ART

Hamidrasha marks 70 years of making art

One of the country’s preeminent art institutions reveals details about its rich history, how the joining of renowned artist Raffi Lavie was a game-changer, and the significant rise in Arab students

(Photo of Hamisdrasha taken by Michal Heyman) MIRI SEGAL’S work ‘It Depends’ seen in action at the exhibition marking the institution’s 70th anniversary. (Goni Riskin)

•BARRY DAVIS artist goes about his creative business, Lavie came on board, there was a strong including when Dr. Gabriel Klasmer uses universality theme to art endeavor here, a purpose-built gizmo to produce new as evidenced for example by the eclectic amidrasha art school is works of art. Klasmer also happens to be ethos the Israel Museum adopted when getting on a bit, at least in the Hamidrasha dean, and says that en- it first opened its doors in Jerusalem in chronological terms. For lightenment has been the faculty’s guid- 1965. H the past seven decades, ing light since the get go. “Hamidrasha has always been very the Faculty of Arts – Ha- “Hamidrasha was originally set up to Israeli,” Klasmer notes. “Raffi Lavie was midrasha, at Beit Berl College, to give the train art teachers,” he explains. always very Israeli, and he believed in institution its full titular due – has held a Lithuanian-born arts teacher Eliyahu developing a local culture here. The ele- front grid position among the country’s Beiles established Hamidrasha in 1946. ment that people always strongly identi- arts schools, nurturing young artists, It operated as an evening facility from an fy with Hamidrasha is arte povera.” training art educators, and prompting elementary school in Tel Aviv and taught The latter refers to an art movement fresh discourse in the fields of painting, arts-and-crafts professionals how to im- that emerged in Italy in the 1960s that sculpture and photography, as well as part the wisdom of their experience and called for a return to simplicity in terms more contemporary disciplines such as accumulated know-how. Crafts instruc- of materials, concepts and execution. video art, digital media, and film. tion was subsequently separated from Those who followed the arte povera – lit- Over the years, the school, near Kfar painting and drawing, and official super - erally “poor art” – lead began attacking Saba, has churned out thousands of gift- vision of Hamidrasha was reassigned to the values of established institutions of ed and well-trained graduates who have the Education Committee of the Knes- government, industry and culture. Here, gone on to carve their own niches on set until 1964, when it came under the the approach was known here as dalut the local and international arts scene. authority of the Education and Culture hahomer. Judging by the roll call of the school’s Ministry. “That started against a backdrop of illustrious alumni over the years, Hami- Klasmer says the educational orienta- what was happening elsewhere around drasha is doing its bit to keep creative lev- tion changed when renowned artist Raf- the world at that time, but it took hold in els up in the loftier regions. Consider the fiLavie joined the teaching staff in the various places in Israel and most prom- names of Michal Na’aman, Tzibi Geva, 1960s. inently at Hamidrasha,” explains Klas- Anat Betzer, Deganit Berest and Said Abu “Raffi was never head of the faculty, mer. Shakra, all of whom have gone on to but he was a key teacher and had a pow- Over the years things have evolved in make their mark on the domestic scene, erful influence on the students and on ever-widening circles. as well as in foreign climes. the direction Hamidrasha took.” “The emphasis on art education has They are also doing their utmost to That involved moving away from nur- become stronger, and the connection pass the baton on to the younger gener- turing arts instructors and more towards with the community at large has also ations coming through, a theme that is actual art education. become more accentuated,” the dean currently very much in evidence at the “Training arts teachers became less continues. “We look at community arts, Helena Rubinstein Pavilion offshoot of central to Hamidrasha and, in a sense, and the attitude to art and society is im- the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where the became a sort of ad hoc activity. It be- portant.” Art School exhibition and hands-on pro- came a center in which the art element Klasmer says that he and the other gram of events is in full flow. was very strong.” members of staff at Hamidrasha do their Visitors to the facility can catch any of Hamidrasha was also a beacon of local best to provide their students with a a wide range of slots, which take in get- artistic industry. That is pretty remark- beneficial, positive and enjoyable ting an intimate handle on the way an able considering the fact that, when learning experience. ART

ANISA ASHKAR, ‘In the Wake of Van Gogh, Miro and the Month of August.’ (Goni Riskin)

