Once in a while, I encounter an artist whose work really touches me. Orly Avineri is such an artist.

When I stumbled upon Orly, her work immediately struck me. It radiated all soulfulness, depth, and a raw, unpolished beauty. In this blog post, I’ll tell you a bit more about what I love so much about her work.

Orly Avineri was born in Israel and now lives in Oregon. A fun coincidence is that she studied graphic design in Utrecht, the beautiful medieval city in the Netherlands where I’ve lived myself for the last 33 years;-)!

For making her art, Orly uses mixed-media, visual-journaling, book making, storytelling, and ritual building.

To get an impression of her work, take a look below:

This is what she writes about herself – as a non-native speaker, I can’t describe it as beautiful as herself:

I am passionate about the process of marrying multiple media to inspire freedom of expression, honesty of emotion, and a deep belief in the possibility, the power, and the beauty of change. I truly believe that the need to be witnessed by the self and by others is a core human need to be fulfilled by the act of creating. Therefore, a compelling part of my own journey and my absolute passion is the fostering of that in others. Art making practices cultivate insight into the nature of growth and the creative process as they relate to deep stories of loss and mend.

Enriched by self trust and acceptance, images, photos, paper, paint, words, pen, line, thread, and many unconventional tools and materials entwine to make expressive, complex, and personal creations. It’s all about one’s willingness to reveal vulnerability and rawness for the sake of true creative freedom, newness, and a deep sense of interconnectedness to all. Experiencing honest, open ended, and spirit lifting journeys takes precedence over producing beautiful outcomes. Ultimately, this, for me, is about living and depicting the fluidity of our lives, about effortlessly carrying ourselves from one place to another, and about connecting to a larger world than our own. I wish to bring it forth to you.

What I love about Orly Avineri’s work

The roughness

What I absolutely LOVE about Orly’s work is the roughness, the unpolishedness, the wildness of it. The materials that she uses are often worn and torn. Beautiful!

The colors

Orly uses a lot of muted, natural colors, greys, beiges, and browns, mixed with brighter colors. I love this combination.

The sense of history

Orly Avineri uses a lot of ‘found materials’ – they don’t come out of the store, they aren’t first hand, they already had a life of their own before they ended up in one of her mixed media paintings or visual journals.. Sometimes the history is very literal – for instance if she uses an old passport or old photos.

The soulful depth

Orly’s work breathes a raw nature-inspired spirituality. Her paintings are the result of an intensely lived life, and the courage to be genuinely human – vulnerable and strong at the same time.

The materials

When you browse through Orly’s work, you encounter a lot of materials. Of course paper and paint, but also fabric, threads, ribbons, feathers, old photo’s and probably a lot more if you could take a closer look. All these materials have their own character and nature – and they make a wonderful combination.

The ritual meaning

An important part of Orly Avineri’s work is teaching and making art as a form of ritual. She teaches workshops to create your own visual journals or to create art of old passports, for instance. Art can be a tremendous source of personal growth and healing, and that’s one of the reasons that Orly is such a driven artist – at least, that’s what I read between the lines.

Here you can find Orly’s Avineri’s website.

And here you can find some of the mini-films she made.

I hope you enjoy Orly’s work as much as I did!

Bye,

PS:

Do you want to read the first ‘my favorite artist’s’ blog post? It’s about Line Juhl Hansen, and you can find it here.