Glassblowing in the Roman Empire

Roman blown glass hydria from Baelo Claudia (4th century AD)

The invention of glassblowing coincided with the establishment of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC, which enhanced the spread and dominance of this new technology. Glassblowing was greatly supported by the Roman government (although Roman citizens could not be "in trade", in particular under the reign of Augustus), and glass was being blown in many areas of the Roman world. On the eastern borders of the Empire, the first large glass workshops were set up by the Phoenicians in the birthplace of glassblowing in contemporary Lebanon and Israel as well as in the neighbouring province of Cyprus.

Ennion for example, was among one of the most prominent glassworkers from Lebanon of the time. He was renowned for producing the multi-paneled mold-blown glass vessels that were complex in their shapes, arrangement and decorative motifs. The complexity of designs of these mold-blown glass vessels illustrated the sophistication of the glassworkers in the eastern regions of the Roman Empire. Mold-blown glass vessels manufactured by the workshops of Ennion and other contemporary glassworkers such as Jason, Nikon, Aristeas, and Meges, constitutes some of the earliest evidence of glassblowing found in the eastern territories.

Eventually, the glassblowing technique reached Egypt and was described in a fragmentary poem printed on papyrus which was dated to 3rd century AD. The Roman hegemony over the Mediterranean areas resulted in the substitution of glassblowing for earlier Hellenistic casting, core-forming and mosaic fusion techniques. The earliest evidence of blowing in Hellenistic work consists of small blown bottles for perfume and oil retrieved from the glass workshops on the Greek island of Samothrace and at Corinth in mainland Greece which were dated to the 1st century AD.

Later, the Phoenician glassworkers exploited their glassblowing techniques and set up their workshops in the western territories of the Roman Empire, first in Italy by the middle of the 1st century AD. Rome, the heartland of the Empire, soon became a major glassblowing center, and more glassblowing workshops were subsequently established in other provinces of Italy, for example Campania, Morgantina and Aquileia. A great variety of blown glass objects, ranging from unguentaria (toiletry containers for perfume) to cameo, from tableware to window glass, were produced.

From there, escaping craftsmen (who had been forbidden to travel) otherwise advanced to the rest of Europe by building their glassblowing workshops in the north of the Alps (which is now Switzerland), and then at sites in northern Europe in present-day France and Belgium.

One of the most prolific glassblowing centers of the Roman period was established in Cologne on the river Rhine in Germany by late 1st century BC. Stone base molds and terracotta base molds were discovered from these Rhineland workshops, suggesting the adoption and the application of mold-blowing technique by the glassworkers. Besides, blown flagons and blown jars decorated with ribbing, as well as blown perfume bottles with letters CCAA or CCA which stand for Colonia Claudia Agrippiniensis, were produced from the Rhineland workshops. Remains of blown blue-green glass vessels, for example bottles with a handle, collared bowls and indented beakers, were found in abundance from the local glass workshops at Poetovio and Celeia in Slovenia.

Surviving physical evidence, such as blowpipes and molds which are indicative of the presence of blowing, is fragmentary and limited. Pieces of clay blowpipes were retrieved from the late 1st century AD glass workshop at Avenches in Switzerland. Clay blowpipes, also known as mouthblowers, were made by the ancient glassworkers due to the accessibility and availability of the resources before the introduction of the metal blowpipes. Hollow iron rods, together with blown vessel fragments and glass waste dating to approximately 4th century AD, were recovered from the glass workshop in Mérida of Spain, as well as in Salona in Croatia.

Is Ivory trade legal?

Due to the rapid decline in the populations of the animals that produce it, the importation and sale of elephant ivory in many countries is banned or severely restricted. 
On the other hand, legal trade in ivory is shore by the fact that it does not endanger any living species but only harvests the remains of over 10,000- 30,000 years old fossilized mammoth ivory.

Trade in the ivory from the tusks of dead mammoths has occurred for 300 years and continues to be legal.
In the recent years, global warming and intense melting of the tundra has exposed remains of innumerable raw ivory and mammoth bones that are ecological friendly and fill in the gap created by banning the elephant ivory.
Some estimates suggest that 10 million mammoths are still buried in Siberia.

