Rachel Fishman

EXHIBITIONS & community projects

popup exhibit at soma studio, tel aviv 2022

hacubiah graduation exhibition, Jerusalem 2022

in print art book fair, jerusalem 2022

KESHER EXHIBITION - KORESH 1, JERUSALEM

July 8-22, 2021

Works on view:

THE HOLY ART GALLERY - VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONs

London, UK

Nostalgia: April 4-12, 2021

Genesis: March 24-30, 2021

UP-CYCLING WORKSHOPS

I lead two up-cycling workshops for a group of senior citizen women at a community center in Nachalaot, Jerusalem. We converted plastic bags into yarn/ribbon and we sewed and crocheted with it.

Photos by Elliott Leigh Tucker

GOOD DEEDS DAY - MURAL AT MOKED KLITA

This mural was organized by Tarbut, a social arts movement in Israel. The project was completed during my time as a fellow on the Yahel Social Change Fellowship, during which I volunteered with Tarbut. The mural was designed by a Tarbut volunteer and carried out by Tarbut, their junior high grafitti club and individuals attending Moked Klita programming. Moked Klita is an absorption center for immigrants; this particular office helps Ethiopian immigrants. The mural is located at the Moked Klita in Ramat Eliyahu, Rishon LeTsion and features crops grown in Israel and Ethiopia.

30 UNDER 30 GROUP EXHIBITION

Viridian Artists Inc. • 548 W28th ST #632 • New York, NY • February 26 - March 28

Juried by Donna Gustofson: Curator of American Art and Mellon Director for Academic Programs, Zimmerly Art Museum

Project Elea

Project Elea runs optional programming for residents of Eleonas Refugee Camp in Athens, Greece. People who come to volunteer through Project Elea help run those programs. My favorite activity to work was the daily arts programs for kids, which took place for two hours every afternoon. By the end of the month, I was creating a new arts and crafts activity each day, making example works, and directing two groups of 3-4 volunteers each in two different locations of the camp to carry out the arts and crafts activity. The image shown is of me on my last day with my last arts and craft activity - pretend beards. Many children were running around with colorful beards that day; it was very cute.

IN CONCLUSION - BA FINE ART SENIOR SHOWCASE

The George Washington University: Gallery 102 in the Smith Hall of Art at 801 21st St NW in Washington, D.C May 3 - 18, 2018

Additional participants: Bri Martin, Maeve McCool and Stephanie Cianci

I exhibited four self portraits that explored the concept of honesty. The process of creating personal works and for the purpose of display was a difficult but worthwhile experience. The works focus in on particular body parts significant to me, including ovaries, heart, hair and eyebrows.

1. PCOS

Oil on wood, 16x20” (Feb-March 2018)

2. I REACHED FOR MY HEART BUT SHE WAS ON THE WRONG SIDE

Oil on canvas, 30x40” (Feb - April 2018)

3. YOU’RE OBSESSED!

A dream

Acrylic on canvas, 36x54” (March-April 2018)

4. EYEBROW TRIALS

These “eyebrow portrait"s” are self-portraits painted from photographs taken over the course of my life. Each eyebrow shape is slightly different and reveals an attempt or lack thereof to reshape and suppress my natural eyebrows.

Oil on wood panels, 36x48x1.5” (March-April 2018).

SABABA SPACE EXHIBITION -  27 MAY 2017

"Sababa Space," as referred to by exchange students, is an abandoned agricultural school located in Talpiot in Jerusalem. We used this location to exhibit their artwork for student-run, one-day exhibitions in the spring of 2017. The work shown below is the work I exhibited for the second Sababa Space Exhibition.

This entire installation is the product of my experimentation with foam paper as material to create sculptural paintings. I cut adhesive sheets of foam paper into small pieces and arrange them in a meaningful way. My installation for this exhibition has four main parts.

1. First, on either side of the open entrance is a watercolor portrait with foam paper additions - one of a woman and another of a man.

2. Once one enters the space, the wall on the left features the work entitled "Progression & Loss." This work is divided into four areas that create a narrative of passage through time and progression at the expense of loss.

3. The next wall, across from the entrance, features two different projects that use the same color scheme. The piece on the left is a 50x50cm silver pen drawing on maroon paper - three blind contours, of a small rock, overlaid on top of one another. After creating the drawing, I then cut pieces of blue foam paper to fit into particular spaces in the piece, and I applied them in a loosley repeated pattern. The three smaller pieces on this wall display my investigation with paintings confined by a frame but with a sculptural element - foam paper - that transcends the boundary of the frame itself. From left to right, these framed pieces are installed like so: (a) an imagined, winged portrait; (b) a blind-contour portrait of a close friend; and (c) an abstracted and partially censored, faceless drawing of a nude female figure. The third frame is physically separated from the first two by a pre-existing stick figure drawn directly onto the wall.

4. The last wall features an installation of many small pieces of foam paper adhered directly to the peeling and tattered paint surface.

BEZALEL EXCHANGE STUDENT EXHIBITION - MAY 2017

The works below are my pieces which I exhibited as part of the week-long Bezalel exchange student exhibition for the spring semester of 2017. The first photo below shows the actual layout at the exhibition, and the photos below that show detail photograph of each painting from left to right. This was my first exhibition, and curating these pieces to display my work was quite gratifying.

MURAL PROECT AT FINCA LA FLOR - AUGUST 2016

"Food Security in Rural Costa Rica" is a three week long service-learning course that I took as part of my semester long study abroad with the International Center for Development Studies (ICDS) in Costa Rica. This course took place at Finca la Flor, an educational farm located in La Flor, Costa Rica. I, along with six other students learned from mentors and teachers who live on the farm as well as two teachers from ICDS, Yanina and Helen. As part of the program, we learned about sustainable agriculture and permaculture - weeding, planting, feeding and milking goats, composting and planning our own projects to contribute to this farm that is ever-evolving with each visitor. I was particularly inspired by Eduardo, one of our mentors who has a passion for sustainable architecture. I worked alongside Adrianna, one of the other students, on sustainable architecture projects. We helped build one the walls of a new building at La Finca with a mixture of lime, chopped hay, and clay from nearby. We also worked on a project to make Finca la Flor more accessible with plans for a ramp and installment of a bamboo handrail for an already existing set of stairs.

For my personal project, I wanted to make a mural from ceramic waste. Although ceramic waste is not bad for the environment, it has a lot of potential to be appreciated if transformed into something meaningful. The process of building this mural involved several steps: design, approval, collection of material, acquiring expert advice, and community involvement. After designing, I received approval to move forward from the owner of the farm. I chalked the design into the designated space, and Eduardo showed me how to score the wall and make cement. For material, I used broken leftover pieces of tile and mugs found on the farm. Most of the blue tile pieces used in the mural are scattered scraps that I collected from the extended gravel driveway up to La Finca. This project came together within the last week of of the program. In recognition that I was not part of the permanent community at Finca la Flor, I wanted the more permanent community to help me create my vision. This involvement became a reality, and even a necessity for I would not have been able to finish without the help of others. The photos below document the community effort in completing my project. I've never made a mural before, and there were several times that I did not believe I could finish in such a short time. When I finally finished laying all of the ceramic pieces, I felt extremely accomplished. Omar, one of our mentors who worked on the farm, completed the mural with another volunteer after me by filling in the cracks with grout.