Jul 21st - Sep 2nd, 2018
This exhibition highlights the cultural and aesthetic influences of Islam and the Middle East on the work of six contemporary ceramic artists. The artists Sanam Emami, Dominique Ellis, Julia Galloway, Sarah Heitmeyer, Ibrahim Said, and Anat Shiftan designed the gallery to highlight the function of the artwork as a visual metaphor for the shared culture between the U.S. and the Middle East.
The artists in this exhibition made work that interprets and reflects on broadening our connections and views of the diverse cultures and peoples of the Islamic world. Traditionally Islamic Gardens were rooted in ideal reflections on artistic and religious concepts; here each artist explores ideas inherent in tableware and objects for the table, and are inspired by the worlds of Islam and the Middle East. This artwork celebrates and challenges singular views of this dynamic and indefinable region of the world.
Garden (Feast) of Paradise was conceived of by three of the participating artists, Sanam Emami, Anat Shiftan, and Dominique Ellis. Each artist has personal ties to the Middle East and explored their various ideas and relationships to the region through monthly Skype conversations two years ago. These discussions took place before and after the 2016 US Presidential election. The emotionally dissonance caused by the election spurred them to create an art project that would present their love of the Islamic world on a more public scale. First displayed at NCECA 2018 in Pittsburgh, the topic is of great value, and we felt it deserved the attention of our community here at The Clay Studio and beyond. Through art we are able to identify the commonalities among various cultures, while celebrating their unique qualities. We welcome you to sit at these conceptual feasts and partake of the satisfying act of consuming beauty.
Read the recent mention of this exhibition by Edith Newhall in the Philadelphia Inquierer
Saturday, July 21 | 2 - 4 pm
This event is free and open to the public. We will be hosting an opening reception for Garden (Feast) of Paradise, an excitiing new installation that explores the intersections of art and artists from the U.S. and the Middle East. Please join us to watch Ibrahim Said demonstrate his impressive throwing skills, and then hear four of the show's artists discuss their work in the gallery. We will also enjoy authentic Middle Eastern food treats from Al Amana. Come along and bring a friend or two!
Anat Shiftan
$600
Sarah Heitmeyer
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Glaze
Measurements:
5.5" x 36" x 36"
Date:
2018
Description:
The breadth of exquisite geometry, beauty and logic found in Islamic cultures is incredible for a crafts person working in the decorative arts. My fascination with ornament brought me here, as dividing space through transcendent geometry creates objects for ornamentation, such as tile, architecture, or a vessel.
This synthesis of a facade of decoration and structural form mirrors the duality of Islamic patterns representing tangible complexity and unknowable beauty. As I reference these undeniable examples of craft mastery, my intention is not the recreation of a pattern or aesthetic, but finding a visual eutectic between pattern and structure.
The garden brings nature's embellishments into a controlled space in which it can flourish and test its boundaries. Beginning with geometrical constraints and using construction techniques from computer aided design results in uniquely self-referential, yet contemporary arabesque forms, capturing movement, botanic growth, and rhythm.
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Slip inlay, Gold luster
Date:
2018
Description:
Recently I have been researching endangered species. I am interested in making something unseen to be seen. For the most part we have little understanding of what species are in peril. Fish are a vulnerable population as they are difficult to see and study. The ocean is generally not under the stewardship of a specific country, so there are few regulations to protect habitats. As of today, there are nineteen species of fish of north American that have gone extinct or are severely endangered since the industrial revolution.
This collection of plates is a garden of clouds, a heaven for fish. I wanted to make an environment for extinct species to live out their days, to not disappear, metaphorically - a place to call home. The cloud plates represent heaven to me, and I wrapped each fish in gold to signify the value of each species.
I have always loved the lush quality of ceramics from the middle east, and the sense of abundance and Eden often portrayed. I have been influenced by the innate sense of pattern and order in the pottery, architecture and gardens of the middle east and find some solace in a structure. My own aesthetic has been influenced by studying middle east ceramics and I find great beauty in this pottery.
I am interested in displaying pottery in non-traditional ways to help convey ideas in the work. This does not diminish the utility of the objects, rather, its gives the viewer and ultimately the user a different understanding of the pottery. When pottery is on display in a gallery, it is a rather short flash point in the life of that piece, however, it has an effect on how we understand and experience the work. I hope by arranging the work in this exhibition, the viewer/user can take this idea home with them, a small piece of heaven.
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5"x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Julia Galloway
Medium & Materials:
Porcelain, Gold Luster
Measurements:
10.5" x 8.25" x 1"
Date:
2018
Ibrahim Said
Medium & Materials:
Earthenware
Measurements:
22" x 22" x 53"
Date:
2018
Ibrahim Said
Medium & Materials:
Earthenware
Measurements:
26" x 21" x 63"
Date:
2018
Ibrahim Said
Medium & Materials:
Earthenware
Measurements:
10" x 20" x 44"
Date:
2018
Sanam Emami
Medium & Materials:
Clay, Glaze, Cardboard
Date:
2018
Description:
I wanted my contribution to this collaborative project entitled Garden (Feast) of Paradise to feel like a work in progress. I was thinking about a mosque I visited in Iran that has been under construction for centuries. The building was never completed. Generations of artisans continue to work on the building but it remains a work in progress. The sacred space of the garden is also a work in progress, highly curated and cultivated but also elusive.
Aerial views of the main city square or meidan in Isfahan are the blue print for the shapes of individual pieces and the composition of the whole. The large floral and geometric dishes were brushed with thin coat of terra sigilatta. This surface creates a veil. The piece celebrates the creativity and ineffable beauty of the ancient Islamic garden and is also ab Iranian family portrait. The pressed patterns embedded in the clay are an attempt to record memories of a shared familial past that no longer exists except in stories and old photographs.
Stay up to date on all things Clay Studio with announcements, invitations and news delivered straight to your inbox.