Lace Part I

Lace figures frequently in my work.  I painted lace within my sets of miniatures, used it to imprint on plates, for etching, collography, monoprints and collage.  Lace is a symbol of a woman's life.  Until the early 20th century, women were assigned to domestic life.  The art that they created, namely embroidery, crochet, lace and sometimes watercolours, was not considered high art.  Yet, some of these creations are magnificent compositions.... and what's more, they are generally useful and long lasting (even from generation to generation).  Women spent lonely hours spent on caring for others and seeing the results dissipate into daily life... Lace, on the other hand, was an artistic expression of women as a creative outlet while preparing something useful, which will last.  So was embroidery.  I once told an INSTALLATION class teacher that I would like to incorporate embroidery into my art.  My teacher, David Moore, said:  "All your work looks like embroidery Ilania"

The lace in this piece is made to look like a window into the serenity of a private inner sanctity...or an opening for better days.

Blessing Mask, Silk-Screen (7 colours),  edition of 7, 39 cm x 47 cm.

The print depicts two bird-like images adorned by the seven symbolic kinds of fruit of the earth celebrated in Israel during the harvesting holidays - barley, wheat, grapes, figs, dates, olives, and pomegranate, as well as fish representing plenitude.

The hamsa (Arabic) hand or hamesh hand (Hebrew) is an old amulet for magical protection from the evil eye. The words hamsa (Arabic) and hamesh (Hebrew) mean "five" and refer to the digits on the hand.  (The Islamic name for this charm is the Hand of Fatima).   In this image the Hamsas are shown as a pair of hands with fingers separated in the way that the chief Cohen blessed the people at the temple in Jerusalem.

One image has the All-Seeing Eye, which is generally a symbol of the watchful and protective power of the Supreme Being, especially when that entity is considered in a solar or heavenly context. The moon is traditionally a goddess (female) symbol.  

The sun generally represented the god (masculine), thus the name of God = Shadai is shown within the sun. 

The symbol of the fish can be found in ancient religions with goddesses worshipped on Fridays by eating fish and engaging in sexual activities.  Jewish tradition includes eating fish on Friday as a symbol of plenitude (God said “multiply like fish in the ocean”).

The Jewish moral of “not to cause harm to any person” is written on the Hamsa as well as the prayer “May you will, our God, God of our forefathers, that many good benefits will come our way”.