A taste of memory-an art installation about food and childhood טעם של זכרון-מיצב על זכרונות ילדות ואוכל

כבר זמן מה, אני מתכננת לכתוב פוסטים מפורטים על התהליך שמלווה את הקמת המיצב הזה, אך לצערי למרות שהיה לי זמן רב להתכונן, כמו תמיד הכל מתנקז לרגע האחרון וכרגע זה נראה כמשימה בלתי אפשרית.

תוך כדי כתיבה התחוור לי ההגיון במה שניתן לכנות "ההתמהמהות" שלי. הבנתי כי היא מהווה  חלק מתהליך המאפשר להגיע לקראת קו הסיום כשהרעיונות והיצירה בשלים ומזוקקים יותר.

דבר שכנראה לא היה מתאפשר אילו הכל היה כבר מוכן לפני חודש...

את המיצב מלווה השפית אפרת זהר לבקוביץ, אותה  הכרתי כשפתחה פה בבנימינה את בית הקפה הנהדר "טרטין". אפרת היא קונדיטורית מוכשרת ויצירתית שמנחה גם קבוצות ומטפלת בבישול.

רק כשנפגשנו בפעם הראשונה לשיחה הבנתי כמה השידוך איתה מושלם עבורי.

לא רק שאני מקבלת ליווי בתחום הקונדיטוריה הצרפתית שבה עוסק חלק ניכר מהמיצב, אלא גם טיפול תרפואיטי צמוד בכל הקשור לזכרונות הילדות והשלכותיהם.

הרבה מושגים עלו במפגש, מסע, זהות, תביעת האצבע המשפחתית, חיים בוואקום, בישול בוואקום ועוד רבים.

אני מודה שלא להכל התחברתי ולמרות שהיה לי ברור כי " מסע " הוא מושג מפתח, לקח לי זמן רב להפנים כי אכן אפרת צדקה. לא רק שתהליך הפקת ויצירת המיצב המאוד מורכב הזה הוא מסע אלא גם התהליך הנפשי המלווה אותו, דרש עבודה עצמית מרובה והיה טריגר לחקירה צולבת של אימי באשר לזכרונות הקשורים בי ובנו כמשפחה, ועלכך אני מודה לאפרת.

זהו להפעם...

בפעם הבאה...

גלריה שיתופית "אנו"

ושיתופי פעולה

Nostalgia no 2-Our records

One of my parents records. A great inspiration for me as a child.

Yesterday, Saturday 20.04.2013 it was pouring rain at Tel-Aviv, but still we decided to try our luck and go hiking in the forests near by Jerusalem.
It was fun, for 45 minutes. We even had time to eat a sandwich outdoors...and then of course...it rained...
We returned back to our car just before the big storm began, and had quite a good time listening to the radio. Since it was "Record Day". One of the best stations here 88fm,  played music from different record collections.
I myself have a small collection of records I kept all those years. Some belonged to my parents, some are mine and some belong to my husband.
I have records which are intact, I have some  totally scratched, others with music played by pop bands I will probably never hear, and some which remind me of nostalgic moments.
In my studio stands a record player, which I often use.

Here are  links to music I like.

Enjoy!

John Lee Hooker-The healer

Miles Davis-sketches from spain

Al Dimeola ,Mc Laughlin ,Paco De Lucia

Nostalgia no 1-Miki Shapiro's magazines

My aunts  textile and fashion magazines

My aunt Miki Shapiro, a very gifted textile & fashion designer was one of the first designers in Israel.
She started her way in Bezalel academy of arts and design in Jerusalem in the 1950's and worked for "Maskit" fashion house- who's clothes and products wished to preserve the legacy of the arts and crafts of the immigrants in Israel.
Miki designed  fabrics and clothes for 50 years and was the founder and force behind the important project named Almaz.
Almaz employed  men and women from the Ethiopian community in order to enable them to maintain a friendly working environment while working on textile products inspired by their culture.

*

Yesterday my aunt gave me this small treasure...Dozens of fashion and textile magazines and catalogs which she and I hope will inspire me in my art work and more particularly in my collage.

Thank you aunt Miki.

