Bible inspires Israeli collection of earrings, necklaces

Israeli-born artist Fanny Fish had been looking for new direction when she suddenly thought of the Bible. After years of designing belts, belt buckles and clothes for children and dolls, Fish now designs fine jewelry inspired by biblical stories.

"The Tanakh [Hebrew Bible] represents the roots of Judaism," she said. "I am Jewish and as an artist, I can relate to its stories. It's not that I feel any more religious; it's that I feel there's a certain flow from the history of the Jewish people and the traditions that inspire me."

Fish designs earrings, necklaces and bracelets in 14- and 18-karat gold, sterling silver, and precious and semi-precious stones including diamonds, pearls, opals, emeralds, garnets and sapphires. She frequently crafts pieces that mix yellow gold with sterling silver.

She sells to jewelry stores across the country and will be one of more than dozen artists and crafts people featured at the "Israel in the Gardens" festival on Sunday afternoon in Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco.

"I always felt very close to the stories of the Bible when I read it and saw illustrations of the stories," Fish said about her work. "This is where I found myself."

She models a gold and silver necklace, embedded with various gems, after King David's crown. "The necklace is made out of seven parts inspired by the seven days of creation," she noted.

The First Temple, the holy ark and the high priest inspired her collection of gold and silver earrings. In the Bible, the high priest wore a chest plate that contained 12 stones and symbols for each of the 12 Jewish tribes. According to traditional commentaries on the Bible, the stones lit up to convey messages from God to the high priest.

In her earrings, Fish used an assortment of geometric designs that appeared on the chest plate -- circles for the sun, frames within frames, squares.

Every two months Fish designs a new piece of jewelry and sends a wax model to her studio in Boston, where the pieces are made by another Israeli artist, Moty Grosman.

Fish, her husband, Doug, and their two daughters, Opal, 7, and Lenore, 8, lived in Boston until November when they packed up and moved to Walnut Creek. Fish frequently travels to her Boston studio to work on the jewelry.

She moved to Boston in 1996 from Tel Aviv, where she met her American-born husband.

Fish began making leather belts and belt buckles 15 years ago. She sold them to stores in Tel Aviv. Then she made children's clothes and attended Shankar Fashion School near Tel Aviv, where she learned to make baby clothes and doll clothing. She taught herself how to make jewelry, later taking a few classes.

"When I have told customers the stories behind my jewelry, they've been very excited," she said. "I wish I could tell these stories to all my customers."

Other exhibits include Norma Nation's Firm Impressions, Beverly Eigner's textiles, Ahuva Maoz's stained glass, Fran Barrish's watercolors, Lila Wahrhaftig's paintings, Lindy Passer's Art to Remember and Eva Strauss-Rosen's Hamsa Design studio.