Beth Erez:
Mixed Media Artist
About the artist
Dr. Beth Erez is a mixed media artist who has sculpted for 20 years, specializing in the integration and amalgamation of materials – often combining found objects and those invented in her imagination. She utilizes clay, wood, wax, metal, glass, shredded paper, epoxy resin and whatever is found in nature, closets, on shelves and in her basement to create a series of complex transformative artworks containing elements of technology, nature, everyday objects and those reminiscent of childhood. Erez exams “the spirit" of the materials – constantly scrutinizing the boundaries between the real and the imaginary, from the rational to the metaphysical. Her creations reflect curiosity and sensitivity, crafting an atmosphere of change – change in form, change over time, change in technology. In addition, her sculptures often capture movement and balance both in bronze and in combinations of materials. In her photography, Erez takes inspiration from the patterns of natural forms and man-made elements exploring and experimenting with detail and color and the symmetry and asymmetry created thereby.
Over the last five years, Erez has expanded her art to additional media such as glass and painting. Her glass work combines materials that are at once both antagonistic and complementary differing in many ways: fragility, transparency, opacity, conductivity, color. She captures the alchemy of materials and kiln fusing creating an image of dimensionality and abstraction. In her paintings, Erez explores and experiments with detail and color while analyzing the harmonies and disharmonies of movement on canvas, wood, metal and other materials.
Four years ago, Erez with two additional founders and curators, created a charity auction and exhibition in Herzliya entitled “The Voice in Your Head”. As part of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, more than 130 polystyrene (Styrofoam) heads were distributed to artists, public figures, celebrities, and abused women living in special shelters all of whom designed these heads to creatively reflect their feelings and thoughts regarding violence against women. All proceeds from the charity auction were dedicated to finalizing the construction of a new shelter for abused women.
Erez was born in the US and moved to Israel in 1977. She holds a Ph.D. in Information Science and worked in fields of technology and strategy as the Deputy Director of a non-profit organization, as a Department Head at the Israeli Ministry of Communications, and later as Vice President of international hi-tech broadcast-technology companies in the fields of marketing and business development. She began sculpting in 2001 in spite of travelling the world on business and in 2014 Erez became a fulltime professional artist. Erez was the Chairman of the Association of Herzliya Artists (180 members) and of the Board of Directors of the Herzliya Municipal Art Gallery, voluntary elected positions from 2014-2016. She is also a member of the Israeli Professional Visual Arts Association since 2006, the major professional association of visual artists in Israel. She has exhibited widely in Israel and in the rest of the world. Her works can be found in public and private collections worldwide in countries such as Israel, South Africa, United States, Singapore, Australia and Canada.
Erez and her work can be followed on: