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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

This is SAQA Europe/Middle East: The Middle East

Yemima Lavan

 I was born and raised in a Kibbutz in Israel. Within this form of life my personal self expression was through creation in textile.  Ever since I can remember I loved to embroider, weave and knit in classes or independently.

After I studied in "Art and Crafts Teachers College" in Givataim I taught arts & crafts for 27 years - 10 years in elementary school and 17 years in Kay College for Teachers in the Faculty of Education, Art and Crafts department" in Beer Sheba.


I was exposed to quilts in 1996 and have been working with it enthusiastically ever since. I love the feel of fabric and the wonderful vividness of colors that develops when combines many pieces into one work.
After some years of working in tradition style I started creating my own art quilt as this form of creativity provides more opportunities to express my thoughts and feelings. In my quilts I used to combine commercial fabrics with my own hand-dyed and hand printed fabrics to get textures and interested effects.
I am a member of the Israel Quilt Association (IQA), SAQA and also belong to "Encounter" group of art quilt artists. I have shown my quilts in 6 solo exhibitions as well as participated in group exhibitions both in Israel and abroad.

My inspiration sources are mostly from my close-by area and from many trips I take in Israel and abroad. Other quilts depict the landscapes of Israel or represent impressions of my own personal environment and the culture surround me.

My quilt "Sunset in the Woods" is part of a series I made after visiting Ghana where I saw lovely forest reserves alongside vast fallows that once were rain forests or luxuriant jungles rich with birds, insects and different animals, but now are useless badland.



"My Parents' Library in Two Chapters" represents a personal, very emotional, event for which I wrote the following:
Today with a click on a keyboard, one can obtain all the information he needs. Various ideas, discoveries and emotion can be sent or received within seconds from any spot in the universe.
So who is interested in accumulating and taking care of old books?
When I was a child, a book was an asset. In my parents` tiny apartment in the Kibbutz, the bookcase filled up a whole wall. But when my parents passed away, I found myself surrounded with piles of boxes of books in which nobody showed any interest. These books were the essence of my parents` life and in order to acquire them they had to give up many other pleasures.


These quilts are an example to the various opportunities for self-expression through fabrics.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Yemima, Nice to meet you. The quilts with the books are poignant. We often say what will our children do with our stash of fabric. But we don't usually think about the books.
    However, for us, our son also likes books, so perhaps it will not be so bad.

    Is there a place to see more of your work or of your "Encounter" group?
    Sandy in the UK

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  2. Nice to meet you Yemima. A very touching story about the books.

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