תמר דגני, כתם_25 צילום שי בן אפרים (6)

Stain / Tamar Dgani, Studio Cotta- Aviv La Oz Kalif and Avia Haimi

 

 

The exhibition contrasts the works of Aviv La Oz Kalif and Avia Haimi, Studio Cotta specializing in ceramics, and the works of Tamar Dgani, a designer and textile artist with the label Tamar Dgani Textiles.

The makers in the exhibition are from different material disciplines but work in similar ways.  Studio Cotta and Dgani make work that is on the seam between art, design and craft.  Studio Cotta makes their ceramic forms on the wheel and Dgani hand weaves, and the common material between them is their choice to include iron in its various forms in their making.

Plants and minerals including iron oxide have been used since prehistoric man in cave painting and in the preparation of oil paint, and for medieval wall frescos as well as a stabilizing material in dying textiles all through history until today in industry and art.

From ancient times iron oxide has been used in ceramics to make a variety of colors: red, brown, yellow, and black depending on the temperature and the oxidation of the firing.  It is found also in natural clays giving the characteristic reddish color of prehistoric pots and mediterranean terracotta and is used in glaze to make rich, dark colors.

Finished works as well as experiments and tests made by the designers who have researched the use of iron as a colorant as well as a material are shown in the exhibition. The research based artistic process is based on experiments that create a material reaction which they examine and continue until they achieve the result that is presented in the exhibition.

According to Studio Cotta “the making process is an on-going dialog between the colorant and the material that makes the form: when does the color overrule the form? When does the form lead?  When does it dissolve into the texture?  In the exhibition, each object is an experiment – where we hope to achieve the best and beautiful result, but we never know ahead what the result will be. “

Chance and experimentation are characteristic of Dgani’s work where she examines the rust as a colorant which she says, ” stains the textile in a controlled way and creates a one-off result that is between planned and coincidental”.

Studio Cotta shows two families of objects, each focusing on material research, texture and shape, with iron in various forms.  One series includes iron filings in the porcelain body and the other examines the effect of iron powder high fired on the surface. “The form develops following the observation of the material on the object so that each time the material has an unpredictable appearance.”

Dgani creates the color through rust by including rusted metal in the woven structure that is wet.  “I hand weave fabric and turn it into cylinders.”  The weavings include cotton thread and rusted metal discs that Dgani has collected over the years which she sorted by type and size and with then created different designs by placing them in different rhythms in the weave.  Some of the weavings are wrapped around ceramic cylinders that are partially glazed.  The water seeps through the cylinders to the fabric and gradually stains the fabric.  During the exhibition the works change over time. The stain is a partner in the making process presenting experimental processes in the materials alongside finished works.

Studio Cotta – Aviv La Oz Kalif is a graduate of the Ceramic and Glass Department, Avia Haimi, a graduate of the Industrial Design Department both at Bezalel, the Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.  Both are graduates of the First Studio Scholarship of the Benyamini Center.  They work in their independent studio in Tel Aviv

Tamar Dgani – is a textile artist and designer with the label Tamar Dgani Textiles.  She is a graduate of the Textile Design Department, Shenkar specializing in weaving.  She works in her independent studio in Tel Aviv. 

The Small Gallery
Curators: Reut Rabuah, Shelly Shavit
Opening: Thursday, 20/2/25, 19:30
Gallery talk at Benyamini Center: Friday, 21.3.25 | 4.4.25, 11:30
Closing: Saturday, 5/4/25, 14:00

    לפרטים נוספים והרשמה, אנא מלאו את הטופס ונחזור אליכם בהקדם

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