Yitschak Ben Yehuda Resume
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This distinguished artist, poet and thinker, rich in travel and experience, was born in Cairo, Egypt of a Greek father and a Jewish mother of Syrian origin.  He was educated in Switzerland and England, where he married his Australian wife Rivka.  Together they back-packed extensively for seven years, with frequent soul-searching stops in India, eventually settling in New Zealand.

On a first visit to Israel in 1976 on the eve of the Passover Festival (20 years after his own exodus from Egypt), Yitschak discovered that he was a Jew, not a Greek Orthodox by the name of Ion Valsamides.   Ever since, Yitschak, Rivka and their seven children have been living in Israel in the small, peaceful village of Me'or Modi'im, a religious community, nestled in the Judean Forest and, ironically, the historic site of the Maccabean revolt against Greek culture.

Murals
Studied under the tutelage of Kirilius Veniades of Athens
1967 Private home Glyfada Athens, Greece
1970-72 in restaurants, discotheques, houses, flats, and children's nurseries; backdrops for leading fashion shops. 6' x 6' painting for Canadian Oil Company Board Room. London London, Paris, Athens
1972 Large mural, private home of Mr. and Mrs. Steiner Whale Beach House, Australia
1985-91 Murals. Mevo Modi'im synagogue Israel
Design
1972-73 Television set designer for Australian ABC TV
1973-77 Designer of "Love is..." children's posters Sales in Europe, Italy, Greece, Australia and New Zealand
1977-87 Art director and designer for all Morning Star health food products, Moshav Mevo Modi'im Israel
Exhibitions
1990-93 Exhibition at the Krief Gallery (along with Chagall, Y. Again, M. Castel, A. Ebgi, Tarkay, and others) Jerusalem
1993 Exhibition, Galeria a Hebraica; acclaimed as the 'principal exponent of New Age Hebraic art" Sdo Paulo, Brazil
1994 Exhibition, Artexpo New York
1994 One man show at A Hebraica Sdo Paulo
Education
1956-59 Switzerland
1959 Paris
1959-63 Yateley Manor (pre-preparatory school, near Surrey) England
1963-68 Allhallows (independent public school, Dorset, founded 1524) England
1968-69 College of Commerce (Bristol); Higher national diploma in marketing and advertising England
1969-71 London College of Printing; in graphic arts England
Married: March 1970, London

Children: seven

Languages: French, English, Hebrew

"One of today's most versatile artists"

'Fascinating mosaic of styles"

Arts International

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