Nava Waxman sculpts wax like a pastry chef builds a cake

R.M. Vaughan: The Exhibitionist
Globe and Mail, Friday, Oct. 01, 2010

At an artist party last week, I was asked The Question: What’s hot in art?

Just to mess with the questioner, I blurted out: Encaustics – it’s all about wax, gobs and gobs of wax. Never mind that artists have been mixing hot wax with colour since before the birth of Christ.

And then it occurred to me that I’ve actually seen a lot of beeswax on the walls lately. Perhaps the stuttering economy, the omniscience of cold digital reproduction, and the overall sense of exhaustion (ideological, theoretical, and pictorial) that pervades too many exhibitions of late have all combined to make the homey feel of encaustic works more attractive.

Viewers need a hug, and encaustic works, whatever their failings (the foremost being a tendency amongst some purveyors to equate humble wax with greeting-card whimsy), are nothing if not tactile. Sensuality is the new conceptualism, to disrespect The Question.

Nava Waxman (no cheap name jokes, please), is primed to become the queen of the encaustic hive. Her new exhibition at Engine Gallery, Light of Reverie, is so sumptuous, so full of warm inner light, standing next to her works is like rubbing your face with a heated towel. Waxman applies wax the way master pastry chefs sculpt sugar, milk, and egg whites. Her works are cake-icing thick, layered as baklava, and luxuriate in an unapologetically decadent application of frosted, dream-toned pigment. You could probably chew them.

Read more…

Related posts:

• Nava Waxman’s Light of Reverie at Nuit Blanche 2010
• Our artist, Nava Waxman, one person show at the Engine Gallery

Nava Waxman’s Light of Reverie at Nuit Blanche 2010
By Moshe Mikanovsky
ShalomToronto, September 28 2010

Day dreaming, fantasy, stories, childhood memories and intuitive image development are all part of artist Nava Waxman’s inspiration in her fairy-tale images. Working mainly with encaustic, or hot wax – which fits perfectly with her name – Waxman lays into the sepia-toned dream-like canvases found objects like paper clippings, coins, wires, copper buttons and other items. Her landscapes are both abstract and surreal, balanced sometimes by delicate lines weaved through wide expense of land or body of water. Birds, elephants or trees – all contribute to this fleeting balance.

Nava Waxman: Light of Reverie at the Engine Gallery, the Historic Distillery District, Toronto

I have met Nava at the Engine Gallery in the Historic Distillery District, during the opening of her second solo show at the gallery, “Light of Reverie”. Celebrating with her family, friends and gallery-goers her continued success, and the new body of work, Waxman resonate the delicacy and complexity of her images.

Read more…

Toronto Potters 15th Biennial Juried Exhibition
By: MOSHE MIKANOVSKY 
ShalomLife.com, September 16th 2010

For many of us, pottery, or the creation of vessels from clay, is either something from history books and the museums, looking at broken jars found in archaeological sites, or it relates to mugs, tiles or other home accessories, mass produced in China and brought to us by many chain stores. But the artistic application of clay as an art form, both in functional and non-functional items, is still very much alive and kicking! Just go around the many summer art and craft festivals, or the one-of-a-kind shows, and you can see how many contemporary artists are making their life dedicated to and livelihood by “playing with clay”.

Irit Lepkin, Lets Walk, 2010, 15cm x 23cm x 13cm and 12cm x 19cm x 9cm, paperclay, underglaze,stain,glaze, handbuilt

In our city we have the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, dedicated to the art of clay. The museum, just across the street from the ROM, has a permanent collection, in which you can see pots, sculptures and anything in between from all eras. The temporary gallery recently hosted an amazing collection from the last Israeli Biennale. And this weekend, the museum store will open the 15^th exhibition of the Toronto Potters group.

