Matan Shamai - Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center

School of Ceramic Art (1)
- Local Artist Residency Program
The Benyamini School of Ceramic Art is a professional center offering courses for beginners, intermediate and advanced students, artists, and designers who want to work with clay. The school has a team of professional lecturers running a year-round program of courses in practical and theoretical aspects of ceramics as well as a three- year recognized diploma program, workshops, lectures, and master classes with artists from Israel and abroad.
Gallery (2)
The galleries at the Benyamini Center initiate dialogue about material culture, contemporary ceramics, design, art, architecture and craft. The exhibitions in the various gallery spaces raise relevant questions about these fields of knowledge taking a broad, interdisciplinary approach, and relate to the complex environment we inhabit.

Head curator: Dr Shlomit Bauman
Curators of the Small Gallery: Reut Rabuah, Shelly Shavit
Events and Special Programming (3)
This program aims to broaden the dialogue of the various aspects of ceramics and material culture, and includies lectures, masterclasses, gallery talks, symposia and special events that are planned throughout the year. Each meeting brings diverse views of the ceramic field locally and globally in contemporary and historical culture. We invite makers, designers and artists from various media and our activities are suitable for professional audiences as well as the general public.
In addition, the Benyamini Center places great importance on community involvement and during the year, participates in projects for and with the local community.
Library (4)
- Ceramic Magazines
- Digital data base of Israeli ceramics
The Library carries close to 1200 books on all aspects of the ceramic arts: Studio ceramics, Design, Pottery, How-to, History of ceramics, Israeli ceramics, Textbooks etc.. They represent most of the ceramics books available today worldwide. The Library also carries all the important international ceramic magazines and has a growing archive of "Israeli Ceramics" from its inception till today. The Library is constantly updated with the newest releases. It is accompanied with an updated database which can be viewed on the Benyamini internet site (it lists the Categories and Keywords for easy search). The aim of the Library is to familiarize professionals in the field, students, and the public at large with the ceramic field in all its richness, and be a well-equipped research center, as well as a learning source for the Benyamini Ceramic Art School.
International (5)
- Benyamini Center Abroad
- International Residency Programs
The international activities at the Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center are a two way operation – outward and inward – in an effort to establish Israeli ceramic art as part of the international clay community and to contribute to its professional dialogue with the world. In order to initiate global ties and launch international connections, we reach out to the global community by participating in international projects, conferences and symposia as a path of integration in relevant professional conversations worldwide. Conversely, in order to bring the world to us in a variety of professional programs, we host international residencies and promote, produce and lead international conferences and symposia. These are productive and challenging platforms for sharing thoughts and ideas in relevant social, professional and political issues.
Benyamini Center (6)
The Issachar and Yehudit Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center promotes ceramic art and design in a vibrant atmosphere of creativity for professional artists as well as the general public. Through the on-going activities we wish to create a dialogue between the various aspects of ceramics and extend its scope in the broad spectrum of material culture.

The Benyamini center is located in Kiryat Hamelacha in south Tel Aviv in an area that has become the hub of contemporary art in the city with many galleries and artist studios in the area. It is a public non-profit organization founded in 2001.
Contact (7)

A graduate of the Department of Ceramic and Glass Design at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, I create and design ceramic objects by integrating diverse materials and techniques. Alongside my studio practice, I teach pottery and hand-building.

My work explores themes of process, persistence, and determination. For me, true success lies in the accumulation of experience and knowledge—the material and the results are simply markers of that journey. Ceramics demands patience; the clay has its own rhythm. Through steady persistence and creative faith, I have developed my own artistic language and a unique way of engaging with the medium.

Entering the studio feels like stepping onto a playground. By releasing the fear of the result, I am free to push the boundaries of form and scale. This mindset allows me to embrace mistakes and maintain a child-like excitement for every new experiment.

Biography

Selected Works

מתן שמאי, צילום: שי בן אפרים
מתן שמאי
מתן שמאי
מתן שמאי
מתן שמאי, צילום: שי בן אפרים

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