The use and trade of elephant ivory have become controversial because they have contributed to seriously declining elephant populations in many countries.
Owing to the rapid decline in the populations of the animals that produce it, the importation and sale of ivory in many countries is banned or severely restricted.

Mammoth experts believe that the trade in extinct mammoth ivory is a good way of preserving ecological rich material which would have otherwise been ravaged by time and weather,
while over hundreds of tons of mammoth ivory is still lost in Russia due to poor preservation or over exposure due to natural weather conditions.

Mammoth ivory is the only type of ivory that is allowed legally to enter USA and many other countries.
Even conservationists are happy with this trade as it utilizes raw ivory that would have been wasted otherwise and also saves elephants from illegal poaching to cater to the demand of ivory.

Mammoth Ivory and Feng Shui

From hand crated Chinese dragons and zodiac animals to the 18 Lohans, Three Star Gods and the Foo dogs, Feng Shui symbolism is deeply rooted in the objects that artists carve in mammoth ivory. And Feng Shui is about balance and Chi energy movements, which flow through the body and all over the Universe. Harmony and positive flow of energy in your immediate environment enhances your well-being and positivity. Today people are accepting the age-old traditions and like to have beautifully carved sculptures of the different symbols of Feng Shui dotting the offices and home to bring in prosperity, peace and harmony.

The luster, purity of organic mammoth ivory cannot be seen in any other material and given the limited resources available, mammoth ivory, the only legal ivory in the world is getting more expensive by the day. With a host of high-quality mammoth tusk ivory artifacts and Feng Shui products being carved by the artists of high caliber, the demand has risen in the last few years. Most of the artists located in Hong Kong and China, Feng Shui are close to their beliefs. From delicate Three Star Gods to zodiac animals, the sculptures range from mammoth ivory netsuke to large scale full tusks carved with the Feng Shui symbolism.

The Discovery of Glass

Natural glass has existed since the beginnings of time, formed when certain types of rocks melt as a result of high-temperature phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, lightning strikes or the impact of meteorites, and then cool and solidify rapidly. Stone-age man is believed to have used cutting tools made of obsidian (a natural glass of volcanic origin).

According to historians, Phoenician merchants transporting stone actually discovered glass in the region of Syria around 5000 BC. The merchants, after landing, rested cooking pots on blocks of nitrate placed by their fire. With the intense heat of the fire, the blocks eventually melted and mixed with the sand of the beach to form an opaque liquid.

The earliest man-made glass objects are thought to date back to around 3500 BC, with finds in Egypt and Eastern Messopotamia. In the third millennium, in central Mesopotamia, the basic raw materials of glass were being used principally to produce glazes on pots and vases. The discovery has been coincidental, with calciferous sand finding its way into an overheated kiln and combining with soda to form a colored glaze on the ceramics. It was then, above all, Phoenician merchants and sailors who spread this new art along the coasts of the Mediterranean.

The oldest fragments of glass vases date back to the 16th century BC and were found in Mesopotamia. Hollow glass production was also evolving around this time in Egypt, and there is evidence of other ancient glassmaking activities emerging independently in Mycenae (Greece), China and North Tyrol.

How to recognize Ivory?

There are many items on the Market today being represented and sold as ivory that are actually bone or plastic.

That is why we collected a several methods to help you recognize if the item is ivory or a fake:

* The piece weight: Ivory feels heavy and dense when you hold it in your hand. If the item feels lightweight it's either bone or ivory. 
  Bone can have the exact same weight as ivory. Compare the weight to similar items that you know to be ivory.

* Feel the item texture: Ivory is lustrous and has a smooth surface. If the surface of the piece feels rutted and pockmarked, it might not be ivory.
  Moreover, if you see spots or other odd markings, though, it probably isn't ivory.

* Synthetic ivory: Use a magnifying glass and look for air bubble indentations or small craters that appear from being poured in a mold.
   Synthetic Ivory will have grain lines in one direction, but when looking at the opposite angle, you will not see any lines;
   the ends of the lines on a synthetic piece will make a speckled pattern. This surface is usually the bottom of the piece. 

* Ivory does not have pits or multiple darkened spots, unlike bone.

* The hot pin test: Plastic object dents whenever a very hot object touches its surface. 
   To test for this, find a pin and heat its tip until it is very hot. then touch it to the surface of the material. The results will show you if it is ivory or plastic.

