At the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Social Sciences Library, a group of artists at the opening of an exhibit of their recent work in early May stood near their pictures as some curious students came over to take a look.
As one student examined a drawing, the artist who created it turned to him and said, “You’re wearing sandals.”The student, looking puzzled, agreed that yes, he was. The artist asked, “What shoes am I wearing?” and, without pausing, answered his own question: “I’m wearing sandals.” Then he went over to the refreshment table for a cookie.
This wasn’t typical art-show chitchat, because this wasn’t a typical art show. These artists are adults on the autism spectrum, residents of a village called Kfar Shimon in the centre of the country. They take part in a workshop run by artist Nvo Svorai, where they created the pictures on display.
This show, called, “Between the Vineyards and the Fields,” which runs until July 30, is the follow-up to their show last July at the Artspace Gallery run by the Tel Aviv Municipality. That show was a success by any measure: It was well attended, drew press attention, and dozens of original drawings and prints were sold.
But more than such traditional measures of success, these two shows have given the artists a feeling that what they do matters to people outside of their community and their family, which is an all-too-rare sensation for many people on the spectrum.
‘Art Without Borders: When Talent Breaks Through Every Barrier’
KFAR SHIMON has just announced that there will be a special event at the exhibit on June 11 at 4:30 p.m., when two lectures will be given by art experts. Dr. Ella Salman is a social worker, expert in disability studies, and lecturer in the department of labor studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tel Aviv University and at the Kibbutzim Seminar. She will speak on the subject, “Art Without Borders: When Talent Breaks Through Every Barrier.”
Ruth Direktor, a writer and art lecturer who was a curator of contemporary art at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and chief curator at the Haifa Museum of Art, will speak on the topic, “People Who Make Art (and Don’t Necessarily Call Themselves Artists).” In between these two talks, there will be a tour of the exhibit.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should say here that I am the mother of one of the artists, the guy who got into the conversation about sandals. While my son Danny doesn’t know or care how many people bought prints of his drawings, going to what he calls “the exhibits” has made a huge impression on him, because he has seen how many of our friends and family showed up. But even though my son likes to talk about shoes and certain other topics, he can’t explain exactly what his drawings – which are almost all of ceiling fans floating in the sky – mean to him, or having them in exhibits. Nor can the other artists in the show.
At the opening, the artists, their families, and university students listened while several of the village residents sang and played Israeli folk songs, along with one of their music teachers. Kfar Shimon is a community for 28 adults on the autism spectrum, who learn music and many kinds of arts and crafts, including woodworking, and making fabrics and mosaics.
FOLLOWING THE concert, Oded Korati, the director of Kfar Shimon, said, “It’s very emotional for us to be here… This is a small show, with 16 works by 11 artists, but there is a great deal of meaning in where it is – and that we are in the university, [and] that many people will see this exhibit, which will be here for three months.
“The flowers here that we present today are flowers that took a great deal of time to grow in a garden, and many helped to nourish them,” Korati said.
He thanked the parents, as well as the staff, saying that, “for the residents to arrive at the art studio relaxed and ready to create, they need the treatment that they receive from the entire staff… It all works together, and the support from the staff is essential.” He credited the village’s previous director, Ilan Blum, for having “a great deal of vision and faith that allowed the residents to develop artistically.”
Korati had special praise for their teacher. While Svorai prefers to let his students’ work do the talking, he spoke briefly, saying, “The pictures here are so beautiful and remarkable. I’m happy that I have the privilege to work with and learn from these wonderful people… Every time I work with you, it amazes me anew what beauty there is within you, and what beautiful, fascinating souls you have – thank you. I learn more from you than you learn from me… We have fun together.”
THE DAZZLING variety and intensity of the works on display is a testament to Svorai’s skill as a teacher. Most of the workshop’s participants are classified as having profound or severe autism who need care their whole lives. Most art teachers for people on the spectrum – in the rare instances when anyone bothers to work with people like these – try to get them all to copy an object in an identical way. But the Kfar Shimon artists have unique styles and Svorai, who sees himself as a partner more than a traditional teacher, helps them each develop in their own way.
The results are arresting, and words fail when it comes to describing them. Most are wildly colorful and some feature intricate patterns. When they need inspiration, Svorai encourages his students to look through copies of National Geographic, and some of their pictures show this influence, with scenes set in landscapes that look like Alaska, Africa, and Latin America. With no real training in art history, these artists seem to have arrived at various styles on their own: pointillism, primitivism, and abstract expressionism, to name just a few.
Many of the artists’ parents came to the show and posed for pictures with their children in front of their works.
While our artist-children are different in many ways, we parents share one common experience – we were all told by medical professionals when our children were toddlers that they would never accomplish anything. But it turns out that our children have many skills and talents, which can flower when they are nurtured, as they have been by Svorai. Now the world can see what they carry in their hearts and their heads.
It was getting late, and it was time for the artists to go. Walking through the campus on the way to the minivan that would take them back to the village, they looked pretty much like the other students on the campus. But I knew that they were all wearing their favorite T-shirts, because this was a special occasion. My son’s was his Beatles-Abbey Road shirt, and I noticed that another artist wore a shirt that said, “Never Too Old to Dream.”
For more information about Kfar Shimon and to purchase artwork online, go to https://kfar-shimon.co.il/shop/