Aarele Ben Arieh

Aarele Ben Arieh was born in 1955 in Haifa

Ben Arieh was born in Haifa in 1955 and grew up in Kiryat Gat. As a boy he spent his free time in his father's workshop for farm machinery, where he learned metalwork.

After his army service he joined friends at Kibbutz Kerem Shalom. There he set up a sculpture studio and a workshop for improving farm machinery.

In the early 1980s he worked as an apprentice to potters and carpenters in the Gaza Strip. He drew ideas from Palestinian material culture and the desert dunes. He also studied with sculptor Moshe Shek and painter Rafi Mintz.

His work includes sculpture playgrounds, shade structures and public seating made from natural materials. He first makes small models and then builds them at large scale. He calls himself a "place doctor."

His public works stand in Ashkelon, Holon, Kiryat Ata, Ganei Tikva and Berlin, among other places. He lives and works in Moshav Tzafririm in the Ella Valley.