Israeli Artists Appear in SOFA Exhibition In Chicago
Haaretz
by Efat Shalom
August 24, 2004

The designer Ayela Serfaty will participate in the Israeli booth at the International Sofa Exhibition in Chicago from November 5-8. Serfaty will present a series of glass sculptured light fixtures, alongside seven other artists chosen to present. They include Irit Abba (ceramics), Uri Samet (silverwork), Shlomit Bauman (ceramics), Sara Shahak (silverwork), Lotus Peles-Chen (textiles), and Noa Nadir (silverwork).

The initiative to set up an Israeli booth in SOFA was taken last year by the Association of Israeli’s Decoratoive Arts, AIDA, which was founded by the art collectors Andrea and Charles Bronfman and Doug and Dale Anderson. AIDA was created to advance Israeli art in the United States by exposing it to international collectors, and by establishing connections between artists and American galleries.

Five artists who participated last year are now represented by galleries in the United States . These include Yael Herman (silverwork), Lily Poran (ceramics), Michal Zehavi (ceramics), and Yehudit Katz (textiles). The glass artist Dafna Kaffeman, who participated last year in SOFA, will be having a solo exhibit in the Heller Gallery in NYC in September. Kaffeman, who participated in several group exhibits in Europe, will present glass works in New York, including a series of horse skeletons, series of three dimensional objects from colored sponge and glass, and a series made of aluminum.