* Plastic contains a single line that sticks out and goes around the material until it meets. This comes from the mold that holds the plastic together.

* Bones: Unlike teeth and tusks, bones have tiny canals that run through them to carry nutrients and house nerves and other organic material.

* Bottom of a piece: Since many collectors and dealers look first at the bottom of a piece, genuine ivory will only have the signature of the artist since the grain confirms the pieces authenticity and value.

* Getting the Item Tested by a Professional: To leave absolutely no question about your item, take it to a forensics lab and have it chemically tested by a scientist.
  The cellular structure of ivory is different from that of bone, but lab equipment is required to determine which is which with finality.

How to take care of Ivory?

Fossil ivory or mammoth ivory is sensitive to surrounding temperature and harsh climatic conditions have an adverse impact. Due to its sensitivity to humidity and temperature, when it expands and contracts, it can split due to stress. We ensure that only the purest of ivory is used that is free of any imperfection after being acclimatized for a number of years above ground. To protect your ivory, it is recommended that you rub mineral oil twice a year to replenish its natural oils. Renaissance Wax can be used to give it a protective polished shine.

However, please bear in mind and do not:

• Spill or put ink on ivory
• Make the ivory wet
• Put the ivory in direct sunlight
• Let the ivory heat up or freeze
• Expose the ivory to fluctuations in temperature and humidity

Snuff bottles

The Chinese began to use snuff bottles to hold powdered tobacco during the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912).

Although smoking tobacco was made illegal during that time, snuff was allowed because it was considered a remedy for common illnesses like colds, headaches and stomach disorders.It was carried in a small bottle, like other medicines. It is comparable to the snuff box used in Europe.

Tobacco was introduced to the court at Beijing sometime during the mid to late-16th century. After the Qing Dynasty made smoking tobacco illegal, the use of snuff and snuff bottles spread through the upper class, and by the end of the 17th century, the use of snuff was a social ritual. Eventually, the trend spread to the rest of the country and into every social class. It was common to offer a pinch of snuff as a greeting for friends and relatives. Snuff bottles soon became an object of beauty and a way to represent status— the rarer and finer the snuff bottle, the higher the owner’s status. Snuff bottle manufacturing hit its peak during the 18th century.

The use of snuff died out soon after the establishment of the Republic of China. However, replica snuff bottles are still made, and can be purchased in souvenir shops, flea markets and museum gift shops. Original snuff bottles from the Qing period are highly desirable for both serious collectors and museums. A good bottle is not only exquisitely beautiful but should have a wonderful tactile quality. After all, snuff bottles were made to be held. The most fascinating snuff bottles are those with paintings on the inside of them.

What Are Crystals?

A crystal is a hard, solid substance made of molecules that bond together in specific patterns to form an interesting shape that has straight edges and flat surfaces. Not all crystals have the same shape, there are actually lots of different kinds of crystals, and each kind has its own special shape. Beautiful crystals are used for jewelry, like diamonds or emeralds. Crystals are often transparent, which means that you can see through them sort of like you can see through glass. Other kinds have beautiful colors.

What a crystal is made of actually depends on what kind of crystal it is - for example, salt and snowflakes are actually formed out of different kinds of crystals. Snowflakes are made from crystals formed by frozen water. Salt crystals are formed by some chemical elements which join together in a crystal shape. Crystals can be formed in several different ways. Most crystals are formed through evaporation. Some types of crystals are formed from melted rock in the earth: When the hot rock cools gradually, it will sometimes form crystals. Geodes are round rocks that are formed when bubbles are trapped in the melted rock. As the bubbles cool down, crystals grow inside of the bubble of rock.

As a crystal grows, the pattern that makes it a certain shape will be repeated over and over, so the crystal will always keep the same shape as it gets bigger. The chemical elements that a crystal is made of are what tell the crystal what shape it will be. A lot of crystals might seem to look alike, but what elements the crystal is made out of will make it a unique shape and color. Even the same element can make different crystals, based on conditions such as temperature and light and what other elements are around. 

Modern Glassblowing

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Crystal Structure

The scientific definition of a "crystal" is based on the microscopic arrangement of atoms inside it, called the crystal structure. A crystal is a solid where the atoms form a periodic arrangement.

