Between clay, which lends itself so pliably to form, and mass, which seeks its relationship with space, the artistic practice of visual artist Diya Al-Hadidi takes shape.
اضافة اعلان
Ceramics and sculpture sit at the center of this practice, yet they don't appear isolated from his broader interests in drawing, design, and three-dimensional work; his art moves across multiple materials and media, united by a search for a visual composition that carries an idea and gives it a presence beyond the boundaries of matter itself.
Al-Hadidi's relationship with clay began early, when he discovered in it the ability to turn imagination into tangible forms.
Through study and practice, that beginning grew into an artistic project with an expanding set of tools, while ceramics and sculpture remained closest to his questions about form, mass, surface, and space.
Al-Hadidi tells Al Ghad that his relationship with clay began when a small lump of it in his hands would turn into a shape reflecting his imagination, explaining that this first experience gradually became a passion, then an artistic path that led him to specialize in ceramics and open up to other artistic fields.
In ceramics, Al-Hadidi finds a space that brings together idea and material; for him, clay is not merely a formable substance but an artistic medium that lets the artist test form, build mass, work the surface, and attend to detail. A piece begins as raw material, but it needs a clear vision to guide its direction and composition until it reaches its final form.
Al-Hadidi affirms that "the beauty of art begins when the work goes beyond the boundaries of form to touch feeling," explaining that an artwork isn't limited to its aesthetic dimension, but is also tied to the idea it carries and the interaction and impression it leaves on the viewer.
Al-Hadidi specialized in ceramics at the Institute of Fine Arts Noor Al-Hussein Foundation and also studied graphic design at Al-Balqa Applied University a combination that brought together knowledge of ceramics with elements of design and composition, and helped broaden his interests and approaches to artistic work.
His practice spans sculpture, hand-building and modeling, drawing, visual arts, graphic design, and three-dimensional artworks, alongside ceramics and clay modeling.
Across these fields, shared visual elements form the foundation of his practice, such as mass, space, surface, line, color, and area.
In sculpture, Al-Hadidi focuses on building mass and its relationship to space, while drawing gives him room to work with line, color, and area.
Graphic design, meanwhile, offers him a space to visually organize elements, while three-dimensional work allows him to think of composition as something that moves within space and occupies a visual volume.
Al-Hadidi doesn't see his movement between these fields as a departure from ceramics and sculpture, but rather as an extension of his practice and a broadening of its tools.
Each medium gives him a different way of engaging with an idea, and lets him test new possibilities in building a work which is what makes the diversity of his interests part of his artistic makeup rather than mere variety in practice.
The element of experimentation is clearly present in his work, as engaging with different materials gives him the chance to reconsider form and composition and discover new visual solutions. For him, a work isn't built simply by executing a fixed concept but develops through the stages of practice from the initial idea, to choosing the material, to building the form and working through its details.
Diya Al-Hadidi was born in Amman in 1980, and his career combines artistic practice with teaching.
He works as an art teacher, focusing on ceramics, drawing, design, and visual arts, alongside developing students' creative and artistic skills.
In his teaching practice, Al-Hadidi is interested in developing students' capacity for observation, their understanding of the elements of an artwork, and their ability to work with tools and materials. He also encourages them to express their ideas in their own ways, and to connect the practical side of art with artistic knowledge.
He believes that teaching art isn't limited to acquiring technical skill, but also contributes to building a student's capacity for observation, experimentation, and visual decision-making. For him, teaching serves as an extension of his artistic practice, offering him continuous interaction with new ideas and experiences.
Following his students' work and attempts renews questions related to form, material, and expression, giving the artist another space to reflect on the nature of the creative process. Al-Hadidi is present in the Jordanian visual arts scene through his membership in the Jordanian Society of Fine Artists, alongside his participation in numerous exhibitions, artistic events, projects, and various activities, which have helped establish his presence within the local visual arts scene.
His career reveals an artistic practice that develops across more than one medium, yet keeps ceramics and sculpture at its core.
Clay, which is where he began, represents for him more than just a first material; it is a space for testing an idea and turning it into form, while sculpture gives him broader possibilities for working with mass and space, and drawing, design, and three-dimensional work add further layers to his visual vision. In the end, Diya Al-Hadidi's practice appears to rest on an ongoing relationship between material and idea, and on a desire to discover what a material can say when it enters into dialogue with form, space, and color. The first step began with clay, but the path has widened to encompass multiple worlds within the visual arts, while the question has remained the same: how does material transform into a work that bears the artist's mark and leaves an impression on the viewer?
In this way, Al-Hadidi continues building his practice between the studio and the classroom, between ceramics, sculpture, drawing, and design, drawing on the diversity of his tools to develop a visual language of his own.
And on this journey, clay is no longer just a beginning but remains one of the keys the artist returns to whenever he wants to test a new relationship between hand, idea, and form.
Source: Al-Ghad. Reporting:Ahmad Al-Shawabkeh
