Stern Creates in Multiple Directions

After a career in dance and study in Israel, Aviva Stern is the culmination of versatility.

By Marcia Caller Jaffe January 19, 2024, 12:24 pm Edit

After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.

Aviva Stern’s decades of artistry expands, engages, and evolves as mixed media paintings, sculpture, and collage. Stern began her career in modern dance and graduated from The High School of Performing Arts in New York City. She then received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance from New York University.

After many years of performing in the New York area, she began studying ceramics to follow with an apprenticeship in New York and several years at the Bezalel Art Academy in Israel. She said, “I danced from an early age, finding self-expression through movement. Movement has been the primary motivator in my life as an artist. Motion has highlighted all of my various artistic endeavors. I consider myself to be both a dancer and an artist.”

Aviva Stern stands in front of one of her works, “Pink Cloud/Blue Sea.”

Inspired by the variety of desert landscapes and their Earth tones while living in Israel, Stern embarked on an exploration of ceramic surfaces. Although her ceramics are contemporary, her surfaces have an ancient, dry, rock-like quality and a visual reference to archaeology. While her many years as a dancer have influenced her work, her pieces are often designed in multiples, alluding to groups of dancers inhabiting the space.

In addition to ceramic sculpture, Stern has expanded to include painting and mixed-media sculpture. She stated, “I rarely stay with one form for very long. Rather, I shift back and forth, investigating a variety of designs and media. Each new piece builds upon the preceding work; earlier ideas reappear as fresh designs, emerge in untried materials, and acquire a new identity.”

Stern’s alma mater, the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem, was established in 1906 and is touted as Israel’s preeminent academic institution for art, design, and architecture with courses in screen-based arts, jewelry fashion, landscaping, photography, visual and material culture, in addition to the fine arts.

“Clouds and Sea” is a 36 x 36” acrylic on canvas.

In terms of incorporating Judaic messages and themes in her work, Stern noted, “My Judaic background has mainly influenced my sculpture. I have created multiple Judaic-themed religious objects to include menorahs and mezuzahs. I really enjoy making Judaica – specifically out of ceramics and other materials, and of all styles. I like a variety of materials such as ceramics, wood, and paper and take great inspiration from the desert Earth tones and hues.”

She continued, “When I lived in Israel for six years, I was greatly influenced by Israeli artists. Italy was also a major influence for me, in my painting and sculpture. Traveling through Italy was so inspiring and gave me many ideas for my own work. Overall, my artistic inspiration has been enhanced by the many countries to which I have traveled. I visited museums worldwide to broaden my perspective.”

“Never Would I Have Dreamed” has eight figures standing around a book.

Stern considers living and studying in Israel as “very interesting yet challenging.” She was not fluent in Hebrew upon arriving there, but after six years, she became proficient in the language. Stern ultimately returned to the U.S. and began exhibiting in galleries around the country.

Stern previously worked at The Epstein School and the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta. She creates out of her home in a “well-equipped studio” where she spends several hours daily developing new projects and managing multiple pieces concurrently.