WUJS Institute's Arts Program
The WUJS Institute's Arts Program, founded in 1991, is a residency for talented Jewish visual artists, musicians and writers from around the world. This unique, five month project provides the precious commodities of time, space and serene atmosphere that artists crave while also providing the full compliment of courses, Hebrew and activity enjoyed by all WUJS Institute participants. The Institute is situated in the spectacular desert environment of Arad, renowned world-wide for its pure air.
Animal Fashion
The sculptor Andrea Salman works in the modern style of art, which is apparent in her attempts to anthropomorphize the domestic and street cats of Arad, Israel, that inspire her work.The use of different hairstyles and grooming symbolize the connection between the animals and humans, and is a method of conferring an individualized character to each creation.What is unique in Andrea's work is the combination of realistic characters with non-natural and bright colors associated with pop-art and kitsch. This combination plays on the distinction between the consumer and art-oriented worlds. It tests the interaction between these two worlds, and how much the artists influence the modern world and how much he is influenced by it. The material used by Andrea for these creations is locally-found clay. She collected it from the earth and transformed it into a useable form for art.The design process Andrea employs involves molding dry clay clumps with paper, and then adding glue and color. Another technique is concrete casting, which involves building a clay model which is then molded in plaster. The plaster is then filled with concrete and after it is dried, the plaster is broken and the concrete sculpture which remains is painted.
For this technique I use clay that I extract from a nearby area. The clay that is naturally in a rough form, must be made into a fine powder, after which water is added. After that, I add crushed paper and increase its humidity by adding water.These two compounds are mixed and kneaded all at once, and are wrapped to avoid losing humidity.For these sculptures I work with a structure of wire or fine iron on which I model the figure. The material gives me a large quantity of textures and much flexibility. The great advantage is that it's absolutely natural and a low cost product.
For this technique I use clay that I extract from a nearby area. The clay that is naturally in a rough form, must be made into a fine powder, after which water is added. After that, I add crushed paper and increase its humidity by adding water.These two compounds are mixed and kneaded all at once, and are wrapped to avoid losing humidity.For these sculptures I work with a structure of wire or fine iron on which I model the figure. The material gives me a large quantity of textures and much flexibility. The great advantage is that it's absolutely natural and a low cost product.