Toronto Potters is a group of dedicated potters who mostly live and work in the GTA. The group started more than 30 years ago as a non-for-profit organization, with the objectives of helping the local potters with their professional advancement, both in sharing techniques and knowledge, and with the business aspects. Throughout the years they have organized, with the help of some public funding art grants, exhibits and art shows-and-sales. This year, 41 pieces were juried into the show by the jurors, retired Professors of Ceramics, Ann Roberts (University of Waterloo) and Bruce Cochrane (Sheridan College).

Aneela Dias-D'Sousa, Exuvia II, 2010, Ht.28cm x l. 24cm x w. 10cm, Cone 04 oxidation fired

The artists whose work was accepted are much diversified, coming from many different backgrounds and countries, such as Brazil, Mexico, Scotland, Israel and others. Our Israeli artist in the show is Irit Lepkin, who was featured here before in Shalom Toronto.

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Toronto woman takes in Ethiopian sisters
By FRANCES KRAFT, Staff Reporter   
The Toronto Jewish News, Thursday, 02 September 2010

When Judie Oron, née Gillman, was a child growing up in Montreal, she learned that other Jews – “people with my genes” – had been massacred in the Holocaust.“It hit me hard,” she said in a recent interview in her Toronto apartment. “I always said, ‘When I get to be big, if I have a chance to save a Jew, I will.’”

In February 1992, Oron fulfilled her youthful vow, having travelled from her home in Israel – where she was living at the time – to Ethiopia to find and rescue a 17-year-old girl whose younger sister she had taken into her home as part of her family. “I can’t imagine them being more my daughters in any way,” she said of the two sisters, whose extended family have also become part of Oron’s family.

The older girl had become separated from her family in the aftermath of their escaping Ethiopia for Sudan, and was living as a slave in an Ethiopian village. Once word got out that she might be Jewish – shortly before Oron arrived in the village – her life was in danger.

The pair’s initial meeting – and their fraught conversation to determine that Oron had found the right person – took place in a taxi surrounded by an angry mob that came close to overturning the vehicle.

“It was the stupidest thing I’ve done,” Oron said of the harrowing experience. “But I’m so glad we did it and got out of there alive.”

A former Jerusalem Post writer, Oron recently completed a novel for young adults called Cry of the Giraffe, based closely on her rescue of Wuditu, the name she uses for her elder daughter in the book.

Read more…

Visit Judie’s website: http://www.judieoron.com/

Buy the book: Cry of the Giraffe, by our artist Judie Oron, is now available

When I entered couple of weeks ago the Engine Gallery at the Historic Distillery District, joining visual artist Myriam F. Levy, gallery owner, director and curator Steven Schwartz, and friends, at the opening of her solo exhibit “Desert Rhythms”, with African music playing at the background, I couldn’t stop thinking about this connection. And when I talked with Levy and Schwartz, both told me in their own words, how musical the paintings are.

Left: African Market, 36” x 48”. Right: Soft Wind, 48” x 12”

As an abstract painter, Myriam’s medium of choice is encaustic. Encaustic is an ancient technique also known as hot wax painting, which involves using heated wax to which colored pigments are added. The encaustic medium has a unique ability to be worked and reworked. Modeling, scraping, incising and incorporating different materials are some of the exciting possibilities this medium can offer. I had the unique opportunity to learn from Levy at her studio the technique, medium and tools of Encaustic art, and saw firsthand how she constructs her images, layer by layer, listening to her inner music and rhythm.

Myriam F. Levy at the opening of Desert Rhythms, Engine Gallery. Behind her: Hoodoo , 18” x 36”.

“Desert Rhythms”, the name of the show, gives us few clues to Levy’s influences. As a hobby, she loves playing the Djembe, an African skin-covered hand drum, which she plays regularly with a group of friends. The rhythm of the drum’s music, with the beat and off-beat sequences, where one feels not only the sounds, but in between them, is like breathing. The same in Levy’ art – each painting has its own rhythm, constructed by vertical or horizontal lines, in different width and spaces between them, breathing with colors, tones and under tones. Using the encaustic technique, Levy creates layer after layer of colors, some hidden and some revealed by incising and scratching.

