November 17, 2009
Family room painting
One major project I have begun to work on is a large painting of my family room. I plan on using it as a tool for the viewer to take a look into my life. I am in the beginning stages of drafting the actual space of the room. I am working from a photograph I took of the room and starting to work on the dimensions. I will then start to place my family in the room. I'm not exactly sure where everyone will be placed, but probably where we all spend most of our time, on the couch, or in the reading chair. I will include myself, my mom, dad, and sister... possibly even my dog ziggy. The room is very warm and comforting, to me is represents the heart of my home, and I have been told by many visitors that it is extremely "homey." I plan on showing the interactions between each member of my family in an honest way - showing how close we truly are. I have started to make my canvas and it will be large scale - at this point I am constructing the canvas bars and it is roughly 4ft by 5ft. It will be oil on canvas. This is a piece I am extremely excited about. Hopefully it will get my core message across, though it will only do so when shown in comparison to other works representing different members of my family...
An image of my family room I am working from:
Sketch:
Posted by bhalev at 11:09 PM | Comments (0)
Things going on in my studio
Some views of my studio right now:
One wall ---- 
Sir Roy Wellensky is my fathers uncle. He was prime minister of Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Neyasaland. Since he was a public figure I thought it would be interesting to represent him as a cartoon. I studied some political cartoons and came up with this... It's just a rough draft:
Sketches I've been doing of the Halliwell family Crest --
Halliwell is my fathers name before he changed it to Halev --
I have started two works -- one "Estranged Cousins" is of my sister and cousiin Franklin. Just a pretty rough start, but it's worth showing -- Second is a painting of my grandfather (fathers side) who I am said to look a lot like:
This is a map I have been working on with red marks at all of the destinations in the world where I am in touch with family members, or have traveled to visit them...
Posted by bhalev at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)
Facebook Profiles
I thought it might be interesting to look at every family member across the world who I am in touch with, and take a snapshot of their facebook profiles. I focused on the "Info" tab so one could see where in the world this relative is.
Sister, Talia Halev, Location: Manhattan, New York, USA 
First Cousin on Dad's side, Jonathan Halliwell, Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
First Cousin on Mom's side, Sydney Meltzer, Location: Olympia Washington, USA 
First Cousin on Mom's side, Jacob Meltzer, Location: Olympia Washington, USA
First Cousin (Adopted) on Mom's side, Alson Sawdey, Location: Bronx, NY, USA 
First Cousin (Adopted) on Mom's side, Franklin Sawdey, Location: Bronx, NY, USA 
Second Cousin Dad's side, Shira Vilensky, Location: Tel Aviv, Israel 
Second Cousin on Dad's side, Brigitte Vos, Location: Johannesburg, South Africa.
(went to the same high school as my father: Krugersdorp High School)
Second Cousin on Dad's side, Danni Vos DIxon, Location, Johannesburg, South Africa. 
Second Cousin on Dad's side, Aletta Welensky, Location: London, United Kingdom. 
Second Cousin on Dad's side, Alex Welensky, Location: London, United Kingdom. 
Second Cousin on Dad's side, Marcia Welensky Schillaci, Location: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Africa.
Posted by bhalev at 08:21 PM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2009
Close Bonds
I studied abroad in Sydney Australia last semester, which gave me the opportunity to be close to my fathers side of the family. My fathers brother (uncle michael) moved to Sydney from South Africa about twelve years ago. He has a son who is now twenty-three years old who I got to spend a lot of time with. I have felt more connected to him and my fathers brother and his wife Janelle than I could ever have expected. They are now a deep and important part of my life. I consider Jonathan, my cousin, one of my very best friends. Here is a picture of us below:
Posted by bhalev at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)
Some of my favorite old pictures
Still trying to figure out a way to work with them. But here are a few of my favorite old family photos. They are beautiful.
Probably my favorite picture of the bunch - My grandfather (fathers side) who I am told I look exactly like.
My mother before I was born.
My great grandmother Rebecca Frankenstein (whom I was named after) and great grandfather Michael Frankenstein
My mother and her three surviving brothers, uncle richard, uncle scott, and uncle dan.
