(November 9, 2021/Israel21c) When Zenab Grabia was a little girl, she did not know any female ceramic artists in her community. absolutely not. But thanks to her, young women from the Bedouin community in Israel now set a successful example in crafts.

Grabia and her family live in the Bedouin town of Segev Shalom in the Negev, where her gallery is located, displaying ceramics decorated with traditional Bedouin embroidery patterns.

Her journey to become a ceramic artist was unusual, especially because she was not a big fan of clay in the first place.

"I didn't really understand ceramics at first," she admitted. "I have always been scared of getting dirty, but this is a required course at university. You can't get a diploma without it. So I signed up for the ceramic summer course and started making ceramics. I started to make time for it and make dishes."

Then she had the idea of ​​adding traditional Bedouin embroidery to her work.

"I want to give my mother a gift that can be used for a lifetime. She is the one who teaches me embroidery. I discussed it with my art professor and no one has done it before," she said.

After some trial and error, Grabia achieved the result she wanted.

“In some dishes, I just paint embroidery in different colors, while in other dishes, I actually add embroidery to the dish; I sew it in,” she explained.

"The results are very good, I received very good responses. People always ask me how I came up with this idea. I see how happy and excited people are about this work, they just check it with a plate and ask how it is. Completed."

It took her some time to succeed in the art world, including in some ways against the requirements of her community.

"Except for me, I don't know anyone who makes ceramics, even though someone has studied painting or completed a bachelor's degree in fine arts," she said.

"All my studies are in later stages. I completed 12 years of school at the age of 24 and then started moving in a more academic direction. Now I [plan to study] a PhD in Art," she said.

"Despite all the difficulties, I survived and got a bachelor's degree and a teacher qualification certificate. At that time, I started to have different ideas-I can study for a master's degree, and I hope it will enter the field of art."

Grabia is doing her ceramic work nearby; she is a full-time teacher and preschool teacher. Nevertheless, she was quite successful. Her gallery has become a popular site for tourist groups, and she has held exhibitions abroad.

"Bedouin women can indeed develop her art in this way, but when I first started, it was not an easy task-even now there are some difficulties in doing art and teaching art-but because of all this Obstacles, I insist on doing this with my family until they agree," she said.

"Seeing my success and realizing that the sky is unlimited for me makes me very happy," she added. "I am very satisfied with this, and it has also played a certain role as a model-you can now take an art course in Segev Shalom."

Grabia pointed out that her husband Suleiman al-Abid supported her ambitions and even helped her.

"My husband has never studied it, but he found ceramic bugs from his wife. He helped me a lot. Sometimes we have the same idea and we go to exhibitions together. He likes it," she said.

She especially thanked him for his support during the coronavirus crisis.

"I couldn't do it without him; if I was alone, I would have broken down a long time ago," she said. "Covid really affected us. Before, we always had buses coming to the gallery, but [during the pandemic] only one person came to us."

It is not yet possible to buy Grabia's work online, but she hopes to be able to get an e-commerce option up and running so that she can reach customers anywhere.

"A lot of people come to me and ask me for my work. I really think that once we are online, we will also sell what we do abroad. Inshallah, it will happen," she said. "I can see that once I put my things online, they will be taken away."

This article was first published by Israel21c.

To contact Zenab Grabia, please click here. 

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