|
|
|
|
||
|
ALUMNI PROFILE Artist and Teacher |
||
|
I began my undergraduate
studies at Olivet College in
1946, but didn’t graduate
until 1966. I was the oldest
graduate in my year! In the
aftermath of WWII, I
impulsively left the United
States in 1951 to come to the new state of Israel as a pioneer, although I am not Jewish. With all the energy and idealism of my youth, I wanted to help build a “new world.” I settled in kibbutz Urim in the Negev wastelands (in the south of Israel) to “make the desert bloom.” Eventually, I found myself
teaching three-dimensional
design in the architectural
department at the Israeli
Institute of Technology in
Haifa. In 1965, I received the Before leaving Israel I had written to several schools, including Olivet, about a teaching position. Librarian George Hanson received my letter and remembered me from my student days at Olivet (1946-49). He arranged for me to teach and also helped me to be allowed to complete the two hours of credit that I needed to in order to qualify for my bachelor’s degree. It was a particularly rewarding experience to be able to return to my alma mater as a teacher. I am very indebted to George Hanson, who was a wonderful person and who did much for Olivet College. |
I am grateful to have had the opportunity to teach at Olivet during this exciting period of the late ’60s. It was a special moment in American history, when almost anything seemed possible and creative energy was in abundance. There were many interesting teachers at Olivet at that time, such as Stephen Hazel, with whom I founded the Nez Perce Professional Printmaking Workshop. Many interesting guest artists came to the workshop during that time. I also remember the annual Print and Drawing Exhibition, which I curated during my stay at Olivet. There was a weeklong Bergman film festival organized by one of the English professors and a general atmosphere of openness and possibility. Although I enjoyed my time at Olivet very much, and it remains one of the high points of my teaching experience. |
Rina, who is an Israeli, and I planned to return to Israel
in the summer of 1967. I had been asked to teach at a new department of
art that was opening at the Bezalel School for crafts and design in
Jerusalem (Bezalel is the only artist mentioned in the Old Testament). I
became the first head of the department and I held the position for 10
years. It was the first department to become accredited and I became a full professor in 1976. During the years at The Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, I taught basic design (which I had introduced), drawing and painting. My years of teaching at Bezalel and heading the department allowed me to develop my vision of art education and create a broadly conceived pluralistic program of art studies that encouraged intellectual, artistic and personal openness. Besides teaching, I painted, sculpted
and did several projects of art incorporated
in architecture and public art. In 1990,
I received the Arieh Elhanani Prize for
Art in Architecture for a wall I created in
the social sciences library at Tel Aviv
University. After retiring in 1993, I continued to
teach a private painting workshop, to serve
on several public committees and to paint
and sculpt.
|
|
|
||
| |
||
"peace"
by john byle)