Nehemia Azaz

Comment: Obviously the artist is deceased. Nonetheless an article of this length expects citations, but you have no references at all Fiddle Faddle 13:54, 4 May 2015 (UTC) Comment: All inline links must be removed, please, and turned into references if appropriate, Wikilinks, or external links in a section so named. See Wikipedia:External links For a living person we have a high standard of referencing. Every substantive fact you assert, especially one that is susceptible to potential challenge, requires a citation with a reference that is about them , and is independent of them , and is in WP:RS Fiddle Faddle 13:53, 4 May 2015 (UTC) Nehemia Azaz (( ) also known as Nechemia, Nehemiah, Henri or N H Azaz) Nehemia Azaz (9 October 1923 – 28 October 2008) was an Israeli sculptor, ceramicist and architectural artist, who spent half of his working life in UK. He was the founder and first director of the Department of Artistic Ceramics at the Harsa factory in Beer-Sheva in 1955 where he designed the first generation of ceramics as cultural export through the Maskit initiative of Ruth Dayan. In 1960 he left Harsa to concentrate on large-scale architectural sculpture and stained glass. After a highly successful and high profile architectural art commission at the Sheraton Hotel in Tel Aviv, he became one of the first Israeli sculptors of his generation to be commissioned internationally, creating work for public buildings and spaces in Europe, North America and Africa, as well as Israel. Influenced by the art of 1950’s and 60’s, he was just as much inspired by the natural forms of the desert, mythology and the human condition.¹ Azaz made his studio base in Oxfordshire, England from the late 1960’s onwards, working in stained glass, wood, concrete, bronze, brass, copper and aluminium. Chronology Background Born in 1923 and taken to Palestine at an early age, Azaz's early career developed alongside, and in relation to, the formation of the state of Israel. After founding Harsa ceramic art pottery in the country in Beersheva , and designing the first generation of ceramics (and jewellery) as cultural export through the Maskit initiative of Ruth Dayan and others, he began to explore the idea of ceramics as sculpture. His work featured in an exhibition at Wakefield Gallery in 1956, alongside L S Lowry ; one of his ceramic sculptures is included in London's V&A collection. After a highly successful and high profile architectural art commission at the Sheraton Hotel in Tel Aviv in 1965, he became one of the first Israeli sculptors of his generation to be commissioned internationally. Later, at the invitation of Yitzhak Rabin, then Israeli Ambassador in Washington, DC, Azaz - living in UK as artist in residence at Carmel College, UK, carved a 30 square metre walnut wood wall for the Israeli Lounge (along with a ceiling mural by artist Shraga Weil and painted fabric by Ezekiel Kimche) at the prestigious John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts. His career as an architectural and stained glass artist then continued largely in US and UK, where he made his studio base and home in Oxfordshire from late 1960's onwards. There are a number of large scale public art pieces still in existence, including at the Loop Synagogue in Chicago; Belfast Synagogue, Pace University in Manhattan NY and the John F Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC. Artistic Expression * Studio pottery and design for commercial Israeli pottery at Harsa After his time in Europe, Azaz returned to Israel to take up the position of head of the ceramic art department at Harsa in Beersheva. He designed and made a number of sculptural pottery artworks influenced by the contours, shapes and colours of the desert, and also designed pieces that were made and decorated by others as his contribution to the Maskit programme set up by Ruth Dayan. The idea of Maskit was to enable émigré craftspeople to adapt their indigenous skills and Azaz was instrumental in their training and encouragement. * Stained glass windows Azaz's first commercial stained glass was a commission onboard the Zim Lines cruise liner S/S Moledet, which routinely sailed between New York and Haifa in the early 1960s. His technique of using pieces of intensely coloured glass, became a hallmark in his other glasswork commissions. Large stained glass window projects included synagogue windows at Carmel College, where he was artist-in-residence; at Marble Arch Synagogue (over a period of 17 years); at the former HQ of Pergammon Press in Oxford, and at Temple Sholom in Chicago in the United States. * Carved wood sculpture Carving large wood sculpture has been a feature of Azaz's career from his earliest sculpting period, and also as the one of the preferred materials for small maquettes of his large scale bronze work. The largest wooden piece, 36 square metres, is located in the Israeli Lounge at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. Several carved wooden pieces still in existence are located in public institutions in Israel such as the Chaim Sheba Medical Centre at Tel-Hashomer. A number of more recent wooden sculptures were exhibited at the International Contemporary Art Fair in 1986. * Large scale architectural commissions in concrete Azaz's architectural work appeared in early on his career, as features of a rapidly growing Tel-Aviv in the 1960's & 70's featuring on civic buildings and incorporated into the fabric of new constructions such as the Sheraton Hotel, Plaze Hotel, Hilton Hotel, Tel Aviv Diamond Centre and the Architects and Engineering Associates Building. In the United States, several large concrete commissions followed including: a centrepiece fountain, 'RECEIVING and GIVING MACHINE' at CIBA-GEIGY pharmaceuticals New Jersey site, 'THE FORM MAKERS' at Sherman House Hotel in Chicago (then rededicated to Dominican University, IL but subsequently retired in 2008 ) * Metallic sculpture Azaz was self taught in respect of working and finishing different metals. His commissions span iron, copper, bronze, aluminum, brass and silver. Successful commissions in the 1960's include 'HANDS OF PEACE' at the Loop Synagogue in Chicago, still a highlight of the city's art trail and 'BROTHERHOOD OF MAN' at Pace University in New York. Smaller bronze sculpture also feature strongly throughout Azaz's career. Using lost styrofoam (polystyrene) or lost wax casting, he realised a large collection of bronze work evolving from industrial style pieces in the 1960's to figurative and mythical based pieces in the 1980's. Many of these were first shown at the International Contemporary Art Fair in 1986. * Optical art Azaz created his own optical art variants, using painted canvas, plate metal or acrylic, rods and tubes.²