Tova Balman

Tova Balman is a painter, lecturer in design, drawing and illustration and a former animator. She created in collaboration with her husband, Alex Balman, short films that won prizes and represented Israel in animation film festivals around the world.
She studied graphic design in the Bezalel Academy from 1970 to 1974. After graduating, she created Little Grey Man - a classical animation 8 minutes long. The film participated in animation film festivals around the globe, from Ottawa in Canada to Adelaide in Australia. In Israel it won first prize for animation at The Israeli Short Movie Contest. She also designed and illustrated Mitzi, a film about The Holocaust, directed and photographed by Alex Balman. The film won first prize for animation at The Israeli Short Movie Contest.

During the following years she created many short films on road safety (among them the series “Bopi - the kid from the stars”) using various animation techniques such as modeling clay. She also illustrated children’s books.
While teaching drawing, design and illustration at Hadassah College, Ort College, and other educational institutions, she presented her paintings in solo exhibitions in Jerusalem and other locations. Her paintings are in private collections in Israel, the United States, and other countries.
Balman focuses on the Israeli landscape, sometimes from an unusual point of view such as Roadscapes 2003 - roads and cars as part of our landscape ; Palm-Mania 2005 - a close look at a palm-tree next to her window ; Watermarks 2007 - figures caught on the Tel-Aviv seaside promenade; and many esoteric water locations across Israel.
Balman lives with her family near Jerusalem.
From her “Credo” as a painter
“I believe that dealing with the landscape of today while ignoring roads and cars, perspective, people in motion - is absurd, artificial and unconvincing. For me, the integration of these subjects is what creates the amazing beauty of the reality that surrounds us.”
Balman paints using mainly acrylics on canvas and wood panels; she also works with water-colors and various printing techniques.
Favorite painters: Edward Hopper, John Singer Sargent, Maurice Utrillo, Camille Pissarro.
Exhibitions
*"Written on Stone" solo exhibition, "Binyane ha-umah", Jerusalem, 1999
*"Landscape Icons" solo exhibition, The Jerusalem Theater, 2000
*"Earth and sky" solo exhibition, YMCA International, Jerusalem, 2001
*"Roadscapes" solo exhibition, Jerusalem Artists House, Jerusalem, 2003
*"Spring salon" group exhibition, "Ein-Hod gallery", Ein-Hod, 2003
*"Like a river" solo exhibition, The Jerusalem Theater, 2003
*"New Members" group exhibition at Jerusalem Artists House, Jerusalem, 2003
*"My Jerusalem" group exhibition at The "Beit Hatanach" museum,2004
*"Chairs" group exhibition, "Ein-Hod gallery", Ein-Hod, 2004
*"Palm-mania" solo exhibition, The Jerusalem Theater, 2005
*"Judaica" group exhibition at The "Beit Hatanach" museum, 2005
*"Watermarks" solo exhibition, The Jerusalem Theater, 2007
*“Eyes on Jerusalem", group exhibition, Mamilla, Jerusalem, 2008
*"Branches of Palm Trees", The Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem, 2008
*"Flower" group exhibition at the "Heyhal Hatarbut", Rishon-LeZion, 2011

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