Ruta Reifen, ‘All Is Dvash’
(LENOX, Mass.) – All Is Dvash, an on-site installation featuring the latest work by Israeli-born, Brooklyn-based contemporary jewelry artist Ruta Reifen, is on view at Sienna Gallery through Sunday, August 17, 2014.
All is Dvash is Reifen’s exploration of the floral form and the joy, beauty, and raw sensuality of the natural world. Dvash, Hebrew for honey, is nectar, the promise of future fruit, the hope and potential abundance contained within each flower. Reifen captures the shapes, colors, and undulating, flowing lines of her inspiration in individually hand-sculpted, electroformed pieces, an invitation to the viewer and eventual wearer to adorn themself in beauty and rich delight.
The work will be presented as an unrestrained installation piece, with hot pink walls and a floor of AstroTurf setting the scene. As author Bella Nyman notes in her essay for Reifen’s upcoming catalog, “…Reifen is enamored with the exuberance of the Baroque masters. The altar in Bernini’s masterpiece Sant’Andrea al Quirinale is a prime example of the type of over-the-top orgy of gold that Reifen translates into her own work by gold-plating each piece of jewelry. She wants it to be flashy as ‘gold is traditionally attached to these ideas of ornament.’”
Ruta Reifen, ‘All Is Dvash’
Born in Jerusalem, Reifen received her Bachelor’s in Design from Shenkar College of Design, Israel, and an honors MFA in Jewelry and Metals from Rhode Island School of Design. Currently basing her studio practice in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Reifen has exhibited both nationally and internationally in Israel, Europe, and the United States; her work is included in the permanent collection at Museum of Art and Design, N.Y., and Penland Gallery, N.C., and shown at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, Ore.
Sienna Gallery is located at 80 Main Street and is open Wednesdays through Saturdays 11am to 5pm, and Sundays through Tuesdays 11am to 3pm, or by appointment by calling 413-637-8386.