Ora Basteker

Ora Basteker
Born in 1957, Yazd, Iran, Raised in Jerusalem
Lives and works in Jerusalem

Education:
Atelier David Rakia, Faiga Zonszain
Private studies, ceramic and wood sculpture, Tamar Eitan
Kalisher College of Art, Tel Aviv, Studies with Arieh Margushilsky

Artist Statement
From a very young age, I had a passion for painting. I would paint and draw on every object that I could. In the early days of the State of Israel, paper and wood were luxuries. These were not always available to a young girl who strived to paint. When these were not available, I would settle for whatever was: bones leftover from the Shabbos cholent, the walls of out home and even the walls of family and friends. In school, from grade school through high school, I was responsible to decorate the walls and used the opportunity to paint the windows.

To help support myself, through high school, I began to clean the studio of David Rakia and Faiga Zonszain. This gave me an opportunity to frequent the studio which had a great influence on my development.

I enrolled in the well know Kalisher College of Art, directed by Arieh Margushilksy. During my years in Kalisher, I had contact with many of the well known artists of the period, including Avigdor Stematsky, Joseph Zaritsky, Arie Aroch to name a few. Yet the artist who has influenced me the most was the protégé of Margushilsky, my teacher of the technology of painting, my future husband Binyamin Basteker. Together we live in Jerusalem and have raised a Torah Observant family.