• From the Mountains of Colorado to the Banks of Lake Geneva (page 20)
• local colorado paper
• kol hair
• thoughts by the curator Noga Arad Ayalon
• Achbar hair
• Mevasseret
• Ra'anana

WORKING WITH STONE

As a sculptor, I work with various stones that come from all over the world: Brazil, Turkey, Israel, USA, Egypt, Italy, Afghanistan etc… The color, texture, roughness and smoothness of the stone are important to me because they reflect the diversity that exists on the planet and in its peoples. Stone carving is a great challenge: stone is a delicate medium; at each stage of the work it could break. This is particularly true towards the end because this is when the stone reveals itself and becomes vulnerable … like a human being! The artist conducts a constant dialogue with the stone and she needs to be sensitive and attentive at each touch. In my opinion, working with stone is the ultimate communication between human beings and anorganic material. It teaches even the brash and arrogant how to be gentle and patient. Stone is full of mysteries and surprises. The initial rock may seem rigid, hard and inflexible – even ugly – but under the skilled touch of an artist it becomes soft and delicate. Even though it appears at first as an incoherent mass of grey matter, it possesses its own logic and harmony, which it reveals only gradually during the sculpting process.

FINDING MEANING, CREATING EMOTIONS

Creating an abstract form is not an easy process. First, one needs to invent, not to copy reality. Second, one needs to find meaning and create emotions that can and should go beyond race or culture, in order to produce international connections between human beings. In spite of our various differences, everybody should be stimulated, according to his or her state of mind. This complexity is best achieved in abstract forms because the possibilities are unlimited. The beauty of the abstract form is that one can interpret the final piece any way one desires, according to one’s own inspiration and mood at this particular moment of one’s life. This freedom, when viewing the sculpture and interpreting it in an individual manner, gives the piece its ultimate richness. I usually choose not to name my sculptures because by attaching a title, one limits the viewer’s imagination. A name would restrict the viewer to its label, instead of opening the piece up to the mind's eye and allowing the sculpture to inspire different people in different ways. My own inspiration and respect go to artists like Jackson Pollock, Henry Moore, Georgia O’Keefe, Isamu Noguchi, René Magritte, Constantin Brancusi and many others who went their ways with courage and determination.

PLEASE TOUCH

My sculptures are more than just a visual experience - you are welcome to touch them! Contact with the stone is a powerful experience. Try it and see how it affects the way you conceive the sculpture and how you connect to it. But do keep in mind: sculpting is a long and difficult process. Please touch with care and only with clean hands.