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Muraywed's Clay

Posted by Amal Muraywed



Mixing skills in ceramics, painting, sculpture, and jewelry, Amal Muraywed, both professional ceramicist and senior instructor in AUB's Department of Fine Arts and Art History, presented a diverse collection of ceramic sculptures in her December 2009 exhibition at the Gallery Aida Cherfan in downtown Beirut. Entitled "Clay Diary," this exhibition revealed Muraywed's use of the figurative and the symbolic "in the line of all contemporary sculptors who have developed a figurative tradition liberated from realism," wrote ALBA's School of Fine Arts Head Nicole Harfouche.
The exhibition displayed a collection of ceramic women--faceless women, the result of ongoing research into the rich heritage of clay history since prehistoric times. The apple, a favored symbol, is the head of a large, voluptuous woman; in another work entitled, "Her Majesty," the apple sits on a chair.

The beautiful glazing and finishes reveal Muraywed's extension of the possibilities of traditional ceramic techniques in form, construction, surface texture, glazing, and firing techniques. A large ceramic platter entitled, "The Myth of Gilgamesh," integrates ceramics with fused glass and bronze. Muraywed's work, expressing life's "contradictions and paradoxes, is both abstract and expressive, strong and fragile, opaque and transparent, small and large in scale."


Nicole Harfouche wrote, "Muraywed seeks to be authentic. Her work is a kind of magic mirror which reflects her imagination."


The special surface qualities of her work invite the audience to touch and feel all the artist's feelings through the finger tips. Muraywed said, "Nowhere will you find a better medium than clay to express your inner soul in a three dimensional form textured with your finger prints. This collection of ceramic women expresses joy, sorrow, hope, and ambitionball sincerely captured by the sensual clay and made everlasting by the flames of fire [the kiln]." In my works, she said, "I am totally true to myself. My jewelry designs and creations are secretly integrated into the female bodies of this collection and gold touches reflect the promising peaceful atmosphere of the Icon."
Amal Muraywed has taught ceramics at AUB since 2000. Her solo and group exhibitions have been seen since 1990 in Paris, Vallauris (France), Beirut, Damascus, Cairo, and Dubai. She has edited many articles on contemporary ceramics and its history and has lectured in many symposiums and directed several ceramics workshops. The ceramics of Amal Muraywed can found in public and private collections worldwide.


Last updated on January 08, 2010 - 07:58 AM
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