Not all solids are crystals. For example, when liquid water starts freezing, the phase change begins with small ice crystals that grow until they fuse, forming a polycrystalline structure. In the final block of ice, each of the small crystals (called "crystallites" or "grains") is a true crystal with a periodic arrangement of atoms, but the whole polycrystal does not have a periodic arrangement of atoms, because the periodic pattern is broken at the grain boundaries. Most macroscopic inorganic solids are polycrystalline, including almost all metals, ceramics, ice, rocks, etc. Solids that are neither crystalline nor polycrystalline, such as glass, are called amorphous solids, also called glassy, vitreous, or noncrystalline. These have no periodic order, even microscopically. There are distinct differences between crystalline solids and amorphous solids: most notably, the process of forming a glass does not release the latent heat of fusion, but forming a crystal does.

A crystal structure (an arrangement of atoms in a crystal) is characterized by its unit cell, a small imaginary box containing one or more atoms in a specific spatial arrangement. The unit cells are stacked in three-dimensional space to form the crystal.

The symmetry of a crystal is constrained by the requirement that the unit cells stack perfectly with no gaps. There are 219 possible crystal symmetries, called crystallographic space groups. These are grouped into 7 crystal systems, such as cubic crystal system (where the crystals may form cubes or rectangular boxes, such as halite shown at right) or hexagonal crystal system (where the crystals may form hexagons, such as ordinary water ice).

The Chinese Zodiac

Chinese zodiac is a scheme, and a systematic plan of future action, that is based on the year which in a person born.
Each year is represented by an animal in a 12-year cycle. 

The animal's cycle:
1. Rat. 2. Ox. 3. Tiger. 4. Rabbit. 5. Dragon. 6. Snake. 7. Horse. 8. Goat 9. Monkey. 10. Rooster. 11. Dog. 12. Pig.

After 12 years the cycle begins from the start (the first year that is represented by the rat), and repeats itself. 
The belief in the Chinese Zodiac remains popular in several East Asian countries, such as China, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

Identifying this scheme using the term "zodiac" reflects time cycles divided into 12 parts, 
and is widely associated with a culture of attributing influence of a person's relationship to the cycle upon their personality and/or events in their life. 
The greatest difference from western astrology is that the animals of the Chinese zodiac are not associated with constellations.

In Chinese astrology the animal signs assigned by year represent what others perceive you as being or how you present yourself. 
Did you know? 
The Chinese Zodiac animals assigned by year are not the only signs. 
Actually, there are also animal signs assigned by month (called inner animals), by day (called true animals) and hours (called secret animals).

What is Ivory?

Ivory is a hard, white material, derived from the tusks and teeth of animals, that is used in art or manufacturing.
It consists of dentine, a tissue that is similar to bone.
Elephant ivory has been the most important source, but ivory from many species including the hippopotamus, walrus, pig, sperm whale, and narwhal have been used throughout the years.

Ivory has many ornamental and practical uses. Prior to the introduction of plastics, it was used for billiard balls, piano keys, Scottish bagpipes, buttons and a wide range of ornamental items.
Synthetic substitutes for ivory have been developed. Plastics have been viewed by piano purists as an inferior ivory substitute on piano keys, although other recently developed materials more closely resemble the feel of real ivory.

A species of hard nut is gaining popularity as a replacement for ivory, although its size limits its usability.
It is sometimes called vegetable ivory, or tagua, and is the seed endosperm of the ivory nut palm commonly found in coastal rainforests of Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.

Since the 17th century, in Siberia, mammoth ivory has been carved, but has also been used to barter for other products.
Being a main center for mammoth ivory procurement, Siberian permafrost holds more than half of the extinct Woolly Mammoth carcasses that are the source of the milky white ivory that conforms to all international legal standards.

As ivory has the potential to be bleached, inlaid and carved, it has always been a highly prized raw material since man populated the Earth.
Humans took to expression in the form of paintings and carving, ivory has been the most preferred medium of expression. 
Art of carving ivory for ornamental or useful purposes, practiced from prehistoric to modern times. 
The ivory most frequently used is obtained from elephant tusks, but other types of ivory or substitute materials include the tusks, teeth, horns, and bones of the narwhal, walrus, and other animals, 
as well as vegetable ivory and synthetic ivories.

