Goraly, Hemi, architect. Sun, stand still upon Gibeon: The new Gibeon-The solar Plexus. Desighn& Architecture quarterlt periodical. 8/99, p.39
Connection. Sculpturing work connects us to the very sources of existence - nature, the surrounding materials, the landscape, wildlife, tradition, archeology, and above all, our own feeling.
Tradition. "Sun, stand still upon Gibeon" is the womb of a reclined doe, and the round pool with paving rays outgoing from it. “The pool that was in Gibeon” is the pool, in the plaza. Asael, reputed to have a foot as light as one of the deers, in the field where he has been killed, near the Gibeon pool. The leading deer carries on its strong back the symbolism of the sword of war. And finally the image of the deer and the fawn in the Song of Songs.
Archeology. The round pool evokes the pool of Gibeon which has been discovered and unearthed, and it is an exact circle. The channel in the cave wall reminds similar channels in the Kings Tombs and in ancient water works.
Surrounding materials. The project is built with various kinds of stones from the area and, in the cave, several forms of natural rock were used.
Water. It flows and comes back on and on, the channel in the cave, the pool, the waterfall, the deer longing for water.
Landscape. Everything reflects into and from the landscape. A close glance upon the sculpture and the gardening comes together with long looks up onto the landscape.
Vegetation. It is an inseparable part of the design, it jumps up everywhere from between rocks or it spreads over the ground; to every spot its appropriate plants.
Wildlife. As Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés expressed it in “Women Who Run with the Wolves”1: “Deers are considered like animals that are well adapted to the deep natural cycles". ..Their extinction "threatens the delicate balance in nature" They represent " farseeing, sensing distances, fast moving, body strength, the force of giving the alarm to its species.” The gimmick of having the animal standing bluntly at the entrance was waived, and interest has been aroused by its gradual discovery.
Environmental Art. The sculptor Or-nah Ran knows how to create environmental sculptures with the full meaning of this concept. First of everything, she creates a space flowing from intimacy to opening, from framing to bursting out. Then she shapes an envelope to the space out of a fine and rich skin made of the surrounding materials and images. She brings nature back inside, after it had been chased out by the development, but the art structure is her creation, and not a mere imitation of nature; it is a well thought out harmony. Finally, the deer figures complete the definition of that space and they generate a tension and an achievement of numberless positions and feelings: rest and move, up and down, outward and inward, strength and weakness, fulfillment and pain, trust and longing. Her clever use of textures uses their associative dimension to create again another interest; and as a result, you can look on and on and your eye has yet not seen enough of it, your heart is still curious for more of it.
Part of an article by Goraly Hemi.
1. Dr. Estés, P. C. Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, New York : Ballantine Books, 2003