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Hadassa Goldvicht

Biography

Hadassa Goldvicht, 23, composed poetry by the age of four. Born into a family of artists, she also learned to play the piano and guitar, won a national writing contest at the age of eleven in her native Israel, and studied painting, sculpture, and literature in an elite high school. Meanwhile, she used her artistic skills to help autistic children. Ms. Goldvicht attended the Rhode Island School of Design and achieved a 3.92 GPA while winning an award for excellence in printmaking. She will attend the University of Pennsylvania to seek a master of fine arts degree.

Even as a budding artist in high school, Hadassa began using her creative skills to help autistic children, collaborating to compose music and create fabric works. "Art not only formed a common interest between us, but was also a way of encouraging the children to express themselves," she recalls. "Instead of immediate results, I learned to appreciate and enjoy the small changes that accrued as a result of slow, patient work."

Hadassa's own artistic development had been rapid and, in her early years, encouraged by her parents, she learned to play the piano and guitar as well as compose poetry. After finishing an elite high school, she decided to work with autistic children at the Feuerstein International Center for Disabled Children, which taught the ways that art could serve as a primary means of communication. Hadassa's work was interrupted, however, when she suffered serious injuries in an automobile accident. "For close to a year, I was unable to function in my daily life," she remembers. "The physical and emotional pain I experienced added depth to my vision as an artist."

But new opportunity would finally come. Accepted into Israel's leading art institution, the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Hadassa began combing her poetry and metal sculpture. She was then selected for an international exchange program, and spent a semester at the Rhode Island School of Design. She was thrilled when she was offered a chance to complete her degree at this world-class school. She compiled a 3.92 GPA and won an award for excellence in printmaking.

In pursuing her MFA at the University of Pennsylvania, Hadassa will now concentrate on interdisciplinary studies in studio art, such as the link between visual arts and writing. She believes strongly in the transforming nature of art and its potential for affecting people's lives. "Art, in its different forms, has the ability to carry philosophical and social ideas, and overcome barriers of culture and time .. Art can be used as a form of communication and healing."

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