Ilana Halperin (born 1973) is an artist with an interest in the relationships between

geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...

phenomena and daily life. Her artwork is produced using a variety of media, writing, performance, printmaking, sculpture, drawing, and film. She lives and works in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Life and education

Born in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, NY (USA), Halperin attended the New York

High School of Performing Arts The High School of Performing Arts (informally known as "PA") was a public alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, from 1948 to 1984. In 1961, the school was m ...

(famously known as the setting for the 1980 film '' Fame)'', and trained as a stone carver. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1995, before moving to Scotland to study the Master of Fine Art course at the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

, from where she graduated in 2000.

Work

Themes

Halperin's work is predominantly focused around connections between geological time and human time. She conducts fieldwork with specialists worldwide, including mineralogists,

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

s, vulcanologists and

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, and creates her work by placing herself or others directly in geologically significant or active locations. This has led to collaborative works such as with the National Soils Archive in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, who supplied Halperin with a sample of four soils from a core sample taken at Slighthouses Farm, where

James Hutton James Hutton (; 3 June O.S.172614 June 1726 New Style. – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, agriculturalist, chemical manufacturer, naturalist and physician. Often referred to as the father of modern geology, he played a key role i ...

, the 18th Century Scottish geologist known as the "Father of Modern Geology", lived and farmed. The samples were used to create a series of prints with Peacock Visual Art's Master Printmaker. Halperin used Yame Washi, the oldest Japanese handmade paper (which can last a thousand years) and ink made from two kinds of hot spring minerals collected from the

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

Hells of Beppu The hot spring are a nationally designated " Place of Scenic Beauty" in the onsen town of Beppu, Ōita is a city in Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city had a population of 122,643 Eldfell, Helgafell and the fissure

To celebrate her 30th birthday, in 2003 Halpern travelled to the Island of

Heimaey Heimaey (), is an Icelandic island. At , it is the largest island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, and the largest and most populated island off the Icelandic coast. Heimaey is off the south coast of Iceland. It is the only populated isla ...

off the southern coast of Iceland, to commune with the

Eldfell Eldfell is a volcanic cone just over high on the Icelandic island of Heimaey. It formed in a volcanic eruption, which began without warning on the eastern side of Heimaey, in the Westman Islands, on 23 January 1973. The name means ''Hill of Fir ...

volcano which also appeared in the world in 1973, the same year as Halperin was born. At Heimaey she collected a crystal. In 2013, one decade later, Halperin returned to Eldfell, and on this visit collected an agate from the red lava flow. Both items were included in cases at the

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...

, where Halperin received the museum's inaugural Artist's Fellowship in 2013.

Awards

Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The o ...

Artist Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halperin, Ilana 1973 births Living people 20th-century American women artists Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Artists from New York City Brown University alumni Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Scottish artists 21st-century American women