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The Hula Valley, Israel

 

ANF is happy to tell you that the project in Israel (March 6 – 16) was a great success!
Everything worked out very fine except that shortly before the start of the project Esther Tyson broke her leg and Andrew Haslen had a serious back spasm so they both had to cancel their participation.
Fortunately we were able to invite Greg Poole and he came and worked long hours!
Well, so did all the artists and during the week they got more and more productive so we could have almost every evening a “Show and tell”.As a special artist in residence David Lynn Grimes came over from Alaska and he inspired us with his poetic approach on our being in Israel, the migrating birds and last but not least the performances of his songs and his virtuoso guitar playing.

This time we were accommodated in a field school in the very north of Israel, about a 25 minutes drive from the main action area.
The sleeping and accommodation was good indeed and the food varied and tasteful.
Different sponsors provided us with wine and beer for dinner so nothing to complain about!
We had 4 vans to use, so we could go to different directions at different hours.
Zev Labinger and Amir Balaban our two hosts present and in action to organise things well, had their own car, and the 4 x 4 wheel drive of Amir, brought some of us at higher altitude on the Golan, where we were able to watch different flora, birds and mammals like Hyrax, Golden Jackal and Antelopes.

The weather was very very good and was different almost every day, No wind, lots of wind. Clear skies and fantastic dramatic cloudy skies. Crystal clear or hazy / foggy……
During the day in general temperatures was in the low twenties, so very pleasant!
The second half of the project ANF adviser and supporter Suzanne Wolff came to visit the project and for those who didn’t know her yet, after the first evening when she joined with her flute the “ANF behind the dykes under sea level high altitude free style blues, folk and experimental jazz band “, every body loved and respected her.

As we were part of a bird festival, during the week many groups of children from all over Israel, yes even from Jordan and Israeli-Arab students from Jaljulia came to visit and to take part in workshops.
Beside Amir Balaban, ANF artists like Robin Shillcock, John Busby , Iraida Cano and Denis Clavreul worked with different groups of children, and they loved it.
One of the highlights of the visit for our organising partners was the visit of the president of Israel; Shimon Peres aged 86!
Those involved in the protection of nature in Israel had been working hard to make him visit the Hula valley as he is the one who is able to get things done and quick, when he like a project or a proposal, but all the troubles in Gaza a few months ago had postponed this planned visit, and this special week was of course a very good reason for getting him there at the right time.
The artists who liked to meet him were gathered and I had the privilege to be introduced to him and to introduce the artists who were with me. I explained about the role of the artistic  approach of our foundation and the goal of the Artists for Nature Foundation to give with our help, the Hula a sustainable future. We also briefly exchanged the meaning of the long lasting relationship between Israel and the Netherlands.
In the next days I will write a letter to Shimon Peres to ask him for his help to raise funds for the making of the book and mounting a travelling exhibition.
The plan is to make an attractive dummy in the next two weeks and when we get a positive response from him, we plan the release of a publication of a stunning project book in the first week of October 09 with the working title “The Art of Conservation”
The reason for this is that there will be an important conference at that time in Jerusalem under his guidance where the book can serve as a gift for the participants (world leaders and ex world leaders).

Ysbrand Brouwers

ANF director Ysbrand Brouwers had the privilege to meet in the second week of March 2009 with Shimon Peres Israel’s president in the Hula Valley in the North of Israel. He had the opportunity to introduce several ANF artists to him and to discuss the importance of this project. The visit of president Peres was hugely important for all of those who are working in this unique project area as he is able to support this project in many way and to move it forward.

Bruce Pearson, Irrigation

Bruce Pearson, Migration

Paschalis Dougalis, Tension Jackals Eagles	Bruce Pearson, Terrapin

	Dave Daly, Palestine Sunbird
Dave Daly, Bonellis Warbler	Dave Daly, Yellow-vented Bulbul and Anemone

Wolfgang Weber, Cranes	Wolfgang Weber, Catfish
Wolfgang Weber, Hyrax studies	Wolfgang Weber, Wading Wild Boar

Jaap Deelder, Bee-eaters	Jaap Deelder, Lessr Kestrel, wild cherry
Jaap Deelder, Chiffchaff, Lime tree	Jaap Deelder, Little egret, Lime tree
Robert Greenhalf, Bluethroat and Spurwings, woodcut	Robert Greenhalf, Purple and Squaco Herons, woodcut

Keith Brockie, Crane Study	Robert Greenhalf, Storks flying, oil on linnen

John Busby: Hula reserve reeds, bulbul and Mount Herman (detail)	John Busby: Palestine sunbirds and chiffchaff
Harriet Mead: Fork Fronted Stork, detail	Harriet Mead: Crane. found metal sculpture, life size

 

 

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Trouw, an important newspaper in the Netherlands has published an article about Hula and ANF. Our excuses, it's in Dutch only, an extra service to our Dutch friends. Click here.

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 PATTERNS AND CONNECTIONS- People & Nature at Hula in Israel

The artists from ANF arrive at Hula in Spring as the cranes are moving north.
Crane voices fill the air with music.
The children from schools in Israel, Jordan and Palestine listen to stories about cranes from Amir Balaban.
I cut out flying cranes from folded paper. The children hold them, making the wings beat by moving their hands. In imagination they become cranes.
What is music to our ears, is not so to nearby farmers who sound klaxons to scare the cranes away.

Artists try to discover patterns and meanings.
The restored marsh shimmers with water patterns as the wind plays over the surface.
The dried areas are unmoving.
Cloud shadows make patterns on the slopes of Golan: as they change shapes, they reveal subtle contours on the escarpment and seem to dance.
A troubled past changing into joyful hope?
Storks make slow patterns in the sky as they circle on rising thermals.
Birds have patterns of behaviour learned over Millennia: people are still learning.
Cranes communicate and act together: when the moment comes to go, they all know it.

Where do our patterns lead
Can we see beauty anymore?
Can we see the good things in nature before we destroy them?
Will the thunder and lightning pass, and we listen to the still small voice that speaks love to our hearts?

Questions and Answers are part of the same pattern

John Busby     March 2009

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The video below was made by Hans Rademakers.

The Hula Valley Project (International Art Festival) 2008-2009

A joint venture between The Society for the Protection of  Nature in Israel (SPNI) &

The Artists for Nature Foundation (ANF)

The overall objective of the festival is to raise awareness of and understand the conservation issues in the Hula Valley through dialogue, cultural exchange and the rapprochement between artists, conservationists, and those who have a love of art and of nature.  The project creates a unique, non-political platform for people in Israel, Europe and the wider Middle East to connect through art and nature.

In the first week of January 2008 artists 8 artists from Europe one from Russia and one from The United States and 6 from Israel, met in the valley and were totally overwhelmed by the abundance of migrating and wintering birds. 

The Hula Wetlands is a crucial stopover for migrating birds which follow the great rift valley for thousands of kilometres from Africa and through into Asia and Europe; it is one of the most important migrating routes on earth for birds.  From 5 – 15^th of March 2009 another group of artists will visit the area again to paint and draw the thousands of storks, pelicans, ducks waders and raptors that gather there.  They will also observe cultural landscape and the people who work and manage the reserve and surrounding agricultural land.

Read more: participating artists list for march 2009, and The Hula leaflet.

Zev Labinger, the driving force behind the project in the Hula Valley, Israel

 

Crane studies Erik van Ommen

Russian artist Vadim Gorbatov in the Hula Valley

 

Erik van Ommen, White breasted kingfishers

Darren Woodhead, painting the cranes

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