This leads to Levy’s major influence – nature, and for this show,  the desert of the silk road (which led through Israel), especially the hidden mysteries, history and stories of the ancient people that rode it, and left behind traces such as trading stations remnants. On the surface the deserts always look lifeless, but underneath they are full of life. Water marks are everywhere, with canyons and wadis created during centuries of sudden floods. Animals live under rocks and underground. Bare and knotty acacias standing twisted by winds and exposure to the element. In the artworks, we can find in the details similar traces, shapes and marks, that each one of us can interpret differently and individually, based on our imagination and personal experiences.

Engine Gallery at the Distillery District

This is Levy’s first solo show at the Engine Gallery, but she has been represented by the gallery for some time now, participating in several group shows. Gallery owner, director and curator Steven Schwartz told me about the immediate connection he had with Levy’s work. Representing many Canadian and International artists, including several Israeli artists, each with their own style, Schwartz must feel the art to be able to fulfill his commitment for both artist and collector. He is privileged and excited to exhibit Levy’s art, show it to the gallery’s clients and enrich the art scene in Toronto. Engine Gallery, in its central location at the artistic Distillery District is the perfect background for the colorful massive pieces.

Left: Yellow River, 60” x 24”. Right: Incense Road, 60” x 20”

Levy’s solo show just ended this week, but her works can still be viewed on regular basis at the Engine Gallery. I encourage all art lovers to see Levy and her art – it will definitely lift your spirit!

Engine Gallery’s current exhibits feature artist Diana Bennett, who dealt with her grandaughter’s cancer through her resin pieces, and artist Costa Dvorezky’s “Adam and Eve”.

Engine Gallery address: 37 Mill Street, Building #37 (Distillery Lane), Distillery District, Toronto ON M5A 3R6. (416) 531 9905. www.enginegallery.ca. Gallery hours: Tuesday-Sunday 12PM-6PM

You can also contact Myriam F. Levy: (416) 627 0182, mflevy@rogers.com, www.mflevy.com

Moshe Mikanovsky writes for Shalom Toronto on Israeli Art matters in Toronto.  (moshe@mikanovsky.com, www.mikanovsky.com)

You can also read this article in English and Hebrew as was published at Shalom Toronto.

Israeli Art blossoms in Toronto
By Moshe Mikanovsky
Shalom Toronto, June 2 2010

If you had a chance to visit the Israeli Artists Group’s art show, you were probably impressed with the beautiful art and the show that represented many art disciplines, all practiced by local artists, all Israelis. In this article I wanted to introduce one of the newer artists in the group, who showed for the first time, and had a great success!

Ziva Lepsker was born in Haifa. For her entire professional life she was a kindergarten teacher. After moving to Canada, and retiring from teaching, Ziva looked for a new thing to do. By chance, and not even knowing she has it in herself, she found watercolour painting. Four years ago, very hesitantly, she used this tricky medium for the first time, and the rest is history.

Watercolours, as a painting medium, can create amazing results, with transparent washes, bleeds, pigments that blend into each other, bright whites and darkest colors. But when overworked, or with too much thinking, they are very unforgiving. Muddy areas and mess are results that no artist likes, and that’s why many artists turn away from it.

Ziva Lepsker, Flowers, Watercolours

But when looking at Ziva’s flower fields and landscapes, you can appreciate the richness of the medium, and her playful control of it. Her flowers are especially powerful, jumping off the paper with bright and strong colors. Ziva explains that as “painting what she feels rather than what she knows”. Her love to the Israeli flowers and landscapes, combines with the excitement of experiencing new sights here in Canada, inspires her daily work. She paints every day, and is never tired or out of artistic expression.

