Dafna Kaffeman

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Dafna Kaffeman

Dafna Kaffeman (born in Jerusalem) is an Israeli artist and senior lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. She works with glass, embroidery, print, and drawing to create intricate artworks that juxtapose aesthetically refined surfaces with politically and socially charged texts. Her work often explores themes related to identity, memory, sacrifice, and the socio-political landscape of Israel. [1] She lives and works in Israel.

Contents

Biography

Kaffeman graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 1999 and earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Sandberg Institute, also in Amsterdam, in 2001. [2] She has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions across Europe and North America, and has received several national and international awards.

She has held solo exhibitions at notable institutions including the Chrysler Museum of Art (2012), San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design (2015–16), David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University (2014–15), American University Museum in Washington, D.C. (2011), and lorch + seidel contemporary in Berlin (2006, 2010, 2013, 2017). In 2019, she was awarded the Andree Matter Award for a woman artist by the MADREEMA Foundation. She received the Design Prize from the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport in 2016 and the Prize for the Advancement of the Arts (Israel) in 2011.

Kaffeman's works are held in public and private collections worldwide, including the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, and the Museum of Modern Glass at Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg in Germany.

From 2005 to 2011, she served as head of the glass department at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, where she remains a senior lecturer. She has also taught at institutions such as Tokyo University of the Arts (Japan), Ball State University (USA), Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Boston), Koblenz University (Germany), and the Corning Museum of Glass (USA). She has delivered lectures at the Natural History Museum in Tel Aviv, the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (Amsterdam), and the Royal College of Art (London).

Working methods

Described as "a poetess in glass," [3] Kaffeman employs layered techniques combining flame-worked glass, embroidery, drawing, and text to explore social and political dynamics in Israel. Her botanical and zoological motifs—such as native plants and insects—serve as metaphors for cultural memory, identity, and conflict.

Since 2002, her work has increasingly addressed political and social issues through dual visual and textual narratives. As Davira S. Taragin notes in the exhibition catalogue *Without Camouflage*, Kaffeman’s art "presents the disparity between beautiful crafted surfaces and disturbing text about aggressors and victims." [1] Her series often incorporate embroidered handkerchiefs or felt onto which she attaches flame-worked glass flora and fauna, creating intimate micro-environments that reflect broader societal tensions.

In recent years, drawing has become an integral part of her creative process and exhibition practice. The integration of embroidery allows her to collaborate with diverse communities, embedding collective narratives into her pieces. According to the 2011 Israeli Ministry of Culture prize catalogue, her work "blends local values in meticulously crafted glass and embroidery work" while using a botanical lexicon tied to commemoration, sacrifice, and mourning. [4]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions

Works in collections

Prizes

References

  1. 1 2 Taragin, Davira S. (2014). Without Camouflage: Dafna Kaffeman, Silvia Levenson. Muncie, IN: David Owsley Museum of Art. p. unpaginated. ISBN   978-0-934765-39-5.{{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Dafna Kaffeman". lorch + seidel contemporary. Archived from the original on 24 May 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  3. ↑ Schack von Wittenau, Clemantine (2010). "A Poetess in Glass". New Glass Review (31): 6.
  4. ↑ Winners 2011: Exhibition Catalog. Petach Tikva, Israel: Petach Tikva Museum of Art. 2011.
  5. ↑ "Without Camouflage: Dafna Kaffeman, Silvia Levenson". Museum of Craft and Design. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
  6. ↑ "Without Camouflage: Dafna Kaffeman, Silvia Levenson". glassismore.com. Archived from the original on 29 November 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
  7. ↑ "Departures and Arrivals: Exhibition Exposé" (PDF). lorch + seidel contemporary. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
  8. ↑ "Winners 2011 - The Ministry of Culture and Sport Prizes in Art and Design". Petach Tikva Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 29 September 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
  9. ↑ "Exhibitions Archive 2009". lorch + seidel contemporary. Archived from the original on 22 June 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
  10. ↑ "Exhibition Archives 2006". lorch + seidel contemporary. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
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