Palestinian Artist Saj Issa Turns Colour Studies Into Ceramic Forms

In the studio of multidisciplinary Palestinian-American artist Saj Issa, everything starts small. Sheets of canvas paper are covered in quick colour studies, testing tones, brushstrokes, and composition. These studies act as the starting point before the work moves into other forms.

Issa works across painting, ceramics, and sculpture. The same idea moves between them. “It begins with making these smaller scale paintings and colour studies. Then I bring them to life, whether it’s on a large canvas or on my pots,” Issa tells SceneHome. What starts as paint on paper is carried onto clay, where glaze follows the same marks and colours, creating a shared visual language across two-dimensional and three-dimensional work.

Her process treats traditional craft forms, particularly vessels such as amphorae, as surfaces for image-making. These forms carry historical and functional associations, which remain present as they are reworked through paint and glaze. “I want them to be a three-dimensional painting, where what begins as a colour study or brushstroke on paper is carried into clay and glaze, holding the same visual language across both,” Issa explains. The object carries colour and gesture across its surface.

This approach continues in her sculptural work. In a recent piece, 'Crocodile Crown', a tail curves upward and breaks into repeated forms that resemble both spine and ornament. The surface is developed through glazing, using the same visual logic as her paintings. It was made for an upcoming group exhibition in New York, where it will be shown alongside other works extending her practice into sculpture.

Her work is shaped by her experience as a Palestinian in diaspora and by an ongoing interest in landscape, both natural and political. These ideas are not depicted directly. They appear through material, colour and form.

The studio reflects this process. Paintings lean against the walls beside ceramic pieces that carry the same tones and brushwork. Sculptures are placed throughout the space as part of the same ongoing cycle. Each work connects to the next, with no fixed starting or end point.

Recently, this process has taken on a more personal role. In preparation for her wedding, Issa has been producing a series of handmade ceramic plates as party favours. Each plate includes palm motifs alongside her name and her partner’s, as well as references to where they are from. “I made these plates as party favours for my wedding, and each one carries our names, palm motifs and where we are from,” Issa says. Made by hand and packed in her studio, these pieces extend her practice into an intimate context while maintaining the same attention to surface and detail.