ARTIST BIO

VARDA YATOM

Varda Yatom’s internationally recognized ceramic work examines the relationship between personal identity and culture, symbolism and meaning, aesthetics and morality. Her sculpture and installations employ organizational patterns of human ceremony, seemingly recognizable, yet upon interpretation revealing layers of meaning hidden beneath the familiar. Yatom delicately weaves process and concept, allowing the physical patterns of creation to remain visible, the language of her materials embedded in the vocabulary of the finished product. Seeking to reveal how an object becomes meaningful within its cultural context, her intimate and politically charged work investigates the moral conflict between survival, aggression, and isolation.
Varda Yatom had her first solo show at Driscoll Babcock Galleries in 2008. Her work has been shown in solo exhibitions nationwide and internationally including Museum of International Ceramic Art, Sargadelos, Spain; Gallery of Ceramic Design, Tel Aviv, Israel; Hetiens International Ceramics Museum, Dusseldorf, Germany; Arad Art Museum, Israel; Tel Hai Art Center, Israel; Negev Art Museum, Be-er Sheva, Israel, and Long Beach University Art Gallery, CA. Additionally, her work has been shown in over 70 group exhibitions internationally including the Danmarks Keramikmuseum, Grimmerhus, Denmark; Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, Italy; The Open Art Museum, Tefen, Israel; Museum fur Angewendte Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany; the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan; and Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand.

Yatom’s work is represented in public, corporate, and private collections worldwide including The Hetjent International Museum, Düsseldorf, Germany; The Arad Museum of Art, Israel; Danmarks Keramikmuseum, Grimmerhus, Denmark; The Open Art Museum, Tefen, Israel; the Laguna Beach Art Museum, CA; Long Beach University Museum, CA, and Alfred University Museum, New York.

In 1994, Yatom was awarded the highly coveted “Israeli Artist Award” by the Israel Ministry of Education and Culture. In 1999, an international jury recognized Yatom as one of the “Top Ten Contemporary Ceramic Artists in the World”, and she was invited to present her work in an accompanying museum show at the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, Italy. She has been invited to participate in artist residencies worldwide including Danmarks Keramikmuseum, Grimmerhus, Denmark, International Art Center de la Cite Universite, Paris, France, Long Beach University in Long Beach California, and Southern Oregon University, Ashland, Oregon.

Born in Holon, Israel, Varda Yatom lives and works on Kibbutz Sasa in Northern Israel.