry.

Taking inspiration from her Pakistani heritage and the immanently ornate forms of Islamic architecture and ornament, Iqbal combines wood, which she might associate with building, with textile-related media like fiber and beads. The resulting compositions are elegant meditations on the power of pattern to connect us to culture, family, and familiarity.

abstract, mixed-media artworks with repetitive, colorful, geometric patterns in relief on wood panels — “Sarghoshiaan” (2025), wood, cotton fiber, and semi-precious beads, 57 x 40 x 1 inches

Iqbal’s work is currently on view in the artist’s solo exhibition, Inherited Forms at MAINSITE Contemporary Art in Norman, Oklahoma. Her material explorations examine “how patterns passed through generations carry narratives of identity, belonging, and resilience,” Iqbal says in a statement. “These inherited forms become a visual language; one that transcends words and quietly preserves histories that might otherwise disappear.”

Inherited Forms continues through September 11. See more on Iqbal’s Instagram.

abstract, mixed-media artworks with repetitive, colorful, geometric patterns in relief on a wood panel — “Botanical Allegory 1” (2025), wood, cotton fiber, and semi-precious beads, 12 x 28.5 x 1 inches

abstract, mixed-media artworks with repetitive, colorful, geometric patterns in relief on oval wood panels — ‘Curved Crosshatch Series’ (2025-26), wood, cotton fiber, and semi-precious beads, 33 x 57 x .5 inches

abstract, mixed-media artworks with repetitive, colorful, geometric patterns in relief on an oval wood panel — “Abir No.3” (2026), wood, cotton fiber, and semi-precious beads, 18 x 40 inches

detail of an abstract, mixed-media artworks with repetitive, colorful, geometric patterns in relief on a wood panel — Detail of “Abir No.3”

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