In the show Ziva presented her art for the first time. This is not an easy task for any beginner artist, and Ziva received many encouragements from her family, friends, and the members of the group and the community. And her success at the show, with many visitors commenting on her style, buying her art, and supporting her, gave her the boost to continue and grow. I am sure we will hear more about her in the future!

Another artist who was a member of the Israeli Artists Group for many years, is now on her way back home, returning to Israel this summer.

Esther Etigson, also a sabra, moved to Toronto 40 years ago, to improve her English and return to Israel as an English teacher. As happens to many, Esther married a Canadian, and stayed in Toronto, where she built her family and career. She always drew or painted, with trees being her favorite subject, but only 14 years ago she pursued her artistic talent and started learning painting professionally, in parallel to her teaching at Associated Hebrew Schools.

Esther learned with the best local artist, such as Margaret Roseman, Pauline Holensin, Jake Mol and Art Cunanan. She was a member of the Toronto Watercolour Society, the Willowdale Group of Artists, and the Israeli Artists Group of Toronto. She participated in many of the groups’ shows, as well as single shows of her art at her home in Thornhill.

Esther Etigson, Sun Eclipse

Esther’s love for nature and its beauty is evident in her paintings. “The surprise and unexpected always excite me when I paint. I love Canada and I am in awe every time from its wonderful nature and the abundance all around. The Canadian landscape and the many trips I take in the nature influence my work.”

This year will be Esther’s last art show and sale in her Thornhill home, since being homesick to her family in Israel won over her love to Canada. She will be returning to Israel this summer, and will continue her painting career there. Please show her your support and congratulate her for her return to Israel, by visiting her studio on her 5^th annual art show and sale. Please see details below.

Ziva’s art can be viewed online at http://zlapsker.awardspace.bizas well as at her studio. To contact Ziva, please call 905 886 4111 or send an email to zlapsker@gmail.com

Esther’s 5^th annual art show and sale will be June 13^th, at her home: 163 Gailcrest, Thornhill (Bathurst and Clark area), between 10AM – 6PM. To contact Esther please call 905 886 8085.

Moshe Mikanovsky writes for Shalom Toronto on Israeli Art matters in Toronto.  (moshe@mikanovsky.com, www.mikanovsky.com)

Read this article in Hebrew and English as PDF files from printed paper.

Dafna Tzur is an Israeli living in Toronto, who has a show on the Israeli Channel. She visited us at our art show, and created this charming video. Enjoy.

More Israeli artists show their wares at 4-day annual event

Written by Shlomo Kapustin   
Jewish Tribune, Wednesday, 12 May 2010

TORONTO – The Israeli Artists Group of Toronto is ramping up for its second annual art show, scheduled to coincide with Yom Yerushalayim, or Jerusalem Day. It will run from May 13 to May 16 and take place at the J.E.H./Thoreau MacDonald House, just north of Toronto.“We wanted to expand, so that the community knows more about us,” said Moshe Mikanovsky, one of the organizers of the event. “Obviously, we want to sell, but it’s also about culture.”Twenty-four artists will be showing their art at the free, four-day event, a 50 per cent increase from last year’s 16 exhibitors, and Mikanovsky, whose work includes some Jewish- and Israeli-themed work, said that the group is already looking for larger quarters for next year’s exhibit.

Fifteen members of the Israeli Artists Group of Toronto are set for their second annual art show at J.E.H./Thoreau MacDonald House north of Toronto beginning May 13 and running till May 16.

The group’s ranks have swelled in the past year to reach about 35, said Mira Clarfield, who recently stepped down as one of its official leaders. Along with the growth in numbers has come greater exposure for the group’s members.

Founded in 1992, the group comprises members of many artistic disciplines – from jewellery to painting to ceramics to photography to sculpture to calligraphy to textiles. Some artists create Judaica; some focus on secular materials. Many work at other full-time occupations; about a third are full-time artists.