My dad and mom in London.
Mother is wearing one of Miki's Designs

Aurora borealis...bursting from our fire place

Experimenting with my Canon camera.

Zooming in and out of the fire...

.

For a moment it seems like an orange aurora borealis ...

It's really fun zooming in and out with the camera....

" The audience is invited " The Video

    " הקהל מוזמן    *  The audience is invited "

  Avital Baron Izackov    I   אביטל בר-און איזקוב     

לצפייה יותר מוצלחת בוידאו אנא כנסו לקישור

please enter the LINK

http://youtu.be/m-EjCPqUj8I

הקהל מוזמן  לראות/להביט/להתבונן/לא להתבונן

הקהל מוזמן  להגיב אל מול ההבעה/לא להגיב

הקהל מוזמן  לחייך/לכעוס/לבכות/לתהות

הקהל מוזמן  לרקום/ לרקום עם שותפ/ה העומד/ת בצידו השני של הבד/לא לרקום

הקהל מוזמן  להשתמש במספריים ולגזור את החוטים שרקמ/ה/ לפרום חוטים שעבד/ה איתם

הקהל מוזמן  בהחלט לרקום על הדימוי המודפס

הקהל מוזמן  להיות שותף ליצירה שלי

The audience is invited to see/watch/observe/not to observe

The audience is invited to respond towards the expressed emotion/not to respond

The audience is invited to smile/get angry/cry/wonder

The audience is invited to embroider/to embroider with a partner standing on the other                           

                                      side/not to embroider

The audience is invited to use the scissors to cut the thread/to unstitch the thread he/she             

                                      used

The audience is invited embroider on the printed image

The audience is invited to take part in my work.

                                                                          

           * Sharing an auto portrait   אוטופורטריט שיתופי                      

        אנא כבדו את מחוות השיתוף   Please respect our mutual work 

עבודה זו הוצגה בתערוכה בנושא שיתוף ב"סוכת האמנים" בנימינה

 This work has been exhibited in the exhibition named  "sharing"  in the "Artists Suka" ,Binyamina

במהלך התערוכה תעדתי את ההתרחשות ליד העבודה בכדי לבחון את מידת השיתוף של הקהל.

  During the exhibit I filmed the buzz around my work in order to see if there would be any cooperation.

שמחתי לראות שבשלב מסויים הייתה התקהלות רבה, שבהילוך מהיר הזכירה לי כוורת דבורים...

I was pleased to see that at a certain point  many people "hovered"  around the work. It reminded me of a bee hive...

music in the video by  Rimsky Korsakov "Flight of the bumble bee"

עוד יומיים תערוכה בנושא :שיתוף -Sharing: an upcoming exhibition

Detail from my work  "The audience is invited *פרט מהעבודה  "הקהל מוזמן

Exhibition  held in the new communal Art space initiated by the "Sukkah". 

Grand opening 6/9/12 at 19.00

 אוטופורטריט שיתופי *

 sharing an auto portrait 

התערוכה שלי בתיאטרון ירושלים .My exhibition in the "Jerusalem Theatre"

It's 00.20 and I'm working on my C.V. + the list of names for my work. I think I'll call it a day...or not...

Suddenly I realise my exhibition is due in a week and I haven't sent even one invitation.... Lucky it's exhibited at the same time as the "Israel Festival " so it may be exposed to a larger audience....

I Like giving my work names. Most of the time it completes the ideas that aren't always obvious in my art work: "Clear blue sky"..."James bond Is alive and well"....well I'm not really sure it allows the audience to fully understand my own associations but still I have fun naming my work.

 I just like "words". I like to analyse their meaning. I often search for the meaning of a certain word I just "encountered" and since I speak several languages I try my luck in understanding the meaning of it ,by various associative techniques. At times I'm lucky and I "pull"  the right meaning and at others I realise my associations swept me into an imaginary world of  meanings...

Well...were was I?

"Out of Context"? Is it a coincidence I chose it as the name of my exhibition?

context [ˈkɒntɛkst]

1. the parts of a piece of writing, speech, etc., that precede and follow a word or passage and contribute to its full 

2. the conditions and circumstances that are relevant to an event, fact, etc.

[from Latin contextus a putting together, from contexereto interweave, from com- together + texere to weave, braid]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

meaning it is unfair to quote out of context

I really like this explanation for the word "context". The fact that "texere" means "to weave" in Latin is exactly what I do in my work. I take all the images and words that I cut out of their primary context (images in newspapers books catalogues...) and try to weave them into a coherent work.

Most of my childhood I sort of felt "Out of context". Not an unhappy "out of context" but still out.
Although my father was a Diplomat and we lived abroad, it was clear to me I was Israeli. Israeli in my roots, my state of mind, my way of percieving life. At home we spoke in Hebrew .We lived an Israeli-Jewish life as a family , whereas outdoors we spoke English, Italian, French. We read signs  in foreign languages and ate all sorts of strange food. 
We visited Museums, Churches, Lakes ...We  spent time with French or Italian speaking aquaintaces, and befriended children who stopped in front of a niche with a Madonna and crossed themselves, run away from the angry concierge that spotted us treding on the grass...
yes, "I feel out of context" is the right expression.
Or was I ever "In Context"??

Earth day 2012 at home

This year I decided to take part in the "Earth Day" event.
Not that I didn't want to participate in this ecological educational one hour project
at previous times, but I admit...I always forgot.....
My daughters were very excited to be part of this worldwide feeling of shutting
off the lights , and for a brief moment feel the ways of past days, when no one could just "switch the lights on".
 I suppose they lit.... every candle in the house and were very pleased with themselves.
 I can tell you It looked very romantic when my husband came back home
and saw all those candles.... My eldest, Zohar, decided to make dinner,
 and each of us ate a delicious meal according to what had been ordered previously.
 My youngest, Noga, was occupied with the candles and I had a brief moment
 to sit on the sofa and take a few pictures....
(Noga requested to shorten the "1 h" event by 15 min...
It was very urgent for her to watch a TV programme...well it's the intention that counts...)

yes!! Spring is definitely here!

"The sound of ......frogs"

An abundance of colors, smells, sounds and sights .

 Spring is here and I couldn't be more happy!

We really love to go on daily trips with our pickup truck.

 It's always an opportunity for us to spend quality time together.

 Talk, admire nature, picnic together and listen to music we like.

This time we were all overwhelmed by the sights.

   Multicolor flower beds and the music of flowing water, bees and frogs ....

the enchanting sounds of frogs.....

now you can play..."hide and seek with  the frog"

This year we were blessed with rain,

 and while driving through the paths of the river Dishon in upper Galilee

 we couldn't get over the intensity of the river flow .

I presume that for someone coming from Europe this is not a rare sight, to say the least.

 But I can assure you for us it is!

 We have made this same trip 3 years ago, and i can tell you

our car didn't have to pass through the river in order to continue our route....

By car...

By foot... 

I love music. I listen to music most of the day,

so every once in awhile I like to add a song I just heard to my posts.

  This time you're welcome to listen to Willie Nelson's song "On the road again".

Gil and I like to watch a programme named... "Spain... on the road again"

with chef Mario Batali, actresses  Gwyneth Paltrow and Claudia Bassols and the journalist Mark Bittman. It's a fun well made programme...

Enjoy!

while beeing on the road ...again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TD_pSeNelU

"Mornin" Birthdays in our family. "יום הולדת "בוקרית

It's super fun to celebrate in the morning!

         When it comes to celebrating my Birthday, I'm just like a child. Counting the days, making plans and reminding whom ever is cooperative what I would like as a present.

Birthdays in our family are always a BIG issue. It becomes a "Birth Week" or sometimes even 2 weeks....An ongoing festival .

For my daughters, it's celebrating at home, at their grandmother's house with all the family, at a sushi bar or for the young one at a coffee shop, with their class and at my husband's parents.

We start the Birthday celebrations in the morning, just before going to school or work, with what my youngest calls "Mornin Birthday".

"Mommy can we celebrate my "mornin" earlier this year?"

"What do you mean by earlier?"

"Mom please, please can you surprise me next week?"

"But your Birthday is due in 2 weeks!"

"It doesn't matter. As long as it's real soon, I can't wait anymore"

And that is how we "SURPRISE" her every year.....

Since the girls are due in school at 8.00, the preparations start the day before.