“You know, many of us have an ambiv- There are some striking, eye-catching is still a step you have to climb. It is not alent perspective on education per se,” and even eyebrow-raising works dotted simple and it requires education, just like he surprisingly notes. around the exhibition spaces. As you you can’t flya plane without training for “That is, I believe, primarily due to the enter and glance up the stairs to your it. You can’t just get into a plane and fly official education system, and the Edu- right, you cannot help but be struck by it, and you can’t just enter [the art world] cation Ministry which, for many years, the enormous predominantly black- and become an artist. You may be very took something of a paternalistic posi- and-yellow dystopian-looking work by talented, but you need to acquire the ed- tion in the socialist state, which we were Anisa Ashkar, which goes by the evoca- ucation, too.” for a long time. Most of us did not have tive no-nonsense name of In the Wake of The dean is certainly doing his bit to wonderful experiences at school, and we Van Gogh, Miro and the Month of August. It offer some insider information about the were a bit wary of the term ‘education,’ references the Operation Protective Edge mysteries of creating art. and its connotations.” military campaign in Gaza in summer “I am running a workshop during Things have changed. 2014. Over the past three weeks, the work this month in which I make paintings. “I think that, today, the matter of ed- has gradually evolved and lively discus- During the process, I talk to people about ucation at Hamidrasha has taken on a sions have been held in its environs. what I do, and there other workshops completely different outlook,” Klasmer According to Klasmer, politics of vari- like mine.” states. “Being a teacher today entails ous shades and stripes have always been It is a rare treat to be privy to the fruits very different factors. You come out of a in and around the school. Identity, too, of the creative process, and one which teachers’ training program with a certifi- and its various angles, permutations Klasmer hopes will help to open up the cate to teach, but many of our graduates, and connotations, is also an important world of art, a mite, to the non-cogno- in time, become social entrepreneurs theme. scenti. and open up their own galleries.” “We had a student who changed her “This is an exhibition that you enter That is an across the board, pan-social sex during her studies and came to me and you don’t exactly encounter artistic line of thought. and asked to be written down as male. representations that make you experi- “Today, around 25% of our students We have lots of challenges, on all sorts of ence something in response. You have are Arabs,” the dean says, “mostly from levels,” he notes. to think about what you find here. You the local region – Tira, Taibe and the Tri- Klasmer is, of course, delighted with don’t really have in-your-face things angle, and that is rising.” the monthlong “Art School” show, al- here, which are exciting finished arti- This aspect comes through in the Art though he is somewhat ambivalent cles. I think that is a good thing. It’s not School exhibition, which incorporates about the accessibility element of the like an exhibition whereby the artist has an Arabic language classroom setting, items on view. worked for a long time and, hey presto, complete with chairs, desks and a black- “I think this exhibition reflects what the finished items are all there in front of board. Several lessons have already taken Hamidrasha is about, but I don’t think you, in a neat, orderly and well-lit man- place there since the beginning of the it is entirely amenable to the person on ner.” month, and that is just one of the inter- the street.” That said, the intention was “Art School” is, intentionally, a very active, get-down-and-dirty items in the never really about targeting the lowest different kettle of fish. monthlong educational offering at the common denominator. “I think this is an evolving exhibition, Helena Rubinstein Pavilion. Naturally, “Art is not a community center,” de- and I think that is its secret. Someone the exhibition is also designed to get as clares Klasmer, “and, maybe, it is good who stands in front of a work will react to many people as possible interested in that it is not [accessible to all]. There is it, and the work will react to the observer what the faculty is up to, and in art in an almost imperceptible step you have too,” Klasmer continues. general. to cross to enter the world of art, but it “There are some entirely interactive STUDENTS AND teachers at Hamidrasha art school in Beit Berl. (Michal Heyman)

works here; there is music, there are new mind-set. things you have to activate yourself.” “I am not interested in politics,” he That is clearly a premeditated move to says, adding that he wasn’t looking to draw people into the spirit of the show, merely document Hamidrasha’s output and of the school itself.” to date and blow its trumpet. “I didn’t One of the proactive works is Miri Se- want to have just a load of works by the gal’s It Depends. The title in English – a former students and teachers on the play on the Hebrew talui, which can walls. I don’t think that is very interest- also mean suspended – offers you the ing at all. I wanted to ask questions, and opportunity to sit on a chair opposite to consider what Hamidrasha needs to the artist with a table between you. Segal do today.” then operates a lifting mechanism that Not that Lubin wants to wipe the slate takes you up approximately two meters clean and forget about Hamidrasha’s ac- into the air. Once settled at above-head crued endeavor. height – unless, that is, you are of basket- “The school has been around for 70 ball player proportions – you can enjoy a successful years and its achievements ‘There is an almost imperceptible step you nice chat with Segal about this and that are not in question, but the field has without being bothered by other gravita- changed. New schools have emerged and have to cross to enter the world of art, but it is tion-challenged Homo sapiens. every school, including long-established Klasmer says that the whole ones like Hamidrasha and [110-year-old] still a step you have to climb. It is not simple monthlong shebang is set to put the cat Bezalel [Academy of Arts and Design], among the pigeons, and to keep us on and the newer ones have to understand and it requires education, just like you can’t fly our own toes. what the school ideology is and what its “The exhibition generates a bit of con- approach to teaching arts is.” a plane without training for it...’ flict between an exhibition format and The curator believes that art schools the dynamics of an artist talking about also have to take a stand on seemingly the state of affairs here. This is a sort of extracurricular issues. hyper-art school.” “They have to consider whether they For his part, Art School curator Avi Lu- can afford to be neutral with regard to bin, who is a department head at the Ha- certain matters that come up.” midrasha, didn’t want the weight of the There are more gray areas. “If you study last threescore and 10 years to hang too mathematics or law, you know more or heavily on the exhibition or, naturally, less what that entails, but what does be- on the faculty itself. ing an art student exactly mean? It is a far “I wasn’t interested in having a histor- more amorphous area.” ic exhibition,” says Lubin. “I didn’t want It is safe to say that, by the end of the to get involved in hierarchies, and to dig month, the school staff, students and the back into the history and have to judge members of the public who wander into what is important and what isn’t, or to the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion will have obey some sort of hegemony.” a better grasp of the aforementioned top- Lubin wanted to challenge us and ics, and should keep going along that Hamidrasha, and to possibly generate a learning curve further down the line.