About Bosmat Niron

Profound artist and curator. Born in Tel Aviv in the year 1972.
When she was young, she spent several years in South America and in Spain. Niron is one of
the most outstanding painters and sculptors in the eco art; she exhibits internationally,
having gained widespread recognition from Museums and art institutions both in Israel and
overseas. Niron’ s bridging between community, municipalities and industry through Arts, She
holds the capacity of curator of the city of Ramat-Gan, as well as being a consultant on
environment and ecological art.
Her art moves in two planes – ecological and feminine. She principally focuses on community
projects that are implemented in the public space, whereby she assimilates to those the|}
above-mentioned values. Her works are generally marked by use of readymade material, or

“capitalist trash” that makes up fertile ground for her work and for the single artist exhibitions

she held at various museums. Into her conception that “there is a treasure in the trash” she
embeds mystic, spiritual messages and contents, along with myths, drawing as she does on
the principle of eco-philosophy and Mother Earth. The sensation of the sublime in nature
found in her work thus amounts to paying tribute to its destination. He work carries with it a
wealth of narratives that are found in the collective memory and rest upon the values of
morality and beauty. It is her hope that her work of art will set in motion the rectification she

wants to take place, which is to be based on positive thought, optimism and infinite hope.

Niron deals and researches the eco-philosophy and the sublime. Her works of art are entirely

confident in the power of nature itself and art to reach salvation. She binds together the

female experience, the ecological basics, the nature, and the mystics and presents her

collection bearing the name “Goddess”. The female character is characterized with strength

and constitutes a symbol to the myth that Goddesses symbolized life, eternity and constant

regeneration. The contexts of the Goddess constitute an extraordinary combination of

messages, enlightenment, and sensitivity, longing and yearning. Niron sows seeds of new

consciousness. The Goddesses represent life, delight. They are the ones to represent Eros. In

her works of art the Goddesses are captured while meditating, appear in nature that

integrates energetic symbols and spiritual iconography that are identified with the Magna

Mater, part of which is recognized by the collective memory. The Goddesses represent female

energy, sacred power and primary power of the entire universe. Her works of art expose
spiritual motives identified with eco-femininity have become of presence in her spiritual
world. The interpretation requires deep research. Niron draws the spiritual strength from
multi-dimensional historical roots which constitute an expression to the essential
relationship, to the cosmic myth of the Magna Mater, and to the ecological and spiritual
revolution that takes place throughout these days. In this basic discussion Niron presents
each one’s personal responsibility to make an amendment. Niron sees Eros as the universal
force of life that stands behind love and behind the actual process of making and it treats
sexuality as temporal. However, Niron describes Eros as transcendental, such that constitutes
the strength to life itself. Eros is primeval and timeless as life itself.
Niron thinks that it is time that ecological post-modern art started creating positive effects
and met the real practice of the people exercising their freedom. As she say’s “the theology of
the eco-art thus calling for sensible, well thought out use of the existing material, for activism,
for community sharing and for globalization. It is through sensible well-contemplated use of
archetypes and collective knowledge that the rationale will produce temporary esthetic and
emotional values that will operate on universal dimensions and tighten the romantic exotic
connection to nature”.

About Leonid Balaklav

Leonid Balaklav was born in 1956 in Moldavia. He graduated from the Art school in Kiev (1971-1973), and from the Art Institute in Odessa (1974).
Balaklav immigrated to Israel in 1990 and settled in Jerusalem. 
Balaklav was known as a promising artist in Moldavia. in his early work in Russia, he sought to conduct a dialogue with the works of the great masters such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Repin. 
The acme of Balaklav's paintings is the self portraits; in these paintings, he puts himself into states of environmental pressure, one can feel the absent presence of the artist, it seems like he is fading in the nothingness around him. 
Balaklav lives and works in Jerusalem. 
His works are exhibited in museums, galleries and private collections in Israel and worldwide.

Awards
1987: Gold Medal at the International Film Festival, Tokyo
1995: Jerusalem Prize for Painting and Sculpture, Jerusalem
2002: The Israel Museum & Israel Discount Bank Prize for an Israeli Artist

Solo Exhibitions
1978: Scientists' House, Kiev, Ukraine, USSR
1988: The Jewish Center, Moscow, USSR
1989: Central Artists' House, Kishinev, Moldavia, USSR
1991: "Immigrant Artists", Gordon Gallery, Tel Aviv
1993: "Cypresses", Artists' House, Jerusalem
1994: "From There to Here", Ein Harod Museum of Art, Ein Harod, Israel
1997: "Drawings '93-'97", Herzliya Museum of Art, Herzliya, Israel
1997: "New Works", Artists' House, Jerusalem
1998: "Landscape and Still-Life", Artspace, Jerusalem
2000: "Portrait", Artspace, Jerusalem
2002-2003: "The Face of the Light", Ein Harod Museum, Ashdod Museum, Rehovot Museum, Mane-Katz Museum, Haifa, Bat Yam Museum (an exhibition of the Forum of Israeli Art Museums)

About Eduard Grossman

Eduard Grossman was born in November, 1946 in Kendige-Pogost, in the Komy Republic of Russia.

In 1980 he earned an M.A. in Art at the Faculty of Painting and Graphics of the University of Magnetogorsk.
In 1980, Eduard was appointed as the Director of the Institute for Art and Design Arts for the city of Chelyabinsk, and served as the top artist for the city of Chelyabinsk, a post he held until 1990, and during this time, Eduard was allowed and able to open the first ever privately owned design studio and office in the Soviet Union, holding design exhibitions throughout Europe.

Grossman left Russia in 1991, and was invited to live and work in the famous and exclusive “Artist’s Village” in Northern Israel, where he spent almost 12 years, creating his new style and exhibiting in Israel, Germany, France, Austria, Canada, NYC and Chicago.

About Sionah Tagger

Sionah Tagger was born in 1900 in Israel. She attended evening classes at Constant's Studio in Tel Aviv and in 1921 she turned to study in the Bezalel School of Art and Design in Jerusalem under the guidance of Boris Schatz and Abel Pann. In 1924 she traveled to Paris, studied at the Academie L'hote, and participated in the exhibition of the Salon des Independents. In 1925 she returned to Israel and joined a group of Modern painters: Israel Paldi, Reuven Rubin, Arieh Lubin, Joseph Zaritsky and others. She co exhibited with them in the Ohel in Tel Aviv and the Tower of David in Jerusalem. In 1930 she joined the Hebrew Artists Association. In 1937 she was awarded the Dizingoff Prize from the municipality of Tel-aviv, and was among the founders of the Painters' and Sculptures' association's pavilion in Tel-aviv. Over the years Tagger continued to exhibit her paintings in Israel as well as outside of the country. In World War II she volunteered for the British Army and in 1942 she joined the Haganah. In 1948 she represented Israel in the Venice Biennale. In 1977 she was awarded the title 'honored citizen of Tel-aviv'. Tagger's art style was created of dialectical tendencies – on one hand, a quest for the universal, turning to the European Modern Art, and on the other, a return to her own roots and to the local. Tagger remained a figurative painter; even in her most abstract phases she remained loyal to practicality. Tagger's best-known genre was portrait painting. The portraits she painted in the 1920s were created from many sketches. Their artistic style was a combination of Cubistic and Naïve art. A three-dimensional attention to volume, with powerful light-dark contrasts and well-defined stains of color, together magnified the emotional impact of the work. A similar artistic style was a component of her landscape paintings. Tagger liked to draw the view of Tel Aviv and until the 1960s she chose to rent penthouses in Tel Aviv, in order to watch the city's vista, seashore as well as skyline. The exaggeration of the colors, the perspectives as well as the compositions of those paintings expressed the extreme feelings that rose from her gazing. The train movement and tempo in one of her paintings reminds one of the Futuristic's excitement regarding this vehicle. Sionah Tagger is the most important female Israeli artist from the early decades of the 20th century. She passed away in the spring of 1988.

About Dale Chihuly

Born in 1941 in Tacoma, Washington, Dale Chihuly was introduced to glass while studying interior design at the University of Washington. After graduating in 1965, Chihuly enrolled in the first glass program in the country at the University of Wisconsin. In 1968, Dale Chihuly was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to work at the "Venini" factory in Venice, Italy. While in Venice, Chihuly observed the team approach to blowing glass, which is critical to the way he works today. 

