Morei Derech Delegation Visits Ashkelon

A delegation of teachers representing the Gesher Chai (Living Bridge) Project between our two communities spent a day in Ashkelon during the "Morei Derech" seminar trip to Israel in June.

The day was organized by our Gesher Chai coordinator, the one and only Marcelo Burdman.

The Baltimore teachers were matched with teachers from their partner schools in Ashkelon. They went to visit the schools and discussed joint projects for the future.

They took part in a seminar about Jewish identity and connections to Israel and then expressed their artistic skills at a mosaic workshop led by Tova Shafran - an artist who also teaches at the Ashkelon School of the Arts.

Before Dinner we all went to visit the Michael Lapidus Baltimore Park and the Lynn Stacie Getz Playground where the delegation saw other mosaic art pieces done by Ashkelon artists and other groups from Baltimore.


Joel and his young "assistants" from the Art School with their mosaic creation.


Claudette and Rita with their masterpiece


Salit from Ashkelon with Flo and Hasia


Tova Shafran (in emerald green shirt, behind) ran the mosaic workshop
More photos of the mosaic workshop HERE

Magnificent Moms Mission Mosaics !

The colorful mosaic wall panels, created by women from Ashkelon & Baltimore during the "Moms Mission" to Ashkelon in July 2009, were hung in the Michael Lapidus Baltimore Park & Lynn Stacie Getz Playground in Ashkelon this week.

The panels portray Israeli flowers and are now situated next to the Jerusalem plaques created by the Plant Futrovsky family in June 2008.

See photos of the plaques being created by the MOMs at a workshop run by Ashkelon artist Nira Portugaly HERE

Each panel is unique

Sigal's daughter Gily admires the panels

The panels are located to the right of the panels created by the Plant Futrovsky family.

nicole

Mosaic Tree Panels for Park Baltimore

An exciting exhibition opened yesterday in the city: A group of Ashkelon artists, trained by Ashkelon's own world-renowned mosaic artist Ilana Shafir, are exhibiting mosaic panels, all with the theme of "The Tree of Eden" . The colorful mosaic wall panels will be mounted on a wall in Park Baltimore after the exhibition.

Nira Portugaly, one of the mosaic artists explained: "The panels are made using Ilana Shafir's original technique which is called 'spontaneous mosaic' whereby scraps of pottery, stones and shells collected from nature, and specially made ceramic elements are all combined together in a spontaneous mosaic creation".

Tova Shafran, one of the mosaic artists, thanked Ilana Shafir and noted that she will celebrate her 85th birthday this week. The panels are a gift from the artists to the city and will be displayed in Park Baltimore after the exhibition.