My father as a young boy
My great great grand mother with my mother and her brother Stevie - less than a year before he died
My mother, and her family at her Bat mitzvah in 1963
My father Bruce, and his mother on vacation in Durban, South Africa
My father in Israel, working as an opera singer in Tel Aviv, days before the Yom Kippur War
My grandfather (fathers father) in Egypt with an army pal during the 2nd World War
My grandfather (fathers side)
My father and uncle mike on vacation as kids in Durban, South Africa
Posted by bhalev at 07:59 PM | Comments (0)
Family Room
This is an image of the wall in my family room at home. Displaying the story of my family. This was the inspiration for my project... Though it has developed, I hope to still remain somewhat true to my idea.
Posted by bhalev at 07:55 PM | Comments (0)
estranged cousins project
SISTER TALIA AND COUSIN FRANKLIN. PAINTING IN PROCESS
Posted by bhalev at 04:45 PM | Comments (1)
October 27, 2009
Second Copy of Proposal - to be edited again
IMAGES MISSING -- BUT IN ENTRIES BELOW
Becca Halev
September 2009
Ideas for Integrated Project
Coming into my senior year I have a lot to accomplish. After two and a half years here at A & D, a productive internship in New York, and study abroad in Italy and Australia, I have been presented with the task to create a culminating project in which I can examine and reflect on all I have learned. This task is daunting to say the least. The purpose of the Integrated Project is to choose a subject close to ones heart and study it further through the process of creating art. When I look at all of my art from the past three years I see a wide array of different media and subjects, some successful and some not at all. My interests have expanded and developed through the different media I have been exposed to, and through my life experiences, and I have found new ways of expressing myself.
As the year begins, I know two things for certain: I want to choose a subject that is close to me, one that I have an emotional connection to and something through which I can discover more about myself. I also know I want to incorporate my newfound love for printmaking, as well as the two constants of painting/drawing, and photography in my creative life.
My concept is the idea of “The American Family Room in the New Millennium.”
This room will represent the new American reality, which I see as being one of genuine affection, but also of some disaffection – even some distrust. My family will be the central characters in this world. I want to create a physical living room, using the knowledge I gained while interning this summer, but I plan to use the concept of one’s living space as a vehicle to explain how my family became who and what we are today. I want to wrestle with the question, “Who are we now?”
Within every family there is a unique story, and mine is no exception. Both my mother’s and father’s family histories represent a collision of life coming together from different continents, different religions, careers and socio-economic levels. I want to comment on how the family room, with its photographs, portraits, books, and souvenirs, tells the story of how we got to be the family we are today. How did I, Becca Halev, end up an upper-middle class Jew on the upper west side of Manhattan with an interest in fine art? How did this come to be when my mother, who was raised Jewish, in a small town in Wisconsin, is now the only practicing Jew in the family? What made my father, from a non-Jewish upper class family in South Africa, become a Cantor in New York City? What about my somewhat estranged adopted African American cousins who live in the Bronx? And what about my Christian cousins in Washington State? My great grandfathers: one a diamond digger in Kimberly, South Africa, another a shoe manufacturer from Russia who settled in Maine, and another a lifetime yeshiva student who never earned a living, and was supported by his wife? My goal is to gain a better understanding of who I am through learning about how my family got to where we are.
I want to cross the line of exposing my family’s life and tell my story of the contrasts between us. Through my creative expression my goal is to confront the uneasy co-existence, understandings, and unspoken misunderstandings every family is comprised of. I plan to execute this with a series of paintings, photographs, digitally altered images, prints, and handmade books, displayed in a way to make the tension of every extended family tangible, all set in the center of one’s home – the family room.
I have been inspired by the work of Tina Barney:
I feel as though she captures the essence of her family which she is trying to expose: the stiffness is palpable.
I also cam across the work of Edward Kienholz who constructs installations which resemble living spaces. This work is called “Portrait of a Mother” and is meant to be set in his mothers home.
This is an image of the wall in my family room which is split in half – mothers side and fathers side – by a molding.
This is some work I have done so far.
I created a book of woodcuts prints of my sister and I.
A painting of my sister and I in black and white – I was experimenting with values.
Two Drawings of portraits of my mothers Jewish side of the family.
These are just a few images of my work. There are many more on my blog. http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/~bhalev/
These include more work with oil pastels, acrylic paint, more images of my book, an experiment with painting a chandelier on my wall to give the illusion of a living space, and experimenting with the idea of using my “Halliwell Family Coat of Arms” as wallpaper.
Posted by bhalev at 06:52 PM | Comments (0)