While some of the newer recruits are working to increase the group’s exposure, the organization mostly serves as an artistic support group of sorts for Israeli ex-pats.
“It’s to be able to see and hear each other and share intimate feelings,” said Meni Conen, a veteran of the organization who headed it for about five years in the 1990s. “We are … supporting each other and helping each other.”

Once a month, for example, the group meets and, in addition to the social component, invites a guest to speak about an art-related topic. A few weeks ago, Avner Levona, the husband of group member Aliza Levona, screened two short films that he had directed – one, a whimsical take on falafel; the other, a history of the classic hora folk dance – and discussed their creation.

Conen, whose artist-appropriate Hebrew name is translated as “create,” pointed out that many artists work alone, “so you learn by being with other artists together. Everyone has their own style, but they do it together.”  

Hours for the show are: May 13 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.; May 14 from Noon to 9 p.m.; May 15-16 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The site of the show, the J.E.H./Thoreau MacDonald House, is located at 121 Centre Street in Thornhill, Ontario, close to the Yonge-Centre intersection.

Read the article on the Jewish Tribune website

Information about the show…

The Israeli Artists Group of Greater Toronto brings together Israeli artists in different disciplines of visual arts, to work, socialize and enhance the Israeli and Jewish culture in Toronto. In this series of articles, we will open a window to some of our artists who live and work in our midst.    

Many artists love to share not only their artistic vision in their artwork, but also their knowledge in the mediums they work with. Such are the two artists I met with this week. Both were teaching art throughout the years, part of their process of becoming better artists, by giving forward to others.   

The first artist I interviewed this week is Haya Nativ. Haya moved from Israel to Toronto twenty years ago with her family. A teacher by profession, she developed and specialized into being an art teacher, and later on into a facilitator of art projects.   

Haya worked in several media, such as painting, stained glass, jewelry, woodworking, papier-mâché and others, until she landed in the medium she is known for, the one she feels most comfortable with, the textile and fiber. The softness of the fabric, its flexibility, diversity as a two- or three-dimensional material, endless patterns and colours, woven or knitted, with different texture – all give Haya everything she is looking for in her artistic adventures. In addition to buying the fabrics, she also makes her own – weaving, pasting, dyeing and other techniques.   

Haya’s inspiration is mostly in Judaic themes, Israel and the Bible. When she arrived to Canada, she gave craft workshops, and was influenced by some of her religious students, who exposed her to the many symbols and Judaica items, which she started making – Challah covers, Matzah covers, Talit bags and such. Then she stared getting commissions from synagogues: holy ark curtains, Torah covers, Chuppahs and wall hangings. As time went by, the style became more and more artistic and contemporary.   

Haya Nativ, Callah cover

Haya is tightly connected with the Jewish and Israeli community in Toronto, from which many of her clients come. As an art project facilitator, Haya organized and led groups and organizations in creating together special items. Notable are the wall carpet commissioned by the JWF for the year of battered women support, which is hung at the Leah Posluns Theatre at the Prosserman JCC, the Chuppah commemorating the 100^th year anniversary of Adat Israel synagogue, the High Priest Cloths project by the Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Textiles, Toronto (the Guild unites artisans who are interested in textile art and needlework based on Judaic themes), as well as many Chuppahs created by families and friends of the bride and groom, following Haya’s designs and directions.   

Haya Nativ with details from the High Priest Cloths by the P Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Textiles, Toronto

My second interview was with Alisa Levona, who is a painter. Alisa was born in Tel Aviv, and moved to Canada with her parents in her teen years. After graduating high school, she moved back to Israel by herself, to serve in the army, and later on, to complete her art studies at the Midrasha for Art Teachers. In 1990 she returned once again to Toronto, this time with her husband, which she met in Israel.   

Throughout the years, Alisa taught art at some of the Jewish schools, such as USDS and Heschel. She also worked a few years with her husband in his commercial photography studio. Throughout the years Alisa was commissioned to paint many portraits and other paintings, but at the same time she also developed her own style, exploring the balance between real and imagined, representational art and abstract art, old and new, classic and contemporary.

