Spotlight on Esther Silver
Hi! My name is Esther Silver, 70 years of age, divorced, with a son and 3 grandchildren…. I originally am from Canada, an Alberta girl, and then Ontario, but I’ve been living in Israel for over 22 years. Came as a 17 year old, finished medical school and residency, served in the army as an officer.
I’ve always been involved with art, from high school onwards, and attended Bezalel art school in Jerusalem for one year prior to med school.
In Canada, in Toronto, I was curious about stained glass picture frames, and did a course at Fantasy In Glass in Toronto. During the class, being an overachiever, instead of a 5-7 piece of work I did a 1000 piece of flowers, which has a lot of blood in it – it was hard but I did it!
The course also had an Intro to Fusing, and I was blown away… and started intensively working in fusing. I started selling my fused bowls and jewelry, and started getting a “following” in Toronto….. but then I took a class at BeadFx in Toronto and there I saw a workshop on Flameworking with Dwyn Tomlinson. Well…. I was hooked.
Since then, I’ve traveled and studied with many maestros…. In Corning, Murano, Chiang Mai, England, Turkey, Canada and Israel. For about 3 years I worked as well in a Hot Shop, trying to emulate the work of Davide Salvadore and Lino….
Over time, I became enthralled with glass blowing on a mini pipe…. And today this is my “thing.” I love the creativity and the ethereal essence of the blown glass bead.. so many possibilities….. currently my focus is on using 24K gold paint fused to the glass, after learning from Maestra Lucia Santini in Murano……. using my imagination and inspired by the patterns created in the glass… though every once in a while, I enjoy fooling around making flowers, implosions, and other forms of flameworking. I think the advent of online classes really helped multiple frameworkers to enhance and expand their work, as it did for me.
Today I sell mostly on Facebook, in various groups, but it still is “part time” as I work about 30 hours a week as a medical doctor specializing in ADHD… I do my flameworking in my spare time, about 15 hours a week, and I love it. I have had my work published in the Flow several times, and presented a tutorial in the Glassline in the past.
My other activities include being the General Manager of Team Israel Women’s Ice Hockey, as I played hockey for over 20 years in Canada, and now am helping to develop hockey in Israel. We have an international IIHF Competition at the end of March, and it will be a lot of fun! I also am part of the village orchestra, and we usually travel to participate in concerts in Europe in the summer. I am also singing in the local choir – I had no idea I could sing but apparently I can carry a tune!!
I live in a small village in the north of Israel, with a view of the Mediterranean to the west and the snow capped mountains in Syria/Israel to the East. It’s beautiful here and very peaceful, a veritable bubble of normality in a very turbulent country…. I had hoped to open a studio to invite international artists to teach, but recent health problems have put a hold to that….and I’ve been asked to teach in the states (Detroit) and hopefully I’ll be able to do that. Also….. I share my home and life with my amazing fur baby Mishmish, a golden doodle (one of only 5 in Israel!)
“Spotlight On” is an area where we highlight one of our own. Members are encouraged to share a personal story or an adventure. To see past Spotlight articles, visit our website.
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