Doing Good | Bezalel-led Emergency Initiatives
עושים/ות משהו טוב | יוזמות בשעת חירום
أعمال خيرية | مبادرات طلابية من بتسلئيل للمساعدة في وضع الطوارئ
Fine Arts (B.F.A.)
Department of Fine Arts
המחלקה לאמנות
قسم الفنون
The formation of a creative artist is a complex process – its sources cannot be deciphered nor can its results be anticipated. Art constantly expands and breaks through boundaries – never resting on its laurels. It embraces new media and produces infinite connections and combinations; occasionally it abandons traditional tools only to revive them at unexpected times.
In a world of social media, reality TV and selfies, artists must navigate changing frontiers of self-expression. Functioning in complex environments, they must continuously determine what it means for art to reflect the world as it is or as it could be.
The Department of Fine Arts presents students with all the tools to explore this new reality and its earlier iterations. Along with a sound technical, historic and theoretical foundation, the program seeks to help students hone their intuition and access their individual identity by examining the shifting geographic, political, cultural and technological world around them so they can truly capture unique moments in time.
The Department is a space for creativity and experimentation, a stage for self-expression and artistic impulses, for questions that evolve into producing and promoting new ideas. Encouraging interdisciplinary conversations and intensive dialogues with other diverse professional disciplines, it is a site for the discussions and debates on social, communal, intellectual and geopolitical issues that formulate and advance the country’s discourse and artistic activity.
The Department of Fine Arts was the inspiration for the founding of Bezalel – the first art school in Israel. It has been the heart of the Academy since the early 20th century, educating generations of artists, painters, sculptors, video artists and performers of national and international renown, shaping local creative culture and visual thinking and establishing glorious traditions associated with the name of Jerusalem, the people of Israel and the Middle East.
Visual Communication (B.Des)
Department of Visual Communication
המחלקה לתקשורת חזותית
قسم التواصل البصري
Registration for the undergraduate programs at Bezalel Academy. For information and registration
Visual communication is the most common form of art in our everyday lives. It is present in almost everything we see and almost everywhere we look – on bookshelves and billboards, television and computer screens, posters, magazines and smartphones. It is a language that uses image, color, motion, sound, text, and matter to communicate messages, ideas, emotions and information through shape and form. It can educate, entertain, change the way we think and impact our behavior.
At Bezalel, the curriculum is designed to lead students to rethink how they regard problems, how they analyze complex situations and produce innovative solutions using their integrated design and communication expertise. The program encourages creativity in storytelling and self expression that transcends boundaries, that explores and experiments, while constantly striving for excellence in all aspects and professional standards.
The Department trains designers to understand the pervasive influence of the discipline, how to approach each task from a critical and ethical perspective – and above all, how to use their talents and skills to make a positive influence in the world. In Israel and abroad, the Department’s graduates are leaders in the vast and varied world of this unique form of communication, transforming the visual landscape of our lives and our world.
About the Department of Visual Communication
2023 | Final Projects
Policy and Theory of the Arts (M.A.)
Master's Program in Policy and Theory of the Arts (M.A.)
התכנית לתואר שני במדיניות ותיאוריה של האמנויות
برنامج اللقب الثاني في السياسة ونظرية الفنون
Registration for the Graduate programs is closing >> 26.7
For details and registration>>
This two-year program has the distinction of being the only graduate program in Israel dedicated to examining contemporary art, design and culture – doing so from the unique perspective of the humanities and social sciences. It combines an academic exploration of how these fields function with a hands-on approach to how they are evidencing themselves in Israel today.
Within this framework, the program’s two specialized tracks – Curatorial Studies and Cultural Criticism – address the growing need for both theoretical discussion and professional training in disciplines that complement the art and design world: the management of institutions of art and culture; curatorial studies; museology; art criticism; the history of design; cultural and national policies.
The Curatorial Studies track provides students with the knowledge and ability to challenge conventional visual displays and presentations in this ever-expanding field; the Cultural Criticism track is the only one in Israel that provides students with the necessary training in this unusual and demanding profession. The option of a thesis degree, which is necessary to pursue a Ph.D. degree, is available upon completion of all requirements.
Specialists in these fields serve as bridges between the public, artists, designers and cultural innovators. They have the power to bring artwork closer to the community and play a vital role in the evolution of culture, the discourse surrounding it and the principles and procedures that guide leaders in the field.
Graduates of the M.A. in Policy and Theory of Arts program enjoy meaningful positions in their chosen fields in Israel and abroad. Those who chose to complete the M.A. program with a thesis have continued their studies in PhD programs at major universities around the world.
Teaching Center
The Art & Design Teaching Center
המרכז להוראת אמנות ועיצוב
مركز تدريس الفنون والتصميم
Bezalel’s Art and Design Teaching Center
Informed by Bezalel’s unique teaching and learning needs and characteristics, the Academy’s Art and Design Teaching Center was planned to create a professional and continuous foundation for the development of teaching at the Academy. Much like art and design, the Center considers teaching to be a creative, dynamic, reflective and knowledge-based practice. The Center encourages the development of teaching and learning processes, while leading innovative initiatives within Bezalel and in collaboration with various Israeli and international academic institutions.
An independent team in the Bezalel ecosystem, the Center works closely with the Academy’s academic and administrative units with the belief that the formulation of sustainable teaching requires a holistic, multidisciplinary, creative and open approach. Through its members – who are themselves lecturers in Bezalel departments – the Center is involved in all aspects of teaching and learning in the Academy, systematically examining the challenges various academic units face and responding to emerging needs.
The Center works in three corresponding and complementary spheres:
- Teaching development – as a framework for the formulation of teaching tools, ideas and skill for lecturers
- Teaching management – as a framework for the professional development of academic directors in academic training, teaching and learning evaluation; curricula construction and evaluation; and academic leadership
- Education research – as a framework for the facilitation and support of teaching and learning research, allowing lecturers to systematically examine various teaching methods with the aim of developing new practices.
Bezalel is a learning community whose different partners – and primarily faculty members and students – engage in an ongoing exploration of pedagogies and in shaping diverse, varied and new learning experiences. The Center wishes to involve as many stakeholders as possible in the research and development of teaching and learning at the Academy and share the knowledge, tools and ideas formulated within it with as wide an audience as possible.
Dean of Students Office
Dean of Students
דקנאט הסטודנטים והסטודנטיות
مكتب عميد الطلاب
Dear Students,
We, the staff of the Dean of Students Office, are here personally for each and every student in order to facilitate meaningful learning and a safe environment for academic success.
We are available to you and invite each and every student to approach us at any time.
Shelly Hershko,
Dean of Students and the staff of the Dean’s Office
The Dean of Students Office is the main body in charge of supporting Bezalel’s students academically, personally, financially, socially and culturally. The staff of the Dean’s Office strives to enable every student to fulfill his or her greatest personal and academic potential, and is available and accessible to the variety of needs of the students.
The Dean’s Office works to create supportive, encouraging and diversified frameworks. It aspires to instill an empowering and inclusive academic and social atmosphere for groups from different cultural backgrounds and works to promote and develop interactions between the academia and the community, encouraging students to go beyond the Bezalel walls to work with diverse communities through ongoing projects and courses integrating social action.
The Dean’s Office guides students from pre-admission through graduation, aiding them amongst other things to adjust to Academy life, assuring they will receive equal opportunities, minimizing dropouts, maximizing each student’s ability to fulfill their potential throughout the course of their studies and equipping them with tools to facilitate their future path following graduation.