Our reporters get fired up to try out a pottery class at the Abu Dhabi Art Hub
Live. Create. Exhibit. The motto for the Abu Dhabi Art Hub certainly sums up everything it aims to achieve. The hub is a meeting place for artists – both local and international – to come together and create works of art.
The space
Located in the industrial district of Musaffah, the space provides accommodation for visiting artists in residence, workshop facilities, exhibition areas and even houses offices for art-related business. Indeed the entire facility aims to create a sort of grassroots community of artists and art lovers in the capital.
Ahmed Al Yafei, founder and owner of Abu Dhabi Art Hub, is passionate about art and was keen to see more art-related initiatives being produced in the private sector. “I wanted to do something bigger – not just a gallery or a workshop space.” After researching other successful art-based community initiatives, the Abu Dhabi Art Hub was born. Al Yafei explains that all these different elements and support services were needed to create a true community feeling. “A community can only be created where people are living.”
Taking a spin
Keen to discover more about the offerings available to the general public, we sign up for a pottery class with art hub instructor Bassam Al Selawi.
Working with ceramics for over 20 years, Al Selawi explains that he loves the challenges that come with working with clay. After looking at a few of his stunning ceramic sculptures (our favourite is a Frankensteinesque giant sized figure made up of piecemeal scraps) in progress we’re eager to test our skills.
The ceramics studio, which doubles up as both a teaching space and artist studio for artists in residence, has shelves filled with red-orange pots and sculptures waiting to be fired. There’s a heavy round potter’s wheel in the corner but as we’re complete novices, we’re directed to the table in the centre of the room to create hand-built pots.
After a quick introduction about pottery and the variety of techniques used – hand- built, pinch, coil, slab and throwing – we are given slabs of a heavy grey Italian clay. After creating a round base for our pot, we use rolling pins to flatten a large rectangle of clay for our base. Al Selawi shows us how to use small knives to score the edges and seams of our pot and brush water on the edges to help achieve optimal stickiness – and hopefully keep the piece in tact after firing in the kiln.
After we’ve got our base standing by itself, we use another kitchen tool – this time a rounded wooden spoon – to begin shaping our pots. Using quick and gentle taps we slowly widen the base until we’ve managed to get a nice round shape.
Switching to a new technique, the coil, we watch as an assistant pumps the heavy clay into a device on the wall – squeezing out long thick, spaghetti-like coils for us to use. With a long strand in our hands, we score the top of our pots once again to help the thick rounded rope stay in place. Afterwards, using our fingers and water to help seal the seams, we add a Grecian look to our pots, with roll after roll.
Al Selawi shows us how to line up each roll of clay to curve our pots outwards and then inwards, as we begin to form the neck of the pot. We add handles, again using the scoring method, to help the pieces stick before it’s off to dry.
After air drying for three days the pieces will be placed in the kiln to fire. The first fire, also called the biscuit firing, will turn the grey pots a red-orange. After the first stint in the oven, it’s time to add a powdered glaze before returning the pots to the kiln for a final firing.
The verdict
When we return back to the office we proudly show off pictures of our pots and good humouredly enjoy the comments that follow. We’ll admit we may not be as naturally gifted in pottery as we originally thought, but the lesson was informative and most importantly fun. For a non-intimidating introduction, this workshop ticks all the boxes.
In regards to the space, even though it was a bit of a mission to get there, we were certainly impressed with the variety of artsy options on offer to the public. Starting a new initiative such as this – the likes of which have not been seen before in the city – certainly isn’t easy, but we’re convinced that in time, this hub will thrive.
For more information or to give it a go yourselves check out: www.adah.ae
