Dafna Kaffeman


Dafna Kaffeman is an Israeli artist and senior lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. She works with glass, embroidery, print, and drawing to create intricate artworks that juxtapose aesthetically refined surfaces with politically and socially charged texts. Her work often explores themes related to identity, memory, sacrifice, and the socio-political landscape of Israel. She lives and works in Israel.

Biography

Kaffeman graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 1999 and earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Sandberg Institute, also in Amsterdam, in 2001. She has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions across Europe and North America, and has received several national and international awards.
She has held solo exhibitions at notable institutions including the Chrysler Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design, David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University, American University Museum in Washington, D.C., and lorch + seidel contemporary in Berlin. In 2019, she was awarded the Andree Matter Award for a woman artist by the MADREEMA Foundation. She received the Design Prize from the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport in 2016 and the Prize for the Advancement of the Arts in 2011.
Kaffeman's works are held in public and private collections worldwide, including the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, and the Museum of Modern Glass at Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg in Germany.
From 2005 to 2011, she served as head of the glass department at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, where she remains a senior lecturer. She has also taught at institutions such as Tokyo University of the Arts, Ball State University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Koblenz University, and the Corning Museum of Glass. She has delivered lectures at the Natural History Museum in Tel Aviv, the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, and the Royal College of Art.

Working methods

Described as "a poetess in glass," Kaffeman employs layered techniques combining flame-worked glass, embroidery, drawing, and text to explore social and political dynamics in Israel. Her botanical and zoological motifs—such as native plants and insects—serve as metaphors for cultural memory, identity, and conflict.
Since 2002, her work has increasingly addressed political and social issues through dual visual and textual narratives. As Davira S. Taragin notes in the exhibition catalogue *Without Camouflage*, Kaffeman’s art "presents the disparity between beautiful crafted surfaces and disturbing text about aggressors and victims." Her series often incorporate embroidered handkerchiefs or felt onto which she attaches flame-worked glass flora and fauna, creating intimate micro-environments that reflect broader societal tensions.
In recent years, drawing has become an integral part of her creative process and exhibition practice. The integration of embroidery allows her to collaborate with diverse communities, embedding collective narratives into her pieces. According to the 2011 Israeli Ministry of Culture prize catalogue, her work "blends local values in meticulously crafted glass and embroidery work" while using a botanical lexicon tied to commemoration, sacrifice, and mourning.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

anywhere, nowhere, elsewhere, Inga Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel, September–October 2024the fire age, Traver Gallery, Seattle, USA, July 2024Aerial Roots, Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Israel, Curator Irena Gordon, August–December 2021if you thirst for a homeland, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia; Roe Green Gallery at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, April–June 2021cotton plant, lorch+seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, September–November 2017Without Camouflage, Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, CA, USA, Curator Davira S. Taragin, September 26, 2015 – March 20, 2016Without Camouflage, David Owsley Museum of Art, Muncie, Indiana, USA, Curator Davira S. Taragin, April–August 2014Red Everlasting, Eretz Israel Museum, Ramat Aviv, Israel, Curator Henrietta Eliezer Brunner, 2013Invasive Plants, Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany, Curator Prof. Jens Gussek, 2013Invasive Plants, lorch+seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2013What Could Be Better Than Going to Paradise?, American University Museum, Washington, D.C., USA, Curator Jack Rasmussen, 2011Mantis Religiosa, lorch+seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2010Red Everlasting, Utsira Lighthouse, Stavanger, Norway, 2008Persian Cyclamen, lorch+seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2006I Was Trained Hunting Wolves, Heller Gallery, New York, USA, 2004
  • Special exhibit, Eretz Israel Museum, Ramat Aviv, Israel, Curator Henrietta Eliezer Brunner, 2002

Selected group exhibitions

  • Toyama Museum of Art Glass, Japan, 2024
  • The Geological Museum, Ramat Hasharon, Israel, Curators Rachel Saspporta and Ronit Zor, 2023–2024
  • Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel, Curator Henrietta Eliezer Brunner, 2023–2024
  • Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel, Curator Talia Amar, 2022–2023
  • Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel, Curators Henrietta Eliezer Brunner and Yuval Saar, 2019–2021
  • Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, USA, Curator Susie J. Silbert, 2019–2020
  • Israel Museum Ticho House, Jerusalem, Israel, Curator Tami Manor-Freidman, 2019
  • Jerusalem Print Workshop, Jerusalem, Israel, Curator Irena Gordon, 2019
  • Stephen D. Paine Galleries, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, USA, Curator Lisa Tung, 2017
  • Glasmuseum Alter Hof Herding, Ernsting Stiftung, Coesfeld-Lette, Germany, Curators Lilly Ernsting and Dr. Ulrike Hoppe-Oehl, 2017
  • Two Artists Show, lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2016
  • lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2015
  • Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, Munich, Germany, Curator Prof. Dr. Florian Hufnagl, 2013
  • Culture Ministry Prizes 2011, Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Israel, Curator Naomi Aviv, 2012
  • lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2012
  • The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada, Curator Diane Charbonneau, 2010
  • Glas-Museum Alter Hof Herding, Ernsting Stiftung, Germany, Curator Dr. Ulrike Hoppe-Oehl, 2010
  • lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2010
  • Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Netherlands, Curators Caroline Prisse and Titus M. Eliansse, 2009
  • Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, USA, 2009
  • lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2009–2010
  • lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2008
  • Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA, Curator David McFadden, 2007
  • Eretz Israel Museum, Ramat Aviv, Israel, Curator Henrietta Eliezer Brunner, 2007
  • lorch + seidel contemporary, Berlin, Germany, 2006–2007
  • Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin, USA, 2005
  • Museum Jan van der Togt, Amstelveen, Netherlands, 2002

Works in collections

Prizes

  • 2019: Andree Matter Award for a Woman Artist, MADREEMA Foundation
  • 2016: Prize for Creation in the Field of Design, Ministry of Culture and Sport, Israel
  • 2011: Prize for the Advancement of the Arts, Ministry of Culture and Sport, Israel
  • 2007: Finalist, Bombay Sapphire Prize, UK
  • 2005–2006: Award, Hilbert Sosin Fund, Florida Glass Art Alliance
  • 2004: Honoree Diploma, Jutta-Cuny-Franz Memorial Award, Jutta-Cuny-Franz Foundation, Germany
  • 2002: Nomination, Bernadine de Neeveprijs, the Netherlands