Esther Knobel

Bio

Born in Poland in 1949, Esther Knobel immigrated with her family to Israel in 1950. Knobel is a highly original thinker, investigator, and maker, strongly motivated by, and attached to, such themes as family and nationality. She is especially sensitive to the power and importance of making, craftsmanship, and artisanal skills — the interaction between head and hand, the skilled worker and society, topics she addresses in her book, The Mind in the Hand (2007). Knobel works with multiple materials in numerous processes, including assemblage, enamels, electroforming, and textile techniques — such as knitting and embroidery with metal wire — and object re-purposing. She holds a BFA from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem and MA.RCA from the Royal College of Art, London.
Knobel is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Israel Ministry Prize in Art and Design and Andy (Andrea M. Bronfman) Prize for Contemporary Craft, Israel, and Françoise van den Bosch Prize from the Netherlands. Her work can be seen in museum collections worldwide, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Newark Museum, New Jersey: and Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
 

Statement

My work grows in relation to conceptual movements that have influenced the field of jewelry making since the beginning of the 20th century, and while listening to the state of continuous unease characterizing the relationship between the meaning of art and craft.

The theoretical-critical discourse with regard to 'the meaning of craft' captivates and preoccupies me, namely, issues of the language of the material, the latent information it contains, the non-verbal message, and the question of how to direct and impart knowledge… Apart from the ideological issues, perhaps I also…address my own need to define that evasive and obsessive mental state of the creative process, wherein your thoughts drive you to act, and the act pushes you to think.