IAC Clay, Ceramics & Geology Mission in Lebanon
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IAC Ceramics & Science: Clay, Ceramics and Geology Mission in Lebanon |
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Following on from UNESCO Résili’ART project:
HISTORICAL & CULTURAL CONTEXT In Lebanon, pottery is both culturally bounded and historically specific. The Levant has a longstanding tradition of pottery— a historical continuity that shaped the relatively recent introduction of studio ceramics. Earthenware clay is a naturally-occurring material throughout the region, typically harvested from bedrock or riverbeds. Potters have manipulated this clay into functional vessels for centuries, but their methodologies — predominately based on oral transmission — are largely undocumented, and thus their memory is struggling to prevail. In the context of the Levant, the form of pottery that locals understand and recognize as craft is referred to as fakhar – in Arabic, الفخار . Several locations throughout Lebanon are known for fakhar, including the mountains of Assia outside Batroun, the souks of Tripoli, Saida, and parts of the Chouf. Traditional Lebanese fakhar is typically characterized by six to twelve repetitive forms — lidded jars for arak (a local alcohol), large bowls, or wide-handled dishes for eggs or foul (fava beans) — all of which are utilitarian in nature and whose designs are frequently passed down from generation to generation. In the 1970s, a new, “modern” style of pottery took form in the region: studio ceramics. Lebanese studio ceramists generally view themselves as artists, intentionally contrasting themselves from craftsmen who produce fakhar. The work tends to be more experimental, with the creation of one-of-a-kind pieces that may never hold food or drink. A relatively small and interconnected lineage of studio potters is actively producing work in and around Beirut, most of whom use branded stoneware or porcelain clay as their primary clay body and fire at high temperatures. These bodies of clays — particularly stoneware, which is harder and denser than earthenware — are not naturally occurring in the Levant and must be imported from abroad. Since the onset of Lebanon’s crippling economic crisis — which has devalued the local currency by over 99% since 2019 — the cost of these imports has soared prohibitively high. Thus, many studio ceramicists are struggling to continue their work. Their freedom of expression is actively hampered.
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CLAY, CERAMICS & GEOLOGY MISSION The “Clay, Ceramics, and Geology Mission in Lebanon” project was born out of a conversation with Prof. Samar Mogharbel, Lebanon’s sole member of IAC, who called attention to the fact that Lebanon does not have naturally occurring clay that is suitable for sculpture or high-fire ceramics. Technical and chemical solutions exist. It is possible to harvest and transform Lebanon’s natural earthenware clays to make them suitable for studio ceramists and sculptors. The IAC cannot accept the current state of affairs and wants to give Lebanese artists back their right to express themselves and to enable their economic autonomy. The IAC decided to act under the banner of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Diversity of Cultural Expressions*. On the local level, the programme developed by the IAC benefits from the help of Lebanese ceramists, including Prof. Samar Mogharbel; the briqueterie of Mr. Charles Müller, who is willing to share his facilities and knowledge of local clay deposits; the laboratories at the American University of Beirut; as well as Beirut Museum of Art Director Juliana Khalaf and her team. The IAC put out a call to its members — a call to send its knowledgeable members on a field mission to Lebanon to prospect, harvest, and process wild Lebanese clays to make them compatible for sculpture and high-fire studio ceramics. Eleven extremely competent and experienced IAC members have already volunteered to intervene locally and develop modeling clay for large-scale works capable of withstanding the required firing temperatures: Shooli Azadeh (Islamic Republic of Iran), Avi Amesbury (Australia), Doug Casebeer (USA), Guangzhen Zhou (China / USA), Robert Harisson (USA), King Houndekpinkou (Benin / France), Jacques Kaufmann (France), Joao Rolaçao, Oficinas do Convento ass. (Portugal), Katherine L. Ross (USA), Nicole Seisler (USA), Hitomi Shibata (Japan / USA) and invited member, Expedit Ago (Benin). The IAC GEOLOGY MISSION TEAM is complementary, mobile, international and supportive. On the administrative side, Juliana Khalaf, co-director of the Beirut Museum of Art, her assistant Haloren Mellendorf, and Stéphanie Le Follic-Hadida (Vice-President of the IAC and AIC representative to UNESCO) and IAC Office are in charge of the project. The project can also count on the assistance of the American University of Beirut’s Chemistry Department for lab analysis. The first clay harvests have been sent to AUB labs and initial results are being processed. These results will then be submitted to the IAC group for expert appraisal. The IAC group will analyze the initial results, recognize possibilities and, eventually, travel on site to help implement protocols for transforming or rebalancing local clays to make them viable for Lebanese ceramists and sculptors. In this way, Lebanese artists will regain their right to express themselves through their art without having to import costly materials from abroad.
