Batia Mach Shepherd

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Most of my adult life I worked in hi-tech and lived in few countries around the world like USA, UK and Scotland. Art was always a part of my life. over twenty years ago I started sculpting in stone and Bronze. On 2006 I visited Murano and was captured by the glass magic. Since then, every glass work excites and fascinates me and in particular the 4th dimension which exists in glass only - the light reflection which constantly changes according to the environment it is exhibited. Creating in glass is a challenge. Glass is a hard material to control, and glass casting in particular. It is impossible to control how glass will melt in the kiln. Therefore, every creation is like a new born. No identical glass cast. The technique I use is Glass casting relief, lost wax, which I learned in the oldest glass school in the Czech Republic in Kamenicky Senov, managed by Yanak Frantisek, one of Prof Libensky's student, the inventor of the relief technique. My sculptures are mostly figurative.

 

The subject I choose to sculpt are derived from the way we interact these days in the modern society and the changes that are occurring, to our societies, and as individuals in the modern era, the way communicate in every aspect of our lives: family, career, relation to religion and the place it takes in our lives and the influence of technology which becomes a dominant part of our lives. In days, when modern societies have become so polarized, comprised of immigrants from different ethnic groups, what is the melting pot which makes us a unified society and is there a melting pot in such open era? Does technology take more significant part of the way we interact and communicate? Working with 3D with different materials excites me and the challenge to express my ideas within the limits of the material I work with, the glass is fascinating and satisfying at the end. The 4th dimension of the glass, i.e. the light reflection makes the whole creation process more complicated and planned.

 

When I start to create an object, what will be reflected from the glass and how, is the most important factor in designing a glass sculpture. working with figurative in glass using the relief method is even more complicated. Having said that, the rich coloring of the glass also plays a significant role in the decision making process to deliver the experience I get when starting to create a new piece. . Glass is always alive. On one side, it is hard and very powerful and on the other hand fragile. It gives the glass some eternal meaning, trying to capture a process at any given moment of our life and it is even more significant in times when the whole world is going through rapid changes. Hence, glass casting are massive and strong however remain fragile.

 

It is somewhat similar to what we experience in these modern times worldwide. On one side, societies become powerful and strong with technology penetrating every dimension of our lives and on the other hand the social and religious polarization makes human fragility more exacerbated. in my last few sculptures I use 3D models which were created using 3D scanner and then 3D printed and used a the template for my sculptures.

 

Education and Courses

2003-2005 Painting & Drawing at Nitza Laufer Studio, Kefar Saba, Israel

2005-2007 Painting at Rutti Goldenberg studio, Herzliya, Israel

2004-2007 Stone casting at the Stone sculpture Center, Kefar Saba Israel

2009 Introduction to glass casting, Studio G, Tel Aviv, Israel

2012 Glass casting, The first glass school, Kamenický Šenov, Czech Republic

2018–2021MBA Leadership Innovation and Change, York St. John Univ., UK

 

Exhibitions

2005 "Encounters, Solo exhibition, Petah-Tikva Israel

2009 Group exhibition, Kastra Art Center, Haifa, Israel

2009 "Art as a mirror to our soul", solo exhibition, Migdalor Gallery, Old Jaffa, Israel

2012 Group exhibition "Salon d'Automne", Old Jaffa port, Israel

2014 "Masks" , group exhibition, Ramat Hasharon, Israel

2014 Glass biennale, Jerusalem, Israel

2016 "Glass Charm 3", Group exhibition, Haifa, Israel

2018 "Glass Charm 4", Group exhibition, Haifa, Israel

2021 IBG, Bulgaria, International Biennale of glass, Sofia, Bulgaria

2023 "Faith', Trust and Art", Group exhibition, Givataim city Gallery, Israel