Art and Education Intersect in New Exhibition Featuring Artist-Teachers

The new exhibition "The Spirit in the Material" at the Hasmonean Heritage Museum in Modi'in explores the connection between art and education. It showcases the work of 19 artists who are also art teachers, or vice versa. The exhibition, which runs until December 13, features paintings and installations displayed alongside the museum's archaeological exhibits. Created in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the works delve into questions about the purpose of art for students and the potential conflicts between artistic creation and teaching.

Three of the participating artist-teachers, Lia Cohen, Ella Oppenheimer, and Matan Ben Tolila, shared their perspectives during a public event. Cohen, an art teacher for over 25 years, views her classroom as a space for asking questions, emphasizing that asking questions is a fundamental part of Judaism. She believes art allows students to express emotions and explore them through their creations, noting that her teaching focuses on technique to enable better self-expression.

Oppenheimer, who specializes in glass art but works with clay in her teaching, aims for her students to reach a point of creation, observation, and experimentation. She contrasts the yielding nature of clay with the fragility of glass, a material she uses in her own work, which she describes as freezing a moment in time. Her exhibited piece, "Bird's Nest," made of glass and placed on a baby scale, reflects on themes of home, fragility, and the passage of time, stemming from her experience during her grandmother's shiva.

Ben Tolila, an art teacher for two decades, identifies primarily as an artist but finds teaching highly rewarding. He draws from his own successes and failures to engage in dialogue with students, believing he learns as much from them as they do from him. He highlights art's power to help students who struggle with verbal expression to communicate their feelings, noting that his own work often reflects an existential anxiety tied to living in Israel, even when he tries to avoid it.

The exhibition initiative, spearheaded by Anat Rosenbaum, Art Supervisor for the Jerusalem district of the Ministry of Education, was inspired by the experiences of teachers following three years of conflict. "The Spirit in the Material" is the sixth exhibition in the MOMO project at the Hasmonean Heritage Museum, which pairs contemporary Israeli art with the museum's historical artifacts. Other artists featured include Ayala Landau, Hanan Abu Hussein, and Hana Adar'ai, among others.