The Clay Remembers: An Investigative Study of Crisis-Era Lebanese Studio Ceramics

Abstract

Pottery is not a new art form in the Levant. Archaeologists in the region have exhumed fragments of clay pots dating back to the late Neolithic period. Yet “studio ceramics” — defined by the modern, high-fire methodology achieved through the use of gas and electric kilns — is widely believed to have arrived in modern-day Lebanon as recently as the 1970s. There remains a relatively small and interconnected lineage of studio ceramists in Lebanon but, as of yet, there has been no serious survey of these contemporary potters.

As a medium, ceramics is striking because it blurs the line between art and craft. Today, the majority of the tools and raw materials employed by studio ceramists are imported from overseas. Since the collapse of the local currency — brought on by an acute economic crisis that began in 2019 — many of these raw materials have become prohibitively priced to local potters. Additionally, the rising cost of electricity and regular power cuts pose a serious challenge to artists who rely on electric kilns to produce their work. This paper will examine how such forces are shaping ceramics production in Lebanon. It will provide a survey of studio ceramics in Lebanon from the 1970s onward, followed by an investigation of who remains privileged enough to continue to access the world of ceramics, changes in personal style or methodology as a result of electricity shortages and hyperinflation, and paradigm shifts in local understandings of what it means to be a “studio” potter.