Dori Schechtel Zanger
All that surrounds me, exits me and influences me
eventually shows up in my work.
I am a Narrative ceramic artist; I have always been fascinated by the ability of the ceramic work to tell a story. Images upon a three-dimension object give me a visual language to communicate speechlessly with the viewer. I try to evoke thought and contemplation, my work has a critical dimension and caries a message.
Inspiration for my work comes from all aspects of my life, personal and collective memories and experiences. War, Environment, religion, culture, imagination and reality, all come together to tell a story of Frozen moments in time from different stations of my life.
I was born and raised in Argentina. I studied at the University of fine art in my hometown La Plata. The times were the times of the military regime. We led a nice happy life, closing our eyes to the oppression, violence, and corruption all around. I saw how indifference, neutrality and looking the other way enable great wrongs to exist. Dictatorship and art are known to be a bad blend, so at the age of 21 I moved to Israel to study at the art academy Bezalel in Jerusalem, Leaving my Family behind. I married and raised 3 children, first in Jerusalem and for the past 18 years up by the northern border between Israel and Lebanon.
Raising my children in the Israeli experience has influenced me strongly. seeing 18-year-old kids given a uniform and sent to confront other 18-year-old kids who happened to be born on the other side of a line someone drew on a map. I Could not escape the feeling of how random fate is, how different life can be if you are just born a few kilometers away, with a different skin color or even just a few years later.
I tell my story, mostly threw kid. I relate to their innocence, the universality of their thoughts and needs. sometimes they can be just kids playing and sometimes they are kids put in bad situations.
I wonder what kind of world we are leaving our children behind us. That is the main platform through which my work evolves.
I see my role as an artist to be the voice of those who are not heard. And to point a finger towards that, that is not seen.
My work is exhibited in leading galleries and museums worldwide including new Taipei city Yingge Ceramic Museum (Taiwan), Mint Museum USA, Gardner Museum Canada, Whatcom Museum Washington, Alcora Museum Spain, New Bedford art Museum USA, Vallauris institute of art France, Keramikmuseum Westerland Germany, Eretz Israel Museum, Changchun International ceramic gallery, museo Sivori Argentina, and many more.
My work has been selected to be part of several private and museum collections around the world.
Winner of several awards including first prize of Changchun 2019 international ceramic symposium.
Participant in several residences and symposium all over the world.
I manage an active studio and lead workshops in Israel and abroad.
For several years - Board member of the Israeli Ceramic association,
A member of the IAC, Member of Artaxis and the founder of 2 cooperative
Ceramic galleries in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
My technique is based on hand built, coil, slabs, press mold.
The clay I use is white earthenware and porcelain.
I decorate my work using underglaze, color stain, clear glaze, gold luster and decals.
I am grateful for the all the opportunities I received to be seen and heard
and grateful for the ability to wake up each morning to live my passion.