Saturday, November 29, 2008

qumram

Small tapestry in shadow box
10" x 10" x 2" depth - wool, silk, cotton, synthetics, canvas, wood

A while back I read an article about the manuscripts found in the Qumram caves
in Israel and that’s how I found the inspiration for this project.
I closed my eyes and saw the old manuscripts decomposing in the humid caves. They remained hidden there for centuries inside clay vessels. On the interior side
of the scrolls, the humidity made the ink bleed and stained them in shades of black
and grey over their off white surface.
On the outside, the proximity to the clay’s red tones stained them in shades of red, orange, pink and yellow over their beige tones.
They are now kept in showcases for the enjoyment of generations to come.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Tryptich

Tapestry
40" x 50" all kinds of yarns, wood

This is a very old work I've done while I was still learning
20" x 22" - wool, sisal, wood

Medley

Small tapestry
10" x 10" - wool, silk, cotton, mounted on wooden frame

Small basket

Small knotted basket
10" x 5" x 4" depth - cotton, metal

I used macrame technique for this piece

Mixed Media

This is a mixed media work, I wove it on a purse handle that had 4 rings attached in a corner. I used sisal, cotton and synthetic yarns. Each ring is a different layer of weaving and I've used also basketry techniques. It seats on a wooden base inside a clear acrylic case.
9" x 9"

Mixed Media

Woven on a ring I've used sisal, and synthetic yarns in basketry and netting techniques. Seats on a wooden base inside a clear acrylic case.
9" x 9"

Mixed Media

I'd woven this piece in a purse handle that had three rings attached in a corner, I've had several of these that I used for different projects. This was made using weaving and basketry techniques in all sorts of yarns and is worked in layers, their transparency allows to see all of them. It seats on a wooden base inside a clear acrylic case.
9" x 9"

Small tapestry in acrylic box

Left in its frame I was adding warps one on top of the other all along the way and it ended being a "multi-warp" small tapestry
. I put it in a clear acrylic case to protect it.
12" x 9"



Textile sculpture

I found a piece of a wooden post, I painted it and made a weaving all around it's four sides using wool, cotton and synthetic yarns. I also added a base for stability.
Height 10" x 8" width x 8" depth

We are the people of the book

Textile sculpture
Height 7" x 6" width x 7" x 7" depth

I was born in Argentina, daughter to Jewish immigrants. My mother was born in Ninzny-Novgorod, in central Russia but registered as a Polish native in Brest-Litovsk. My father was born in a little shtetl near Odessa on the Black Sea. They met in Buenos Aires. My husband was born and grew up in the same city. His father came from Telenesht in Moldavia and his mother, was an Argentinian daughter of Rumanian Jews. We left the country for Canada in 1997. We and our two older children are currently living in Toronto, my youngest daughter is in Montreal.
For this project I decided to use leather covers which belonged to a book of Jewish History given to my husband for his Bar Mitzva. The book was written by the Argentinian Historian Simon Dubnov, the covers still have attached pieces of an Argentinian newspaper, used to make it sturdier. It aged being read by all of my husband’s family and became also my property when he brought it home after our wedding. Later in order to preserve it for further generations I had the bookbinding redone. I kept the old covers because I found them beautiful in themselves. There is also felted pieces once used to stuff them. I inserted between these covers and on these felted pieces small weavings, these represent pieces of my Jewish soul.
This book first created as an educational tool, and transformed into a family object has now become the genesis of a piece of art like the tapestries which have been a part of my life for many years. It’s pages tell the story of our ancestors. It’s old covers now embrace the meanings that accompanied my family in the succesive diasporas.
The sculpture stands as a metaphor for the transformations Jewish generations have undergone throughout history.
















Materials used: silk, wool, cotton, synthetics, felt, leather, raffia, wood. Was part of the exhibit of The Pommegranate Guild of Judaic Textiles (I am one of it's members) for the Ashkenaz Festival in Toronto in 2005.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

artist statement

My work is to me a way of life. I feel a creative force that comes from deep inside of me. It has been silently manifesting itself in my everyday life, in the way I raised my three children, in my cooking, in how I decorated my house and in every other possible way. In the past years, I have happily used this force -which has grown so strong- for the creation of my work.

Every piece represents a challenge, a learning experience. I live through the process of creation that leads me to each finish product. I have a passion for vibrant colors and for the interplay of textures as well as the reactions they provoke against one another. These are the elements that drive my inspiration. I am a rebel when it comes to schematic laws and techniques or simple superficial artistic expressions. I leave “outside the box” and create, experimenting and breaking away from tradition. As an artist and as a human being my goal is to be original, different, find new ways, new images and forms.

I live my life in all dimensions and I apply this to my work. I give life to forms so that they have the strength to jump out of the flat surface from which they are born. Two-dimensional designs become three-dimensional once finished.

Just as busy as my work seems to the eye, my life is filled with activities. I do not like the site of emptiness. As for the materials I choose, I take pleasure in touching and working with different materials such as wool, thread, wood, objects around my house. It is as if these objects had a life of their own and would transmit it to the world through my hands, as if I acted as a messenger between them and the world that surrounds us.

My work is also a way of learning. I grow professionally and creatively through my personal experiences as an artist.