We bake a cake or prepare some special cookies . Lately we became lazy and started buying goodies .....Then comes the issue of hiding it ....And when the birthday girl is a sleep, my husband's job is to inflate an endless stream of balloons. Whereas I  have a good excuse for arranging the house for a good morning vibe.

We wake the "non celebrating" daughter to start arranging the table for the Mini Morning party, real early. And then we wake up the B day Girl or Father or..... with cake, candles and presents.

 

Every time the girls plan another theme for the table setting....Jungle theme....Pet shop toys....playmobil....flowers....sweets theme etc...

   

It's highly recommended!

An abundance of Olives In our neighbourhood-גשם של זיתים אצלנו בשכונה

          Between Summer and Winter...barely Autumn here in Israel. The Grapes have been harvested, the vine leaves turned yellow and red and now the olives are gracefully waiting their turn to be picked  . Large canvas sheets are spread on the ground, trees are being shaken and a rain of  olives  , green and black pour down, just to be picked by olive lovers who can't wait to fill their buckets and begin with the art of preserving/curing the olives.                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

We, were invited by our neighbours to the local harvest of their TREE.
This year, the tree which had grown too high, got a "Hair cut" , and their alley scattered with olive branches became a joyful meeting place for all the neighbours.

Thanks to our neighbours and their local Olive Tree

בבקרים הקיץ עוד מבקר אך לעת ערב רוחות הסתיו כבר מתדפקות והעלים על שלל צבעיהם כבר מבצבצים בגינות. הענבים נבצרו ועכשיו עצי הזית העמוסים פרי מחכים לתורם. יריעות רחבות נפרשות בכל פינה במושבה.בשדרות ובבתים עולים על סולמות מעבירים דליים ו"חולבים" ענפים.  הענפים כה עמוסים בפרי, שלא נותר אלא להעביר את היד על פניהם בתנועת חליבה וגשם של זיתים שחורים וירוקים נשפכים הישר לדלי. ולאוהבי הזיתים לא נותר אלא למהר עם דליהם ולהתחיל באומנות הכבישה.

השנה הוזמנו עלידי שכננו למסיק של העץ השכונתי. עץ הזית שצמח לו אלעל ,סופר וענפיו שנשרו הישר לסימטא זימנו את באי השכונה למסוק ולהנות ממפגש שכונתי.

תודה לשכננו וכמובן לעץ הזית השכונתי!

and then it Rained...

ואז ירד גשם.....

Shana Tova - שנה טוב תשע"ב

To all my Family, Friends and Acquaintances

May we all live in Peace and Happiness

May we find calm and balance in our lives

wishing you all Shana Tova

avital

*

"Glow & Balance" Shana Tova 2011

 *

 לכל משפחתי, חברי ומכרי

שנת שלום ושמחה

מי יתן וכל אחד ואחד מאיתנו ימצא את השלווה והאיזון בחייו

מאחלת לכולכם שנה טובה

אביטל

My trip to Bruxelles or Were did all the "Patisseries" disappear?

        The "Magritte like" clouds, and the view of the church tower situated in the
 Grande Place ,were an adequate welcome to Bruxelles, for me and my sister, after 20 years of absence.

       We were both invited by our mother to join her for a nostalgic trip to Bruxelles, were the two of us were born. And I admit, as shallow as it may seem, I was determined to make it a "Patisserie" trip...

Images of endless pastries ; croissants, tartelettes, madeleines and other sweet tastes invaded my subconscious. And that was all I could think of....

Well, my fantasy wasn't fulfilled....

I remember as a child, on every street corner you would find a pastry shop. Walking back from school we would make a hobby of stopping at every shop and trying a "pain au chocolat" or a "chausson aux pommes".

 This was no longer the case. To my surprise and disappointment I literally had to hunt for  "patisserie"s. And when I did find one, It was French...

It appears that during my absence, the Chocolate shops  invaded the city, leaving the pastry tradition on the sidewalk. It's not that I don't like chocolate, I really do. Every break we used to smell the scent of the famous Cote d'or chocolate from our school courtyard, and I was very much impressed by the design of the chocolate boutique "Pierre Marcolini".

 But nothing and I insist nothing, can compete with a "Tarte aux framboises" in Wittamer.

