Art and designציונה שמשי

Siona Shimshi

Siona Shimshi was an Israeli painter, sculptor, ceramist and textile designer, known for public art works and a co-founder of the 10+ Group.

1939 to 2018Public sculpture and ceramic artCo-founding the 10+ GroupTextile designCurating art exhibitions

Died: 16 October 2018, Tel Aviv
Occupation: painter, textile designer, ceramicist, sculptor
Education: Alfred University, Avni Institute of Art and Design

Siona Shimshi was born in 1939 in Jaffa

Siona Shimshi was born in Tel Aviv in 1939 to Haya Rivka and Avraham Shimshi, who came from Lithuania. As a child she studied drawing with Eliyahu Sigad. She married filmmaker Jachin Hirsch in 1961.

From 1956 to 1959 she studied at the Avni Institute with Moshe Mokady, Avigdor Stematsky and Yehezkel Streichman. She then lived in New York, where she studied ceramics and designed fabrics and synagogue curtains.

She returned to Israel in 1963 and designed textiles for Maskit and other firms. In 1965 she co-founded the 10+ Group. She created many public works, including a sculpture for Israel's 50th anniversary in Holon and a portrait of Natan Alterman on Tel Aviv City Hall.

She headed the Ceramic Design Department at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design starting in 1979. She designed sets for Habima Theater and curated exhibitions, including one on Dora Gad at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. In 2012 she curated an internet biennale of Israeli art.

Shimshi died in Tel Aviv on October 16, 2018. She was buried at Yarkon Cemetery.