Elsy Menko – Artist style #3
At the museum – Kibbutz HaZore’a
Rather than using Michael Kovner’s style as my inspiration, for this quilt I chose two different subjects used by him to be the inspiration. A very recent series of his is called “museum visit” and includes paintings from people visiting the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Another important series is called “kibbutz courtyards” made during the years 2012-2017. Eight kibbutzim served as his inspiration for the hundreds of works, drawings, gouaches, watercolors, woodcuts and oil paintings, a very impressive body of work exhibited locally in 2019.
The quilt shows two bronze sculptures representing Don Quichote and his helper Sancha Panza by Israeli sculptor Dan Zaretsky (1938- ) located in front of the Wilfrid Israel Museum at Kibbutz HaZore’a. The name of the kibbutz founded in 1936 translates to “the sower”, chosen to symbolize the members’ connection to the land.
Cotton fabrics, fusing, machine quilting and some hand stitching
Original picture:
FIFTEEN BY FIFTEEN 
Love it how you play with Kovner ideas looking at the subjects of his interests from the textile perspective, great job!
I love the theme you chose and the excellent job you made.
what a lovely scene ! the bronze silhouettes are so funny !
Great harmony of colours; it is interesting how you have migrated from ‘style’ to ‘subject’. Lovely work.
I am so in love with this little quilt. Beautiful montage of the background and foreground, colours, stitching, everything. Bravo!
Those sculptures look alive to me! I love the mood of your piece, and everything just looks perfect to me.
I like the way you created your background with strips. Nice sculptures!
Wonderful interpretation and so enjoyable to look at.
you have done a great job of interpreting the artwork, especially the stylized horse sculptures. Good work!
An interesting, peaceful picture. I like the details in the background and I love the donkeys’ (or horses’) faces – they are so comical.
I love how you made the transition from style to subject. The landscape and the colors remind me a lot of ‘our” island and I fell in love with the beautiful sculptures. Great work.
I love the expression on the faces of the donkeys! Well done too for devleoping your ideas and using an artist subject for this design. This piece is beautifully worked
What an interesting shift from Kovner’s style to his subjects, well done! I love all the texture and details especially the whimsical donkey silhouettes which made me smile.