Ceramic and I…
When my hands touched the clay in 1994, I felt a different state!! It’s like we’ve known each other for ages!!! My relationship with clay is neither that of the maker nor that of the artist. Sometimes forming and sometimes coloring, so diving into the sea of ceramics is like looking for a pearl in the middle of an ocean…until he finds it and discovers its secrets. And the best thing is that he can’t find it!!! To live captivated by the love of searching for the true meaning of the word (ceramic).
In my beginnings, I was trying to rebel against the raw material of ceramics in the (Attempt to Reach) group, in 1997, by mixing raw materials of iron and wood, to break free from the rigidity of form and mass, and in the context of ceramic work using different formation methods and
various color glazing experiments between (glossy and matte) as well as In my works (Instinct) in 2000, including various installations, and in 2009, I had an experience in ceramics wit (Raku Techniques), mixing smoke and fire in color, using the wood that interacted with the fire as a background that shared the ceramic compositions.
At another stage, an attempt to go back to the past through the mechanism of the traditional ceramic work, using the (potter’s wheel) in a new and different way, and researching the details of the ceramic jug. The ewer contains elements and details such as the body, neck, abdomen, waist, lips, and hand, taking advantage of this physical similarity to produce utilitarian, aesthetic works, with interactive volcanic color techniques.
Finally, in 2023, I had a different collection titled (Motherhood), in which I address the pot and the vessel, including the containment of the inner space in which the mother pottery breathes, enduring the hardship of pregnancy and childbirth, as well as the use of formal and color contrasts in the surfaces, between manual formation and the potter’s wheel… Using a glaze that adopts the technique of color reduction in gas furnaces, and what is produced by the interaction of fire and smoke.
In general, the process of constructive practice in my ceramic works relied on the phenomenon of reflection in the ceramic vessels, the process of penetration into the body of the work, the focus on movement and communication, and departure from the familiar in the traditional vessels, which are attempts to find a new form and a different style.
ALI AL-AWADH / KUWAIT