A5-Crucifixion versus Pieta

    A few days ago I decided to submit 2 of my collages to a super web Magazine named A5 http://www.thea5magazine.com/.

The Subject being "Ritual", I immediately thought of submitting 2 works of mine.
One which depicts a "crucified " woman. The second the "Pieta".
I admit  that when I was working on the first collage I didn't think of the woman as being "crucified", But when people referred to this work as the "crucified" woman , I couldn't deny it. The stretched Arms, The darker elements weighing on her shoulders, suggested a martyrs scene...
In the second work, I felt I  had the opportunity to work on "Decrucifing" the woman or in a more Freudian analysis: "Decrucifing" myself.
 As that being so, I decided to work on the  "Pieta" theme. Although it's not the classical presentation of the Pieta , featuring Maria holding Jesus ,it's my own personal version of the Christian ritual.
As "Ritual" I am referring not only to the Christian scenes themselves,
 but also to the recurring act of  presenting these scenes over & over again through all of  Art History, in endless versions and techniques as part of an ongoing Artistic ritual.

"La Pieta"



"La Crucifix"



The opening of My Exhibition: "Read Or Torn"-Kibbutz Gan Shmuel Gallery

                                             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC8t_Ncu-ss

 An historical perspective of the gallery

I think, or should I say, I'm sure I never expected my first exhibition to be held in a Dairy Barn.
Well, a converted one of course, but still a "Barn".
Just as Michal Shibolet, the director of the Gallery and Dorit Talmon, the curator, presented the two new exhibitions, the image of a crowd of cows mooing amidst my work blurred my senses.



It appears that when the Kibbutz was founded, the only structure on site was built for the Kibbutz cows, which at those times was an important asset, or the only one.



The dairy barn



Exhibiting in a kibbutz gallery has its pastoral side as you can see...
Bicycles passing by, carrying young and old habitants to the "collective dining room",

 tables and chairs awaiting the guests under a tower like shaped building which was once used to store the hay , tractors and old signs of the members shifts still hanging on the building .



In the 50's the gallery building was reconverted to a storage house including a refrigerating room, later on, to a grocery store and at last to a Gallery.



ceramic exhibition in the gallery





If you watch attentively, reminders of other days can be seen : arches, an old wooden door with brass handles used for the refrigerating room etc...

                                    

Nowadays the kibbutz is planning to restore the gallery and regain its old European look.



See you at my next exhibition 

who knows

 maybe you'll get an historical review of a restored  gallery in...

                                                                                      

Home Sweet Home

                                                       HOME SWEET HOME

 Hi my name is Avital Baron Izackov and I live in a small House in a town named Binyamina,
with my husband Gil and two daughters; Zohar (which means shining, glorious) & Noga (the star Venus in hebrew).

As you can see the Greek Isles had quite an  influence on us while planning our home.

Building a pseudo-Greek house is not entirely "kosher" when you're an Interior Designer, with  a pretentious agenda of building and designing according to a general awareness of ones local motifs.
I Could  write about different architectural and design motifs which influence all the coastal countries of the Mediterranean area, and as so my  house "Greek or not" is totally Mediterranean....
But Hey it's my home... and Since at the moment I'm not a resident of a Greek island, I might as well live in a pseudo-greek house and enjoy my vacation here at home in Israel .So let's leave it as it is and Enjoy a visit to my house.

Wellcome-ברוכים הבאים



our front porch is one of my favourite places

I took some photos of my home just as I felt the autumn wind flowing from the north, the heat became moderate, and autumn clouds floated through the clear blue sky. It felt for a moment as if it will actually Rain. But...it didn't!

Every morning I sit outdoors eating my breakfast , writing, and sometimes if it's possible working on the couch which I absolutely adore. My friend Stephanie indulged us with this super couch. (check out her super blog  http://annastephanie.wordpress.com). 

my alternative greek coffee shop, with Italian coffee...

a garden within a garden

Sitting on my couch I have an Ideal view; The garden which in the morning is so quiet you can hear the bees hum....and the sky. Sometimes I just stare at the clouds, It's quite meditative.

clouds and meditation

our cosy living room






Thats all for now.....
will add more photos later