Dafna Kaffeman

Dafna Kaffeman (born in Jerusalem) is an Israeli artist and senior lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. She works with glass, embroidery, print, and drawing to create intricate artworks that juxtapose aesthetically refined surfaces with politically and socially charged texts. Her work often explores themes related to identity, memory, sacrifice, and the socio-political landscape of Israel. She lives and works in Israel.

Biography Kaffeman graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 1999 and earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Sandberg Institute, also in Amsterdam, in 2001. She has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions across Europe and North America, and has received several national and international awards.

She has held solo exhibitions at notable institutions including the Chrysler Museum of Art (2012), San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design (2015–16), David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University (2014–15), American University Museum in Washington, D.C. (2011), and lorch + seidel contemporary in Berlin (2006, 2010, 2013, 2017). In 2019, she was awarded the Andree Matter Award for a woman artist by the MADREEMA Foundation. She received the Design Prize from the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport in 2016 and the Prize for the Advancement of the Arts (Israel) in 2011.

Kaffeman's works are held in public and private collections worldwide, including the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, and the Museum of Modern Glass at Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg in Germany.

From 2005 to 2011, she served as head of the glass department at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, where she remains a senior lecturer. She has also taught at institutions such as Tokyo University of the Arts (Japan), Ball State University (USA), Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Boston), Koblenz University (Germany), and the Corning Museum of Glass (USA). She has delivered lectures at the Natural History Museum in Tel Aviv, the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (Amsterdam), and the Royal College of Art (London).

Working methods Described as "a poetess in glass," Kaffeman employs layered techniques combining flame-worked glass, embroidery, drawing, and text to explore social and political dynamics in Israel. Her botanical and zoological motifs—such as native plants and insects—serve as metaphors for cultural memory, identity, and conflict.

Since 2002, her work has increasingly addressed political and social issues through dual visual and textual narratives. As Davira S. Taragin notes in the exhibition catalogue *Without Camouflage*, Kaffeman’s art "presents the disparity between beautiful crafted surfaces and disturbing text about aggressors and victims."

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions anywhere, nowhere, elsewhere, Inga Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel, September–October 2024 the fire age, Traver Gallery, Seattle, USA, July 2024 Aerial Roots, Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Israel, Curator Irena Gordon, August–December 2021 if you thirst for a homeland, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia; Roe Green Gallery at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, April–June 2021 cotton plant, lorch+seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, September–November 2017 Without Camouflage, Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, CA, USA, Curator Davira S. Taragin, September 26, 2015 – March 20, 2016 Without Camouflage, David Owsley Museum of Art, Muncie, Indiana, USA, Curator Davira S. Taragin, April–August 2014 Red Everlasting, Eretz Israel Museum, Ramat Aviv, Israel, Curator Henrietta Eliezer Brunner, 2013 Invasive Plants, Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany, Curator Prof. Jens Gussek, 2013 Invasive Plants, lorch+seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2013 What Could Be Better Than Going to Paradise?, American University Museum, Washington, D.C., USA, Curator Jack Rasmussen, 2011 Mantis Religiosa, lorch+seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2010 Red Everlasting, Utsira Lighthouse, Stavanger, Norway (European Capital of Culture), 2008 Persian Cyclamen, lorch+seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2006 I Was Trained Hunting Wolves, Heller Gallery, New York, USA, 2004 Special exhibit, Eretz Israel Museum, Ramat Aviv, Israel, Curator Henrietta Eliezer Brunner, 2002

Selected group exhibitions Toyama Museum of Art Glass, Japan, 2024 The Geological Museum, Ramat Hasharon, Israel, Curators Rachel Saspporta and Ronit Zor, 2023–2024 Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel, Curator Henrietta Eliezer Brunner, 2023–2024 Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel, Curator Talia Amar, 2022–2023 Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel, Curators Henrietta Eliezer Brunner and Yuval Saar, 2019–2021 Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, USA, Curator Susie J. Silbert, 2019–2020 Israel Museum Ticho House, Jerusalem, Israel, Curator Tami Manor-Freidman, 2019 Jerusalem Print Workshop, Jerusalem, Israel, Curator Irena Gordon, 2019 Stephen D. Paine Galleries, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, USA, Curator Lisa Tung, 2017 Glasmuseum Alter Hof Herding, Ernsting Stiftung, Coesfeld-Lette, Germany, Curators Lilly Ernsting and Dr. Ulrike Hoppe-Oehl, 2017 Two Artists Show, lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2016 lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2015 Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, Munich, Germany, Curator Prof. Dr. Florian Hufnagl, 2013 Culture Ministry Prizes 2011, Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Israel, Curator Naomi Aviv, 2012 lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2012 The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada, Curator Diane Charbonneau, 2010 Glas-Museum Alter Hof Herding, Ernsting Stiftung, Germany, Curator Dr. Ulrike Hoppe-Oehl, 2010 lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2010 Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Netherlands, Curators Caroline Prisse and Titus M. Eliansse, 2009 Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, USA, 2009 lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2009–2010 lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2008 Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New York, USA, Curator David McFadden, 2007 Eretz Israel Museum, Ramat Aviv, Israel, Curator Henrietta Eliezer Brunner, 2007 lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2006–2007 Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin, USA, 2005 Museum Jan van der Togt, Amstelveen, Netherlands, 2002

Works in collections Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, USA David Owsley Museum of Art, Muncie, Indiana, USA Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin, USA Glasmuseum Alter Hof Herding, Coesfeld-Lette, Germany Museum of American Glass, Millville, New Jersey, USA Musée Centre d'Art du Verre, Carmaux, France Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, Munich, Germany Museum of Modern Glass, Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, Coburg, Germany

Prizes 2019: Andree Matter Award for a Woman Artist, MADREEMA Foundation 2016: Prize for Creation in the Field of Design, Ministry of Culture and Sport, Israel 2011: Prize for the Advancement of the Arts, Ministry of Culture and Sport, Israel 2007: Finalist, Bombay Sapphire Prize, UK 2005–2006: Award, Hilbert Sosin Fund, Florida Glass Art Alliance 2004: Honoree Diploma, Jutta-Cuny-Franz Memorial Award, Jutta-Cuny-Franz Foundation, Germany 2002: Nomination, Bernadine de Neeveprijs, the Netherlands