Aliza Levona, Untitled, Two panels mixed Media on canvas, 70” x 40”

 Her exposure to different media – traditional oils and modern photography editing, her teaching experience with different age groups, her love for the old masters like Caravaggio and Rembrandt, as well as 20th century artists such as Rothko, Jim Dine, David Salle, Francesco Clement, Rauschenberg and Israeli artist Uri Lifshitz – all influenced her work. In her Homage to Leonardo series, Alisa used a mixed media to explore this lifelong fascination in several ways: The juxtaposition of collage images of De Vinci’s madonnas with abstract background. The usage of many media within the piece, including materials such as putty and shellac, usually found in home construction sites rather than in the artist’s studio. The confined geometric shapes, which the colours fill and at the same time, break-out-of, in an organized, yet chaotic manner. All of these oppositions and contradictions come together to find a fine balance, one Alisa is seeking throughout her body of work.   

Aliza Levona, Untitled, Mixed Media on canvas, 24” x 30”

Haya’s art can be viewed at http://allinonepicture.com as well as at her studio. If you are interested in commissioning artwork, or to meet Haya, please call 416 633 2664 or send an email to hayanativ@rogers.com

Alisa’s paintings can be viewed at http://alisalevona.com. If you are interested in commissioning artwork, or to meet Alisa, please call 416 398 0751 or send an email to art@alisalevona.com

Both Haya and Alisa will be participating in the Israeli Artists Group show in May 13-16 at the MacDonald House, 121 Centre Street, Thornhill. Come to meet them and the rest of the group’s artists at the show opening night, Thursday, May 13^th, between 6 to 9pm. For more information please visit www.IsraeliArtistsGroup.com

Moshe Mikanovsky is a member of the Israeli Artists Group of Greater Toronto (moshe@mikanovsky.com, www.mikanovsky.com)

Artists Interview, Hebrew

Artists Interview, English

Related posts:      

• Two Israeli Artists, Two Worlds of Arts (Suzi Phillipsohn and Myriam Levy)
• Two Israeli Artists, Two Worlds of Arts (2) (Irit Lepkin and Inna Gorshtein)
• Two Israeli Artists, Two Worlds of Arts (3) (Bianka Guna and Dorit Elbaz)
• Two Israeli Artists, Two Worlds of Arts (4) (Miki Zion and Rikki Blitt)
• Two Israeli Artists, Two Worlds of Arts (5) (Dorit Shelef and Moshe Mikanovsky)
• Two Israeli Artists, Two Worlds of Arts (6) (Meni Conen and Shoshana Strigberger)

Group show features Israeli artists of Toronto
By BARBARA SILVERSTEIN, Special to The CJN   
The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, 29 April 2010

When Moshe Mikanovsky, an Israeli visual artist and software developer, picked up a flyer advertising the art show of the Israeli Artists Group of Toronto last year, he says he was very surprised to discover that such an art group existed.

Israeli artist’s works will be featured at annual art show.

“I’d been living in Toronto for seven years, and I had never heard of this organization.” The painter and printmaker, who is known for his ketubah and Judaic art as well as portraiture, says he attended the art show hoping to make a connection with other Israeli artists. “I didn’t know what to expect,” he recalls. “The artists were very welcoming when I came to that first show.”

Indeed, not only did he forge new friendships but Mikanovsky, 38, has also become a spokesperson for the Israeli art group and a key promoter of the upcoming 2010 show.

The Israeli Artists Group of Toronto Second Annual Art Show coincides with Jerusalem Day, which is on May 12 this year. The show runs from May 13 to 16 at JEH Thoreau MacDonald House, located at 121 Centre St. in Thornhill. The opening takes place May 13 from 6 to 9 p.m.

Read more…

Information about the show…

CJN article April 2010