Artist in the Community

 Sock and other discarded textile doll by 10 year old Julia

During the last year, I posted here less frequently, due to a project I was involved with, which required much of my time and energy. Now, when there is only one week left, I can finally find the time (and energy) to write about this project.

Since last October, I have been participating in four youth advancement programs with children and youth at risk in southeast Tel Aviv neighborhoods.  I had already conducted a few workshops in the previous two years as part of those programs, and found them both interesting and challenging. Last year, I looked for a way to establish this cooperation, and was very fortunate to receive the "Artist in the Community" scholarship, which enables me to dedicate time and effort to this project. For the past year, I have conducted four weekly workshops for elementary school and junior high school kids, as well as two groups of both elementary school kids and their parents.

The participants of each group have diverse backgrounds: Israeli-born, immigrants from different countries, secular, religious. Most of them are from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and not all of them speak Hebrew.

Each program is run by education and counseling professionals, who took part in the artistic work as well, but their cooperation wasn’t always a given, and had to be built just as the cooperation of the parents and kids.

In the workshops, I taught basic textile art techniques, and together we combined them with other art disciplines. I shared works of artists who inspire me, and we paid several visits to galleries. I showed them my own work and tried to share my own ideas and creative process.

There is much more I can tell, but now I would like to share some photos:
 

 

Character with scooter by 11 year old Hananel

  

Stitched character by 12 year old Dima

lion By Rina, Nissan's mother

Man watching TV: Ceramic installation, by 11-year-old Nissan

Wrapped textile characters by 11 year old Vlad and his mother

Portrait of 9-year-old Eliran, as embroidered by his mother

Smiley character, by 10-year-old Rubin

The smiley with embroidery of Rubin hold it