In the picture, By Greer Fay Cashman
“‘I’m secular but I have a strong sense of Jewish identity. I’m proud of my heritage,” says artist Clila Ben-Amram Segre, who is participating in a group exhibition on Jewish themes at the Jerusalem House of Quality.  Segre is one of 80 retirees, mostly in their 70s and 80s, whose works are on display….Segre, the chairperson of Creative Pensioners, is a graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and worked as a professional art teacher prior to her retirement.”
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Fashion Statements, by Barry Davis
“According to Claudette Zorea, there is more to fashion than meets the eye – and she should know. Zorea is head of the fashion section of the Jewelry and Fashion Department of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. She is also one of the driving forces behind this week’s Movies, Fashion and Philosophy conference taking place at the Jerusalem Cinematheque.  “There are lots of aspects to fashion,” says Zorea, “and we take a comprehensive approach to the field. That’s why we have three areas of specialization within the department: fashion, jewelry and accessories.””
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Weaving memory and environment, Canadian-Israeli artist turns heads, By Steven Klein
“Melanie Daniel’s unlikely path from Canadian science student to Tel Aviv artist started with a chance encounter in India and culminated with the 2009 Rappaport Prize for Young Israeli Painter – and now a new show at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art…”Evergreen,” her exhibit at the museum, “reveals the culmination of the artist’s interest in how people assimilate and camouflage themselves in their environments, combining a sense of strangeness with a sense of belonging,” according to Sagi Refael, the show’s curator….Daniel says she plunged into the arts when she applied to the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in part because back in 1995 she didn’t really know anyone beyond her husband’s family and a few other friends. “I knew I would need my own corner, my own world to maintain my sanity,” she recalls. She was accepted into the program, where she was the only native English speaker in her class. After obtaining both a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Fine Arts in 2006, she began exhibiting her works in galleries here and abroad while residing in Jerusalem, Herzliya and most recently Jaffa.  Nahum Tevet, the head of the master’s program at Bezalel, says Daniel’s development as a student was remarkable. “She came out as a completely surprising, unexpected and different artist, and she is an example of what can happen if you are really devoted to your work and open to changing your image of yourself.”"
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Another Roadblock, By Greer Fay Cashman
“Named after the heroine of a true Jerusalem love story, the [the Alegra Boutique Hotel in Ein Kerem] is housed in an old historic building, the interior of which was revamped at a cost of NIS 6 million. The entrepreneurs are Yishai Malcha, 36, a resident of Herzliya, and Gadi Dalman, 39, a resident of Tel Aviv, who are both graduates of Bezalel and who work in architecture and advertising.  Entranced by the charm of Ein Kerem and the panoramic views that it offers, they decided that it would make for an ideal vacation destination for people who want to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Because of their common Bezalel background, the two are also very art conscious and have decided to decorate the walls of the hotel with changing exhibitions of contemporary art.”
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Israeli art detectives crack a forgery riddle, By Matti Friedman
“The portrait of a glum, bespectacled man was about to go on auction in Amsterdam when someone at Sotheby’s noticed a problem: Israel’s national museum owned precisely the same painting.  One of them had to be a fake….Schatz, whose Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design remains Israel’s most prestigious art school, might have been skillful enough to pull off such an expert copy, she said, but could not have done it overnight; oil paints can take months to dry.”
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Show Me a Story, By Barry Davis
“It is probably safe to say that when parents think about visual influences on their children, the first item on the list is TV or the Internet. But then there are also are books with illustrations that may very well convey the proverbial thousand words. The latter is the subject of an innovative conference at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, which will take place at the Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus on May 5 and goes by the title “And This Illustrator Is Me – Illustrating Children’s Books in Israel.””
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At the Milan Furniture Fair, a Fluid Design Emerges, By Alice Rawsthorn 
“Milan,” as the furniture industry calls it, is the event of the year — something akin to the Detroit, Geneva and Tokyo auto shows, or the New York, Paris and Milan fashion weeks, rolled into one…The standout was the Israeli Ron Gilad’s beautifully sculptured Wallpiercing.”

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To see Bezalel Alumnus Ron Gilad’s “Wallpiercing,” see the second image from the left in the top row here.

Bezalel to build new downtown Jerusalem campus, By Gil Zohar
“Notwithstanding the global financial meltdown and the subsequent difficulty of finding key donors, the Bezalel School of Arts and Design here recently announced plans to move ahead with its proposed $80-million campus in downtown Jerusalem. Construction is set to commence in the summer of 2011 and be completed four years later, according to the school’s president Arnon Zuckerman.”
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Tying one on, By Doron Halutz
“These days, bow ties are not confined to the black variety available at stores that sell wedding apparel….

But why is this happening? What’s behind the bow tie’s return? And why now?  Some attribute the newfound popularity to a fondness for a “cleaner, simpler, better past” – as a form of “nostalgia for something healthy and ‘right,’” as Dr. Shoshana Rose Marzel, an expert in fashion studies at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and Bar-Ilan University explains.”
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Bezalel Academy moving to downtown Jerusalem
“The Bezalel School of Arts and Design plans to build an $80 million campus in downtown Jerusalem. Proponents say the plans will help revive the city center. The first phase of the new campus plans has been completed and detailed plans are now being drawn up, Bezalel President Arnon Zuckerman, told JTA. Building is set to begin in the summer of 2011 and will take four years to complete. The academy is currently located on Mount Scopus. It will move to Jerusalem’s Jaffa Road.  The move is expected to strengthen the identity of Jerusalem as a cultural center as well as a historic center, bringing visitors and audiences to the heart of Jerusalem, Zuckerman said. It also will bring 3,000 students and 500 faculty members into downtown Jerusalem.  “We believe that the academy needs to be in an urban center and not isolated as it is now on a mountaintop,” Zuckerman said.  He said the new building will enable interaction between creative disciplines and be accessible to the public.”
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