Jafet Ceramics Exhibition

The ceramics exhibit held at Jafet Library

On Thursday April 23 at 8:00 am sharp, the doors of Jafet Library opened as they do on a  daily basis, but that day marked the start of a ceramics exhibition in the gallery inside the library. Running through May 9, the exhibition displayed the works of Ceramics I and II students—FAAH 215 and 216—during library hours.

Amal Muraywed, an established ceramicist who exhibits her work worldwide, teaches the two Fine Arts courses. Her teaching methods are precise, systematic, and hands-on. She combines lecture with practice in an effort to bring out the best in her students, many of whom have elected the courses and come from various other majors.

Most students who take the first ceramics course enjoy it so much they inevitably register for the second. In fact, knowing the pleasure of making art and exhibiting it through Ceramics I and/or II with Muraywed, provides many elective students with just the right motivation to go for a minor in studio arts.

Students taking the courses demonstrated their excitement at exhibiting their own work for the first time. Many expressed their sense of fulfillment at “being able to make something beautiful that you can actually put in your home or in a gallery.”

The ceramics exhibition is a true celebration of art-making. Walking through the exhibition gallery and marveling at the students’ work, one cannot but feel the difference in the atmosphere. Earthy colors such as ochre, brick red, burnt sienna, olive green, and aquamarine linger among soft curves and organic shapes—ceramics.

Despite the smooth, pristine finish the surfaces have, one can almost see the countless hands, eagerly working the dough-like material into beautiful pots, vases, and tea sets. The ceramics exhibition in Jafet never fails to attract art-lovers and newcomers alike. It is a way of bringing art, culture, and aesthetics into the academic world, and what better way to do that than to exhibit art in a library?