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Published: 19.03.2024

Bio

Sara Shahak lives and works in Petah Tikva, Israel. She has specialized in jewelry studies in Israel as well as in many professional master classes all over the world. She's been teaching jewelry making since 1996 and from 2011 to 2017 worked as a Sub-curator at Museum of Philistine Culture, Ashdod, Israel.

Statement

My work is inspired by my love to metals alongside traditional silversmith processes.
The Sharp Nature collection is characterized by experimentation and exploration of the possibilities of transforming materials and shapes. My collection is influenced by the visual vocabulary that we can find in nature. I try to sharpen it. My love /em>to metals makes me investigate industrial readymade objects, among them the readymade industrial iron bells. These playful, shiny and noisy objects are intended to be children's toys, decorationsand accessories for costumes. I know them since my happy early childhood. They were attached to every costume sewn for me for costumes holidays. Their sounds accompanied my childhood. I open, cut, bend and solder these hollow, hard, spherical and closed, cocoon shapes that fascinated and challenged me.

"The cocoon is a convergence that allows a work space ... nothing will move the larva away from its goal of becoming a butterfly" - (from Visions from Earth by James R. Miller, a selection of Chuang-Tzu writings, 476-221 BC, The Butterfly dream). Transformation of things emphasizes the constant birth and return of all life, from and to the shut condition of the cocoon, which is the larval source for all changes.

Through this transformation I made
rough, but poetic, structures of necklaces and brooches and rings. All characterized with refined sharp ends and repetitive elements, in which I find strength and beauty. I change those strong iron shapes into flocks of butterflies and garlands of tulips' buds and thistles. I color them with torch oxidation, glass paints, enamel and lacquers. Solder them to brass or copper "branches", and sometimes refine them with natural wool, or various semi-precious stones/beads. Through this investigation of the industrial hollow shapes, harsh and rough structures were created. There I find beauty, poetry, and some answers to my existential questions.
 

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Events      View / hide events

2024:
Exhibition  21 Dec 2024 - 30 Apr 2025  Faune, Flore & Métaphores. Collection de la Ville.
Exhibition  04 Oct 2024 - 30 Nov 2024  (Un)Avowable Secrets in Madrid.
Exhibition  02 May 2024 - 16 Jun 2024  Surprenant! at Cagnes-sur-Mer Jewellery Week 2024.
Exhibition  02 May 2024 - 05 May 2024  (Un)Avowable Secrets at Jewellery Week of Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Exhibition  28 Feb 2024 - 02 Mar 2024  (Un)Avowable Secrets.
2023:
Exhibition  05 Oct 2023 - 20 Nov 2023  Missing Memories in Madrid.
Exhibition  28 Sep 2023 - 30 Sep 2023  Missing Memories in Barcelona.
Exhibition  10 Jun 2023 - 05 Nov 2023  DNA in Cagnes sur Mer.
Exhibition  27 Apr 2023 - 29 Apr 2023  Missing Memories at the Melting Point 2023.
Fair  13 Apr 2023 - 30 Apr 2023  Schmuck Fair 2023 in Valencia.
Fair  08 Mar 2023 - 12 Mar 2023  Schmuck Fair 2023.
Exhibition  08 Mar 2023 - 11 Mar 2023  Missing Memories in Munich 2023.
2022:
Exhibition  09 Sep 2022 - 11 Sep 2022  Purifying The Soul. VONMO 3rd Contemporary Jewelry Exhibition.
Exhibition  11 Mar 2022 - 28 Apr 2022  Acqua Marina.
The Geological Museum in Ramat Hasharon, Israel
2021:
Exhibition  20 Dec 2021 - 11 Feb 2022  Until Death Do Us Part.
Exhibition  16 Nov 2021 - 30 Dec 2021  Between a break and a breakdown. Jewelry as a mirror of our times.
Exhibition  08 Oct 2021 - 10 Nov 2021  Painful Hope in Madrid.
Exhibition  16 Jul 2021 - 20 Aug 2021  The Handshake Project / Israel - Local Boundaries.
2020:
Exhibition  12 Dec 2020 - 13 Feb 2021  Painful Hope.
Exhibition  11 Mar 2020 - 14 Mar 2020  Broken Beauty in Munich.
Open call  10 Jan 2020 - 05 Mar 2020  Open Call for Gioielli in Fermento Award 2020 10th edition..
2019:
Exhibition  14 Dec 2019 - 15 Feb 2020  Broken Beauty.
Exhibition  06 Dec 2019 - 11 Feb 2020  Star Luster in Your Window.
Exhibition  18 Oct 2019 - 28 Oct 2019  Beijing International Jewelry Art Exhibition 2019.
Exhibition  08 Oct 2019 - 11 Oct 2019  Lié.e.s in Barcelona.
Exhibition  05 Jun 2019 - 29 Jun 2019  LIE.E.S.
Exhibition  05 Jun 2019 - 29 Jun 2019  Lié.e.s.
Exhibition  05 Jun 2019 - 29 Jun 2019  LIE E S art jewelry exhibition.
Art Course gallery, Strasbourg, France.
Exhibition  30 May 2019 - 16 Nov 2019  Jewelry Making: Past & present.
The Museum for Islamic Art,  Jerusalem, Israel.
Exhibition  25 May 2019 - 25 May 2019  Exhibition in Motion (EIM).
SNAG conference, Palmer House Hilton,  Chicago, USA.
Fair  22 May 2019 - 29 May 2019  Athens Jewelry Week 2019.
Exhibition  18 May 2019 - 06 Oct 2019  The Legacy Award & Collection. The Ultimate Edition.
Exhibition  01 May 2019 - 31 Mar 2019  Exhibition In Motion.
SNAG conference, Chicago, USA
2018:
Exhibition  10 Nov 2018 - 31 Dec 2018  Tincal Lab Challenge 2018. Jewelry and Technology.
Exhibition  04 Oct 2018 - 06 Oct 2018  Selected Artists JOYA Barcelona Art Jewellery Fair 2018.
Exhibition  20 Sep 2018 - 11 Nov 2018  Gioielli in Fermento in Padua.
Exhibition  07 Sep 2018 - 21 Sep 2018  Gioielli in Fermento: Un bel Panorama.
Fair  23 May 2018 - 30 May 2018  Athens Jewelry Week 2018.
Award  13 May 2018 - 28 May 2018  Gioielli in Fermento Award 2018 8th edition.
Award giving  13 May 2018 - 13 May 2018  Gioielli in Fermento 2018 Winners.
Exhibition  13 May 2018 - 27 May 2018  Gioielli in Fermento 2018 Exhibition.
Fair  05 May 2018 - 06 May 2018  Autor 2018.
Award giving  05 May 2018 - 06 May 2018  Autor Awards 2018.
2017:
Exhibition  18 Nov 2017 - 27 Nov 2017  Beijing International Jewelry Art Exhibition.
Exhibition  11 Nov 2017 - 31 Dec 2017  Tincal lab Challenge 2017. Jewelry and Music.
Exhibition  05 Oct 2017 - 07 Oct 2017  Selected Artists JOYA Barcelona Art Jewellery Fair 2017.
Fair  08 Mar 2017 - 14 Mar 2017  Schmuck 2017.
Exhibition  24 Feb 2017 - 01 Apr 2017  Shesh.
Bayerischer Kunstgewerbeverein Gallery, Munich, Germany (Munich Jewelry Week)
2013:
Exhibition  29 Nov 2013 - 02 Mar 2014  Papallona / Mariposa / Butterfly.