About Artist Ednah Sarah Schwartz

I was born in New York City in 1945. In 1957, I moved to Israel with my parents and brother. In 1970, I married and went to live in Kibbutz Kfar Blum—which is in the Hula Valley in the northern part of Israel. The general area is called the Upper Galilee and is one of the country’s most beautiful and pastoral regions. It features magnificent Israeli landscapes set against the backdrop of the captivating Golan Heights.

My foundational training began at the WIZO France High School for the Arts in Tel Aviv, Israel. I then returned to New York City, where I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from the Parsons School of Design. Deepening my connection between art and the human psyche, I also studied and received my professional certificate in Art Therapy from the New School for Social Research in NYC. I hold an additional degree and license as a Certified Senior Teacher in Remedial and Special Education, alongside certificates in the “Lam System” and “Therapeutic Puppet Theater.”

To continuously expand my craft, I attended extra-mural courses, intensive workshops, and received individual instruction with established artists across both the United States and Israel. This dual perspective heavily informs my technical approaches to color and composition.

Professionally, I spent decades working as an Art and Special Education teacher, instructing students from second-grade elementary through 11th-grade high school classrooms. Additionally, I had the profoundly moving opportunity to teach illiterate senior citizen immigrants during their resettlement periods.

Beyond academia, I have held a diverse range of responsibilities deeply connected to kibbutz life and community development. I served as a Graphic Designer and Instructor for the Ministry of Agriculture. I also managed the Guest House Kitchen in Kfar Blum—a position that entailed planning nutritional menus, fine culinary cooking, and overseeing all corporate aspects of large-scale food preparation.

Furthermore, I was put in charge of the children’s clothing department in Kfar Blum. In this capacity, I led a structural overhaul that shifted the clothing system from centralization to privatization, directly empowering parents to choose and determine what their children would wear. This role included purchasing raw fabrics, custom pattern designing, and overseeing all steps of apparel manufacturing for children from newborns to 18-year-olds. An especially rewarding yet technically difficult task was designing custom-tailored adaptive clothing for special needs children. Throughout these active working years, I continuously pursued and prioritized my own calling as an artist.