About Me
I am a people person, which is fairly obvious.
I love heart to heart conversations, even when talking to someone I met only a minute before. Almost always a soul connection is made and sometimes the connection continues for years.
I was born in 1950 in Jerusalem, and now have a husband, three children and 11 grandchildren. Art was always in my life. My grandfather was a painter, my mother was a painter, and now my daughter is a painter and graphic designer. Almost all of my grandchildren reveal artistic talents in the visual arts and music.
At exhibition opening, Gallery by the Lake, Raanana
Work Experience:
– Aside from being a painter and channeler, I diagnose and spiritually coach clients using mandala drawings and the Native American color wheel. I facilitate integrative management workshops, and individual and group empowerment workshops.
Education:
Certified Physical Education Teacher – Physical Education Teachers College,
Be’er Sheva
BA – in History of Art (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
MA – Public Heath (Hebrew University Medical School- Jerusalem)
Group facilitator – (Magid Institute – Hebrew University)
My life has always integrated my two favorite things - art, (painting) and body work. So I combine art and painting with my love of sport and movement; as a sportswoman, a physical education teacher and a physical education and sports supervisor.
For example, in my latest book “Quality Walking Circles”, Zamarot Publishing Company, 2021 – co-authored with Edna Bukshtein, my paintings appear illustrating the various different purposes of walking.
Me and my mom drawing
My Art
My artistic range spans from spiritual abstraction to naturalistic expression.
My mixed-media paintings are created after meditation and intuitive acrylic pouring on large canvases. This stage usually takes place on the shore of Herzliya’s beach.
Afterward, images begin to emerge—like Rorschach inkblots—which I then paint in a realistic style using oil paints. I often discover figures moving in circular and spiral motions through space, evoking a sense of safety and courage, alongside a feminine float between the realms of the conscious and the subconscious.
The brushstrokes, circular forms, and colors serve as the voice of my emotions. I feel and believe that nothing happens by chance.
At the exhibition opening in Finland
Interview with me: Art as a mission to support children with cancer
From 2018, the year my grandson, Yahali, needed a donor for a stem cell transplant, another body of work grew. They began with meetings on the beach during my daily beach walks. I met people in movement and positions that interest me, so I asked their permission to take their photograph and paint them. If they want to buy the painting after it was finished, I requested that payment be donated to Non-Profit Organizations aiding children with cancer and their families. Such Non- profits are, for example: “In Memory of Menachem”, “Heart Mandalas” in the city Modi’in, or to the “Light of “the Lego Man”. See attached article.
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2010 - 2024 – dozens of the municipal artist- house’s group exhibitions in Herzliya.
2019, May - “Brush Movement”, Herzliya Hall of Dramatic Arts. Curators - Shelly Reches and Nili Witztum.
2018, January - "Going All the Way", Tel Aviv Station Complex, Curator - Moran Jacoby.
2018, February - "Spread" Gallery Space Gan Ha-Ir, Tel Aviv. Curator - Iki Shuval.
2018, March - “Peeking at the Port”,”Israeli Artists Unite” Hanger 3 at port. Curators: Iki Shuval, Shiri Meir.
2017, August - My work was chosen along with the work of three other artists to represent the Herzliya Artists Organization in an exhibition in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
2014, April – Design Medal Exhibition, Tel Aviv University. Curator - Shuli Briskin.
2010, February - MATTER IN MOVEMENT, GAEA • AEOLUS – Bruges, Belgium. Curator: Fernand Callebert.
About the exhibition "Peeping at the harbor"
One Woman Exhibitions:
2011, November – “Because Man is the Tree of the Field”, Pisgah Center, Jerusalem. Curator: Ariella Efrat.
2007, September – “Growing and Rising from the depth of the Heart and Earth” “LaChimba” Moshav BarGiora.
Exhibition in the city hall gallery of Herzlya
Published material:
Author and co-author of various professional books, articles for example:
“Quality Walking Circles” (2021), with co-author Edna Bukshtein, "Zamarot" Publishers
“Simply Walk”, (2003), with co-author Edna Bukshtein, "Mapa" Publishers.
“Exercise for elders, movement for old age”, (2001) "Eshel" Publishers.
“A healthy back for you and your students”, (1995), "Ma’alot" Publishers, department of education programs, Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
“Me and My Potbelly”, (1999), co-authored with Prof. Hillel Ruskin, "Beitan" Publishing.
“Alma, Journal to Promote the Status of Women” (1995 -2005) member of editorial board, and journalist with a regular column.
“A Shapely Pregnancy", (1989), co-authored with Shlomit Reifman, "Sharbarak" Publishers.
The Circles of Quality Walking.
by Edna Buckshtein and Ruth Dekel
Volunteering
I am a serial volunteer.
As part of an inspiring initiative, *“Life.Story”* by Dana Ben Shlomi, I volunteered to write a book about the heroic Yamam fighter Bar Sivan: *“A Lion with a Heart of Gold.”* To connect with his soul, I painted him together with his beloved dog, Sun. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to meet Bar during his lifetime, but his family has become close friends.
In addition, I mentor a battered woman as she transitions from a women’s shelter to a halfway apartment through Nurit Levi’s initiative: *“With You Every Step of the Way.”* We exhibited together in the exhibition *“Fragments of Identity”* at the Gallery on the Lake.
For many years, I accompanied the late Yigal Lichtenstein, a brilliant painter living with mental illness, and helped him showcase his work in exhibitions.
I facilitate creative workshops that combine paint pouring, working with cards, mandala paintings, and shared mandalas. I especially love volunteering to lead workshops for people who are themselves volunteers.
I have led workshops for a variety of groups: volunteers at the Botanical Garden, national service girls at Zichron Menachem, lone female soldiers who became volunteers at the “Big Sister” organization, and for the mentors who volunteer alongside me in the “With You Every Step of the Way” initiative.