* The 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions:
(Investing in creativity, 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions) |
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Project partners: |
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Samar Mogharbel was born in Beirut and trained with Dorothy Salhab Kazemi, the first studio ceramics artist in Lebanon and the broader Middle East. Later, Samar studied at Goldsmith’s College in London, where she received a postgraduate diploma in ceramics. She was involved in the excavation in downtown Beirut, which influenced much of her work. In 2005, after the assassination of several major politicians, she made six booby-trapped cars using ceramics, which were awarded the Sursock Museum Prize. They were later cast in bronze and exhibited in London in 2011. She has had several solo exhibitions in Beirut, a major exhibition at the Millesgardem Museum in Sweden, and several group exhibitions worldwide including in Lebanon, Croatia, France, and the UAE. Samar was awarded a special mention at the Salon d’Automne of the Sursock Museum in 1998, First Prize of the Sursock Museum in 2006, and the silver plaque at the Zagreb Clay Fest in Croatia. She currently teaches ceramics at the Lebanese American University in Beirut. Juliana Khalaf Salhab is a Beirut-based specialist in Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern and Islamic Art. Holding degrees in history, art history, and art business, Juliana worked as an art researcher and appraiser at leading institutes, including Masterson & Gurr Johns New York and Sotheby’s London. After three enlightening years at the Sursock Museum, Lebanon’s museum for Modern and Contemporary Lebanese art, she co-founded BAKS Art Advisory in 2014, a regional arts consulting firm specializing in art institution and collection management, taking on large-scale private and public projects. Juliana is currently the co-director of the Beirut Museum of Art (BeMA), a position that aligns with her ongoing pursuit to preserve and promote Lebanon’s cultural art heritage. |
Haloren Mellendorf is a Beirut-based researcher and ceramicist. After earning her bachelor’s degree in International Relations, she moved to Lebanon to pursue her master’s degree in Arab and Middle Eastern Studies at the American University of Beirut. Her master’s thesis — the first ethnographic study of its kind — focused on the role of memory in crisis-era Lebanese studio ceramics. This thesis marked the first time an academic investigated the boundary between traditional Lebanese fakhar and the relatively modern practice of céramique d’atelier. Haloren currently works with the Beirut Museum of Art as a ceramics researcher, collecting wild clay from all over Lebanon to help preserve the country’s dying cultural material knowledge. She has been practicing ceramics since 2018. Charles S. Müller is the CEO of Müller Industries, the leading brick and clay roof tile manufacturing firm in Lebanon. The firm produces a wide variety of red clay roof tiles and accessories, as well as bricks and refractories. Müller Industries’ expertise in the brick & tiles field is not limited to production but includes design, execution, and consultation of all roofing works — as well as refractory and fire-resistant structures and components. Mr. Müller has generously offered access to his factory for large-scale filtering and processing of Lebanon’s wild clay. Dr. Pierre Karam is an associate chemistry professor at the American University of Beirut. In 2018, Dr. Karam was selected by the World Economic Forum as one of the 50 extraordinary scientists under the age of 40 for contributions to advancing the frontiers of science, engineering and technology. On behalf of AUB Labs, Dr. Karam and his team will provide a chemical analysis of the wild clay collected from different corners of Lebanon, which will offer valuable clues on how to stabilize the clay at higher temperatures. |
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Contact: |
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Stéphanie Le Follic-Hadida, IAC Vice-President & Representative to UNESCO |
Juliana Khalaf Salhab, Beirut Museum of Art (BeMA) Co-director Haloren Mellendorf, “Clay, Ceramics & Geology Mission in Lebanon” Project Manager |
Partner of UNESCO
Since 1958, AIC has been affiliated with UNESCO, first on a consulting basis and then, since 2001, as an official partner in the cultural sector.
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