After an automobile accident in 1976 in which he lost the sight in his left eye, Chihuly relinquished the gaffer (chief glassblower) position and turned over that position to William Morris. Utilizing Morris' substantial talent and physical strength, Chihuly developed the large scale, multi-colored forms known as the Macchia series.

His work is included in over two hundred museum collections worldwide. He has been the recipient of many awards, including seven honorary doctorates and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Chihuly has created many well-known series of works, among them the Baskets, Persians, and Seaforms, but he is also celebrated for large architectural installations. In 1995 he embarked on the multi-faceted international project, "Chihuly over Venice," which involved working in glass factories in Finland, Ireland and Mexico, with the resultant sculptures installed over the canals and piazze of Venice. 

Chihuly’s lifelong affinity for glasshouses has grown into a series of exhibitions within botanical settings. His garden exhibition was first presented in 2001 at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. 

In 2005, Chihuly exhibited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, near London, and at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Florida in both 2006 and 2007. An exhibition at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania opened in May, 2007.

About Maya Green

Maya Green was born in 1957 in Donetsk, Ukraine. There she received her degree in art studies. In 1996, 

she immigrated to Israel and settled in the city of Tiberias in northern Israel on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. 
The Galilee region is often a subject of her works.

Maya aptly uses a palette knife to achieve an impasto technique. 
By applying oil paints in bold colors, she transforms her sketches of northern Israel views.
In her paintings she emphasizes the importance of composition, especially the contrast between light and shadow and the differences between the seasons.

The artist describes her work in her own words:

“I seek to complement the moments I encounter.
I attempt breaking down life to its visual essentials: light, dark, balance, movement, tone.
In doing so, perhaps I can reveal a new perspective. I enjoy capturing the essence of a moment.”

“I consider a painting complete when the idea I am trying to express matches the thoughts in my mind. 
Often, this process leaves me naked and feeling exceptionally vulnerable.
If somebody, while looking at my artwork, gets that special feeling of something personal, I’m satisfied.”

Many works by Maya Green are in private collections in Russia, Israel, Scotland, America and Japan.

About Liliane Danino

Liliane Danino was born in 1951 in Morocco.
A self-taught painter and sculptor, who finds stimulation in reading, dance, and life’s emotions, 
Liliane Danino sees art as “a language made up of vibrations”. 
Her passionate commitment has led her into teaching art, creating set designs, working as a theatrical make-up artist, and creating special effects for film productions.

Liliane’s work has been exhibited regularly since 1978 in France, Morocco, Israel, USA, Canada, and around the world.
In the course of time, she has extended her sphere of interests to embrace different forms of expression, 
and has used the experience of traveling throughout the world to develop a constantly evolving style of painting.
The characters she has met, and the places she has seen, have produced a vision of a colorful slumbering Orient which calls to mind watercolors of the early explorers.
Impulsive strokes link together to delineate spontaneous movements of the body.

About Kim Tkatch

Kim Tkatch was born in 1963 in Ukraine.
Kim Tkatch studied Fine Arts at the Kiev Art Institute graduating in 1988.
Although his early works depicted mystical feelings expressed through cryptic patterns and mythical figures,
his style gradually changed following his immigration to Israel in the early nineties. 

Today, his paintings are an enchanting weave of realism that still retain his trademark magical flair. 
People viewing his still-life works say that they appear to come alive with juxtapositions of architecture,
sculpture and Mediterranean vistas that are unique to the artist’s personal life experiences.

There is always a cheeriness and warmth in his interior spaces,
and his exteriors are cherished for their sun-filled radiance and colors that are both rich and saturated.
His images are romantic and intimate and reflect the intimate understanding of the inherent exuberance found in each of his subjects.
Kim uses his ability as an illustrator to offer the viewer a new, 
decorative insight into the beauty of a bouquet of flowers, the Grand Canal of Venice, or female figures lounging on a Mediterranean terrace.
Kim's paintings have been exhibited in Israel, the United States, Russia, Great Britain, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Austria, and Australia.
A prolific artist, his works can be found in private collections worldwide.

