I loved AIDAshed, My 2012 Residency in Israel

I just returned from my AIDA Residency (2012 Aidashed) and research tour in Israel and wanted to share some highlights with you all. I thought I would have time to place entries in my blog but could not do so and keep up with my studio goals, the planned excursions, and sharing my new friends…15 Israeli artists, Molly Hatch and Linda Sormin. So I am doing this post after returning from my time in Israel.

I got a taste of kibbutz life at Givat Haviva where I worked for two weeks, making a sculpture that was inspired by the art center’s peace mission. I donated this sculpture to their collection and it remains in Israel as my contribution to good will. I made this complex piece (pictured below) as well as doing an artist lecture at Givat Haviva and one at the new Benyamini Art Center in Tel Aviv, invited demonstrations of life casting and rubber mold making. I also made teabowls for gifts. I was able to make my sculpture using high fired clay and Limoges and other porcelains. Unbelievably Limoges sculpts well for small pieces. I used Chinese underglaze decals and saw a new technique for raku firing. The American Consul, who I met, came to our open house event at the end of the residency.

Yes, we had Shabbat (Friday and Saturday) for fun and tours. I was taken to the old city in  Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Masada, Tel Aviv for a tour centered upon the Bauhaus architecture and the Tel Aviv Art and Israeli Museums, Jaffa Port, and Cesaerea. After the residency I traveled to the Marine labs in Eilat, Haifa, and Migdal to research the domestication of the bluefin tuna, control of water pollutants specificially mercury deposition and even learned more about pesticides and fertilizers in the environment. This research complete with video interviews will be part of my multi-platform solo exhibition planned for 2013 at the Belger Art Center.

It is with great gratitude that I share this experience with you. Words cannot describe the scope of my experience. I learned a lot about life in Israel, spoke Hebrew after years of not speaking a language I learned in high school and connected with my heritage.

AIDAshed 2012 will inform my studio practice in many ways as well as my life and awareness of culture and how it can be conveyed through art. I remain honored to have been selected as an invited artist

I left Israel with the experience in my heart, a love for the country and people, and the hope of returning to continue sharing my artwork, techniques and artistic perspective.