Tarik Ibrahim, Waleed Qaisi, Sa'ad Shakir
Three Iraqi ceramists.

 

Tariq Ibrahim (b. 1938). Ibrahim graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad in 1959. He furthered his studies at the Central Institutes of Applied Arts in Beijing, China in 1964 and Moscow, USSR in 1966 and worked in a ceramics factory in Cuba from 1966–69. He taught ceramics at Baghdad University, College of the Arts from 1970–97. Ibrahim makes hand-built sculpture and sculptural vessels with architectural and landscape elements. He has retired from teaching and lives in Baghdad.

Waleed Rasheed Qaisi (b. 1963). Qaisi graduated from the Institute of Fine Art in Baghdad in 1985. He was artist-in-residence at the Shigaraki Ceramic Culture Park in Japan in 2004 and that year also exhibited in London. He is known for his hand-built abstract and narrative earthenware sculpture. Qaisi is a resident of Qatar.

Sa’ad Shakir (b. 1935). Shakir graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad in 1959, then taught there for one year in 1960. In 1961 he received a scholarship to study ceramics at the Central School of Fine Arts in London, Britain, from where he graduated in 1963. He taught there and at the Harrow School of Art from 1963–65. After returning to Iraq, he taught at the at the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad, from 1966–2001. He was elected a member of the Iraqi Fine Artists Association in 1959, the International Academy of Ceramics in 1963, the British Ceramic Association in 1964 and the National Committee for Fine Arts in 1993. He has won several awards, including the Silver Jubilee prize from the Iraqi Artists Association in 1987 and awards from the Ministry of Culture in 1995 and 1997. Shakir makes semi-abstract and abstract sculpture, as well as decorative platters. He has also retired from teaching and lives in Baghdad. His son Delar is also a ceramist.

More Artists of the Week
More Articles