About Jacob Wexler

Jacob Wexler was born in 1912 in Latvia.
Wexler studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Hamburg before immigrating to Israel in 1933.
Affected at first by the German Expressionist movement, artists like the famed Rouault had an impact on Wexler’s figurative work and he embraced the Art Informal movement
as his style moved gradually toward the abstract.
From 1948, Wexler became a founding member of the “New Horizons” group, one of Israel’s first leading art movements.
He was the head of the Avni Institute in Tel Aviv where he taught art and design from 1966-1984.
Jacob Wexler’s first one-man exhibition in Tel Aviv in 1948 was followed by many more solo and group exhibitions both in Israel and abroad—
Brazil’s Famous Sao Paulo Art Biennial in 1953 and the Graphics Biennale, held in Tokyo in1960, for example.
Wexler died in 1995. His canvases are known for their linear design.
The works of this important Israeli artist, found in collections around the world, are still highly valued and searched for today.

About Rina Sutzkever

Russian Artist Rina Sutzkever was born in Moscow in 1945, in a home filled with the love of art and culture.
Her father - the poet Abraham Sutzkever was always surrounded with friends who were painters or sculptors, and Marc Chagal - a close friend - illustrated several of his works.
The Sutzkevers immigrated to Israel in 1948, where some years later Abraham won the Israel Awardin literature.
Sutzkever first steps as a professional artist may be traced back to her work with the painter Nahum Gilboa. 
She continued working with painter Moshe Rozenthalis in his studio, where she developed a realistic style faithful to Nature. 
Then came her first group exhibition in Yad-Labanim in Tel Aviv.

About Antoni Gaudi

Antoni Gaudi was born on 25 June 1852 in Camp de Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. His father and both his grandparents were boilermakers, and as Gaudí himself recounted, he learned his special skill in dealing with three-dimensional space by observing boilermakers at work. Another key fact in the architect's childhood was his delicate health which forced him to spend long periods convalescing at home. There he spent many hours contemplating nature, drawing lessons that he was to apply later in his architecture.

After starting his secondary education at the Escolapian School in Reus, Antoni Gaudí moved to Barcelona in 1869. In the Catalan capital he completed his schooling and after meeting the entrance requirements in 1873 enrolled in the Provincial School of Architecture. Although an indifferent student he showed early indications of genius, opening the way to collaboration with some of his lecturers. After gaining his architect's diploma in January 1878, Gaudí set up his own firm.

Gaudí's rise to be one of the most outstanding architects of the first Modernista generation was meteoric. In the final decades of the nineteenth century when he completed the Güell Palace he was already one of the most famous architects in Barcelona. This work saw the end of Gaudí’s first youthful phase, marked by a personal revision of Gothic and Muslim architecture and including buildings like Casa Vicens, El Capricho, the Güell Estate buildings, the crypt of the Sagrada Familia, the School of the Teresianas and the Episcopal Palace in Astorga. From 1890 onwards Gaudí perfected his understanding of architectural space and the applied arts, giving his work unique and unsuspected qualities that stood out from the other Modernist architecture of his day.

In 1914 he abandoned all other work to concentrate on the Sagrada Familia. Aware that he would not live to see it completed, he did his best to leave it at an advanced stage for coming generations. In fact, Gaudí was only to see one of its towers in its final form. On 10 June 1926 the architect died from injuries suffered after being run over by a tram. Two days later he was buried at the Sagrada Familia.

About Esther Peretz Arad

Esther Peretz Arad was Born in Bulgaria and came to Israel as a child.  In 1937 she began her studies painting with the late  Aharon Avni.  Since 1959 she has had many one-man shows in Israel.  The select group exhibitions include the  1960 roving exhibition in the US under the patronage of the Foreign Ministry and the Tel-Aviv Museum ; 1966, Hermitage Museum, Leningrad. She received the Dizengoff Prize in 1956.  In addition to the drawings that characterize her work, she has worked in every possible medium applicable to the fine arts: oil, lithography, etching, chalk, watercolor, collage, and even sculpture, which she studied with the late Yitzhak Danziger.  She works in the figurative style and draws her inspiration from nature focusing primarily on the quality of line, the splash, the flow, and the composition.  She is a member of the Israel Painters and Sculptors Association.