Meet the Artist - With Shay Aaron

This is the premier of my new Meet the Artist series, and who better to interview for my very first feature than my much loved and admired polymer clay artist and friend, Shay Aaron!

One of the reasons I love Shay's work is his sense of humor, which shines through his work as well as his photographs. In fact, Shay and I are constantly scanning the web for miniature furniture and utensils to use in our photographs. Unfortunately for me, he usually gets to the good ones first.

Here are the questions I sent Shay, and his answers. Hope you will enjoy and appreciate his work as much as I do (I own quite a few pieces of his work).

He is also a very spiritual kind of guy.

Tell my readers a bit about yourself and about your shop.
My name is Shay Aaron, next month I will celebrate 24 winters, I live in the central region of Israel with my little nutty family. I used to work as an actor and as a production assistant, and now I'm teaching crafts for a living. This year I'm planning to learn stage design.
I've been working with Fimo polymer clay since 2005. I love to create tiny foods and candies. Before I knew anything about polymer clay, I used to create miniature items out of paper clay (Das). It was not pretty at all. Recently, I've lost more than 120 pounds, so any chocolate I touch must be inedible. That's life, folks!

Shay teaching a polymer clay workshop for a group of very engaged kids

Where do you find your inspiration?
I find inspiration in almost everything. From my mommy's kitchen to Britney Spears. I was inspired by several polymer clay miniature makers and Re-Ment's toys.
There are some artists which inspired me the most. I'm in love with Wanda's jewels. Her work with resin is absolutely stunning, kitschy, and unique. * He also said how much he loves my work, which I just had to censure!

There are not many guys doing your type of art. Why do you think that is?
Men shouldn't make crafts. Guys need to work in their garage and keep fixing pergolas. The truth is that I don't have an honest answer for that query. I just love the fact that I'm one of a kind.

What is your view on the Israeli crafting community? What would you like to see change?
For the last year I discover some great Israeli crafters who make great arts. Most of them sell their crafts on Etsy. I see beauty in it, and I wish for more Israeli artist to expose their art.

My favorite piece by Shay. I should really buy it shouldn't I? Oh wait, I already did.

What new directions would you like your creative work to take in 2009?
Oh, there are so many ideas up in my head, but sure I'll keep making the same great miniatures in the current year. I hope to learn and experience with some new techniques and planning to write some tutorials of my mini projects.

What is your favorite item out of everything you created and why?
There is no such a thing. I believe in all my creations and it's too difficult to choose one. I adore my latest mini food items, my mini Falafel and Hummus, I think they are one of my best creations.

Falafel necklace by Shay Aaron

Hummus necklace by Shay Aaron

Looking for Shay's work? You can find his online shop here. He also has a Flickr and will soon open an English blog. In the meanwhile, this is his Hebrew blog.