Nurit Shany

Nurit Shany (née: Birstein, Hebrew: נורית שני; born 22 February 1956), is a painter and a multidisciplinary Israeli artist.

Nurit Shany, is an Israeli artist, born 22 February 1956 in Kibbutz Gvat, in the Jezreel Valley, To the author Yossel Birstein and his wife Margaret. When she was five years old, she moved with her parents and sister to Kiryat Tivon, a small town in the Galilee, where she attended the Rimonim Elementary School (1961–1969) and the Haim Greenberg High School (1970–1974). When she turned 18, she was drafted to the Israeli Defense Forces, where she served as a soldier-teacher in the Sde Boker Field School, managed by the sculptor Ezra Orion and Shalom Oren. At the age of 24, she married Ehud Shany and had two daughters.

Shany studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem for a BFA degree (1976–1980); in the Jewish Philosophy Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1981; Art therapy at David Yellin Seminary (1981–1984); In addition, she practiced guided imagery with Collet Abulker Muscat and Kathryn de CeGonzak (1986–1996), and practiced theatre with the director Nava Zuckerman in Tmuna Theatre (1988–1991).

Along the same line of her occupation with the visual arts, and as a genuine part of it, Shany established, in 1994 a theatre for children's stories called "Sipuran". This theatre was active until 2004, and mostly showed plays based on stories and songs from the Yiddish heritage and the Eastern European heritage. The performances were commissioned and funded by Beit Shmuel and the Youth Division of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. She also appeared as an actress-storyteller for adult shows with her father the writer and storyteller, Yosl Birstien, across the country on behalf of Omanut La'Am organization. At these shows she drew on stage and paintings were bought by the audience throughout Israel.

Between 1997 and 2010 Shany lived in Tzur Hadassah and created a series of oil paintings titled 'People in the public domain'. In 2004, encouraged by the painter Yosl Bergner, she opened a private studio, in which she created the series of paintings 'Shop windows'. This entire series was purchased by JCS Television Studios in Jerusalem. Inspired by the events of the Intifada, she created the 'Intifada' series that was presented in 2002 at the Israeli Gallery in New York City. The 'Israeli Summer' series, which includes paintings of the Judean Mountains and the Galilee landscapes and enlargements of pinecones, wildflowers and almonds in bloom was exhibited in Tel Aviv in 2010, curated by Nurit Tal-Tenne.

In 1997, Shany initiated a community art project called "Connecting through Art". This project used artwork produced by teens from New York City and Jerusalem to decorate public buildings such as the East Talpiot Community Center, the Kiryat HaYovel Community Center, the Youth Division of the Jerusalem Municipality, the Keshet School, the Alin Hospital, the memorial site in the Katamon, etc. It was funded by the Jewish Agency and the "Partnership 2000" – New York Jerusalem Foundation.

In 2010, Shany moved to Tel Aviv and set up an independent studio where she created a series of oil painting landscapes of 'Tel Aviv seashores'. Her art was bought and auctioned by the Montefiore Gallery to art collectors Paintings from this series are in collections such as the Azrieli Collection, Schatz Collection, Shlush collection etc. Over the years, she presents in various exhibitions, in Israel, New York City and Habsburg, and her paintings are sold to Israeli collectors on behalf of galleries and auction houses. Recently, she has been creating a new series of paintings called "Paradigm Shift". It generates images of famous worldwide cities in which terror events took place, and can be observed from two points of view, standing straight or upside down. Thus, Shany encourages thought about the humanity, which exists both in a physical and a mental space, composed of multiple realities.