Making art even more accessible
Art is more accessible than ever with the advent of the interweb. Recent graduates of the prestigious Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem have been uploading their projects to social networks. Both flickr and YouTube are being uses as canvases for photography, design and animation projects. Here a few videos that caught my eye recently. The first one is a simple and cute animation project, the second is a design project that makes some sort of statement, I’m just not so sure what that statement is….
Nostalgia Sunday
Israel is celebrating its 60th year of statehood this year. Yes, that’s still going on, although all the hoopla and hullabaloo of May has died down.
Now is a good opportunity for serious students of Israeliana to stock up on knick-knacks and doo-dads. The supermarkets have put all the nostalgia-themed items on the sale shelf and books have been discounted. One of these, “Haatzmaut Road” or “The Pathway of Independence”, is an amazing treasure trove of Israeli kitsch over decades, a portion of which is presented online.
The book – based on a gallery exhibition of everything from stamps and salt shakers to deely-boppers topped by the Israeli flag – has an oddly satisfactory effect. It seems to justify one’s shlepping from place to place that hideous 30th anniversary porcelain platter so Seventies in style, so outre, so out that it’s now in. And hey, look Ma! It’s in a book now!
And for those interested in looking foward instead of backwards, there’s the ISRAEL21c video for Israel’s 60th. A nice way to start the day.
60 years of Israeli Design
Call it nepotism but I feel like I would be robbing you of something good if I didn’t point out a great post on my wife’s design blog, Designist Dream. She started her blog as a creative outlet, focusing on design, fashion and art in Israel. In honor of Israel’s birthday she put together a post about Israel’s greatest contributions to design over the past sixty years, featuring Bauhaus, Dan Reisinger, Gottex and more.
A couple of months ago she was contacted by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs who asked for permission to use reprint the post in a supplement that ran in the Serbian daily Pilotka (circulation of over 150,000).
That means that hundreds of thousand of Serbs now know how innovative, creative and even how kitschy Israelis can be.
Guesting
Filed under: General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life
A significant part of the Israeli summer experience includes hosting guests from abroad. Not that it doesn’t happen during other parts of the year — but the summer is pretty much high season for family and friends…including people who you may not have seen for years, but are now entering that phase of life when their kids are being bar/bat mitzvahed, going on teen tours and family trips and travel abroad is a tad easier.
Lest anyone think that I don’t like hosting, let me say right now that I love it. I relish the opportunity to have people come and stay in my house, to have the late night chats and early morning conversations. or to have them for a meal and give them the chance to see how I live in this place called Israel.
There are the pre-preparations, whether that includes checking out an apartment they want to rent for the duration of their stay, figuring out the meals they want to eat together or making the guestroom bed. Then there is the duration of the visit, when you’re reacquainting yourselves, showing them around town, taking them to the local pool and helping them navigate the map of Israel so they don’t get completely turned around in their rental car. There are visitors who come bearing American treats, from bags of Jelly Bellies, Redskins jerseys, People magazines and silicon baking trays to teenagers who bring a simple bouquet of flowers and those who spring for a great bottle of Israeli wine or a fresh bottle of whisky from duty-free at the airport.
It’s the rare visitor who doesn’t offer to help out, whether by loading the dishwasher, stripping their sheets or taking you out to a great dinner in thanks for your hospitality. But what really comes of these visits are the conversations about your life and theirs. It’s not that we’re doing such different things over here. There’s work, family, mortgages, cars, aging parents, health, all the usual subjects. But when you let people into your bubble of a home life for a few days, they see you in a way that you don’t.
They see your daily struggles and triumphs; the way you converse with your neighbor and negotiate with the “installator” (Hebrew for plumber); your method for traversing Israeli traffic or taking care of your kids. They see your life in a way that you may not, and if you’re lucky, they’ll tell you. It’s a worthwhile compliment for putting out the proverbial sprig of grapes.
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I scream for ice cream
It’s quite common here to received a gift from your place of employment for both Passover and Rosh Hashanah. A couple of years ago my wife received 1000 NIS in gift certificates that could be used just about everywhere – Home Center, supermarket, clothing stores, electronic stores, etc. In typical Rubenstein fashion, we realized right before we were to take off for vacation that they were about to expire. Luckily we found out that they could be used at duty free in the airport. We had used half previously but figured it would be quite easy to find something we can use at the duty free electronics store. We settled on an ice cream maker, even though we figured it would spend more time on the shelf than actually being used. Thankfully this was not the case. Summer arrives, the ice cream maker comes out. Making ice cream can be an arduous process. With a little creativity and patience the payoff can be great. We try to be original with our flavors. I can get chocolate ice cream anywhere, so ice cream time for us can get quite experimental. I’ve made halvah ice cream, green tea ice cream, cinnamon ice cream, date ice cream, chai ice cream
You can see my recipe for strawberry ice cream here.
However, I’ve been humbled. Baroness Tapuzina made an incredible looking (and seasonal) Roasted Apricot and Techina Pistachio ice cream. I’ve had silan (date honey) sweetened techina as a topping but never thought to actually put in the ice cream. I’ll be tackling this recipe this weekend.
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