The Artists of Ein Hod Part 1

Ein Hod is about 15 Kilometers south of Haifa in Israel. We were fortunate to stay with stained glass artist Bob Nechin and his wife Sue during our stay and had the added benefit of knowing Jake’s daughter Vik whose Master’s project was shown recently as part of a young artist’s exhibit. Vik’s husband Hagai works at the Ein Hod Cafe while also going to school to earn his Bachelor’s in Photography. It was a unique opportunity to understand firsthand the community from different perspectives.

Carol had arranged beforehand for Nick and I to take a class in stained glass making. The 5 hour class (Sue said Bob always runs way over) allowed a great deal of time to talk and get to know one another.

Bob and Sue have resided in Ein Hod for 30 years. Bob, American born went to West Point during the Vietnam era and graduated among the top students in his class. Presented with the opportunity to do anything he wanted in the military he chose a Masters program at Stanford. Opposed to the war he soon became part of the anti war movement in the San Francisco Bay Area. For Bob the Vietnam War was an intuitive and specific disagreement and unlike other protestors not an anti-war philosophy. He was introduced to stained glass making in Berkeley, found his passion and never looked back. Not long after that he moved to Israel. Bob’s work has appeared in museums and has created significant work for public, private and religious buildings in Israel and abroad.
A very patient teacher, Bob worked with Nick and me first explaining the history of stained glass and then showing us the basic cutting techniques and tools. I chose from an assortment of designs that Bob had created for his classes and Nick created his own. While I thoroughly enjoyed the methodical cutting and shaping of the glass, fitting as precisely as possible the glass into position, grinding the edges smooth and lining them with copper tape, Nick later said this was not his kind of art finding it was a lot of work for the desired result.

I explained to Bob that I had been in charge of building a Synagogue and that part of this was managing the process of creating the artwork for the Aron Hagadash (Ark) and Ner Tamid (Eternal Light). We talked about the process of creating art for clients some who know exactly what they want, others who turn over total control to Bob and still others that work by committee. Bob has worked in all different methods and often acts as the Project Manager coordinating all the aspects of the art with the architectural elements. Since he had not done a Kaballah Tree of Life he was very interesting in the original design and final product for Beth Chaim Congregation. I explained that my wife Rebecca had designed the art originally as Torah Covers and that the design was executed by local California artists Michelle and David Plachte-Zuibeck. He felt the design was very suitable to stained glass and despite some of the challenges of making it all come together was also very impressed with the final product.

Bob is familiar with the politics of making things happen in a public forum. As Village leader in Ein Hod for a number of years Bob explained an interesting story about the Ayn Hawd Arabic village 1 kilometer up the road. (It should be noted if anyone is counting that Nick and I accidentally visited Ayn Hawd when among my now many driving misadventures I missed a turn.) Ein Hod prior to 1948 used to be an Arab village. Displaced from the original village resentment has been fueled by a lack of basic water, sewer and power services to the new Arab village up until 10 years ago. Ein Hod is among a number of similar villages used as an example for what has not worked very well in Israeli/Arab relations. Working with a local artist Evana Ratner in trying to mend relations, Bob helped initiate conversation with his Arab counterpart to smooth the way for Evana’s program of working with children in each village creating films about each other’s grandparents. This program and other similar efforts in Ein Hod has drawn some attention from the Guggenheim family and last year prompted a visit from Stanley Guggenheim who recognized Ein Hod and its significant contribution to the Dada art movement and efforts in Arab Israeli relations. The challenge is always present to bridge the human relation gap when so much animosity exists. Fear, anger and a terrible mistrust resides on both sides. Bob said that buses arrive all the time amid the frequent tourist trade in Ein Hod. But on occasion a bus arrives with an Arab delegation who tours the artist village taking photographs and notes and demanding the return of the village to the displaced Arab village up the road. The artist village of Ein Hod is generally made up of fairly open minded and liberal thinking people but to them the village belongs to the artists who live here now for more than 50 years. The hope is that perhaps as time passes and the older generation moves on the younger generation can find a way to open meaningful dialogue.