Artists

Anna Dan – Artist Profile

Anna Dan
Born in Argentina. Since 1981, she has lived in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, in the Gaza Envelope.
An artist and lecturer. She has participated in many solo and group exhibitions.
She has extensive experience teaching drawing, painting, and creative thinking at Sapir Academic College.
Education:
Graduate of the Center for Visual Arts, Be’er Sheva.
Bachelor’s degree in Arts – Art History, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Humanities and Social Sciences,
in the departments of Art, Creation, and Folklore Studies – Ben-Gurion University.

Artist Statement:
Since the 1990s, I have been working with concrete/cement. At first as a sculptural material, and later as a painting medium.
The transition from sculpture to painting, and from concrete to cement, represents for me an attempt to find ways to weaken force.
In the casting of concrete sculptures, the mixture transforms from liquid to solid.
In this process, the concrete reveals itself as a material that holds within it opposing states of fluidity and strength.
The act of painting, using brushes, softens the concrete, weakens it, and gives the material a nostalgic and handcrafted dimension.
I paint based on photographs I have taken in my surroundings in the Gaza Envelope.
I began painting with cement during the construction of protected spaces in the kibbutz.
At that time, there were piles of cement everywhere in the kibbutz.
For me, the paintings of plants in cement reflect the life experience in the area, a combination of growth and a constant need for protection.

Anna Dan