I found this proof press hidden in the corner of a shop in Jaffa flea market. I was fortunate enough to be in the company of
two Goju Ryu blackbelts (Dan 7 and Dan 5), who kindly transported it to the car. We have devised an
adjustable chase and magnetic gripper system for this press. I used it to print the artwork for my chapbook, Bad News.
Bad News: A Poem by Sharon Kessler (and a new book, by that name). Accordian binding. Illustrations by Noga Farchi printed from
photopolymer plates, with silkscreened cover art by Nahum Farchi.
My new project, The Jewish Fishermen of Salonika, has been launched. The original Hebrew essay, published in 1961 by Baruch Uziel, describes
the lives and work of Jews who worked for generations in the maritime trades until the destruction of the Jewish community of
Salonika (Thessalonika) during the Second World War.
The writer, a lawyer and Knesset member, was my husband's maternal grandfather, and we found his essay on this little-known chapter of
Jewish history among my mother-in-law's papers after her death. Virtually no information on this subject is available in English, and
the information in Hebrew appears in obscure sources. The essay, in my translation, will be published (if I can ever get my type out of customs, where
it is being held prisoner) as a hand-set
chapbook in an edition of 100 and will also appear in a special section of my Web site devoted to this project. This project
was made possible by the generous support of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.
Another beautiful fisherman's fly by Steve Kessler. It's called a tarpon shrimp.
Hook: Gamakatsu SL12S
Wing: Ginger Saddle Hackle
Collar: Ginger Saddle Hackle
Antennae: Black Krystal Flash
Eyes: Burnt Monofilament
Body: Deer Hair, spun
December 2010
My poem Stray Clothes appeared in
Earth's Daughters.
My son, Nahum Farchi, whose artwork you see on this site, won the judge's prize for local artists in a contest run by
our local newspaper, Hagefen, for his painting, Field #1. The winning paintings are on
exhibit through the end of January in the
Gallerina art gallery/cafe in the village of Bat Shlomo.
Nahum also has a permanent
online gallery of his work.
Summer 2010
Over the summer I studied silkscreening with the inimitable Shoshana Shpinner, proprietor of
Oscar Haifa Art Printers.
Here you can see me working on
Blue Heron.
May 2010
My new chapbook, 3 New Mexico Poems, has been printed in an edition of 50.
November/December 2009
My brother Steve, proprietor of our NYC premises, ties his own fishing flies. This one is called a humpy.
My dear friend, the writer Patricia Klindienst, author of the beautiful book
The Earth Knows My Name, accompanies me
to the
Poet's House at their new location in lower Manhattan, where we donated 2 copies of "Trees" to the library.
Under the guidance of Mindy Belloff, wonderful artist and teacher, I printed the covers for my next book,
3 New Mexico Poems, on a Vandercook UniIII at
Studio on the Square in New York City.
My friend Debbie Gersh, a fantastically talented
interior designer and artist, has used our paper in some of her collages. See them, and more of Debbie's work, in her
online gallery.