From Classroom to Gallery Floor: A Processual Exploration of Rene Saheb’s (Meta)physical Engagements with Clay

Abstract

This article presents a case study detailing the creative process of Iranian artist Rene Saheb. It analyses the various stages, developments, and challenges which Saheb went through while she explored the medium of clay which was new to her artistic repertoire. Rather than focusing on outward properties of ceramics such as style or technique, the artist’s inward experiences of her medium and creative process are foregrounded by means of interviews. As Saheb frequently turns to Islamic mysticism and poetry as conceptual anchorage throughout her creative process, her engagements with the ceramic medium will be discussed in light of relevant Islamic discourses on materiality, metaphysics, agency and idolatry. Farid ud-Din ‘Attar’s The Conference of the Birds, will provide a narrative as well as conceptual backbone throughout the article, as Saheb turned to the text at critical junctures and unforeseen events during her process.