Hedva Ser is a UNESCO Artist for Peace, painter, sculptor, born in Petah-Tikva, Israel. She is of a French nationality. She is a contemporary artist, known for her sculptures, watercolors, tapestries, and jewelry since 1993. Her work experiments with balance, imbalance and, above all, energy. She was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace in October 2011. She acquired degrees from Tel Aviv Museum (Israel); Academy of Art of the Grande Chaumière, Paris; Center for Technical Art of the Camondo School in Paris; student of sculptor Alicia Penalba (1973-1982) at the Hornsey College of Art in London (United Kingdom).
In 1995, she was a founder, currently honorary president, of the French Association of Friends of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. She has participated in the creation of the French Association of Friends of the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D. C. (USA). She is a member of the Committee of Honor for the Foundation for Children, chaired by Former French First Lady, Madame Anne- Aymone Giscard d’Estaing and an honorary member of the Weizmann Institute for Science.
She is the Founder and co-Vice chairperson of the International Center for Women Artists project, under the auspices of UNESCO. Her numerous works including the decor for the television program “Grand Echiquier” hosted by Jacques Chancel on France’s Antenne 2 (1985). Madame Ser created several important projects in France: at Rocquencourt, Sophia Antipolis, and at the General Council of the Oise, as well as in Crans, Switzerland, in Israel, and in the United States. Hedva Ser has held many one-woman shows, at the Museum of the Tapestry in Aubusson, France, at the Picasso Museum in Antibes (1998), at Harvard University (1993), at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (1999), at the gallery Artcurial in Monaco (2000), and at the Plaza Athénée Hotel in Paris in 2004, 2005, and 2006. She also showed at the Gallery Panijel, Paris. A retrospective of her work was hosted at the City Hall of the 16th arrondissement of Paris in 2010. In 2011, her sculptures and jewelry were exhibited at the Galerie Pierre-Alain Challier in Paris. In 2013, she exhibited her sculptures at Emon Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (September, 2013), and Sparta Gallerie, Los Angeles, USA (November, 2013). On January 2014, she opened an installation of four monumental sculptures, entitled, “Destruction & Rebirth” at the Galicia Museum in Krakow, relating the story of the Jewish community in Europe. Madame Ser also created the sculpture for the trophy for Shalom-Salam, marking the 60th anniversary of the Weizmann Institute in Paris (2009), as well as trophies for the SER Prize (Film Award, Paris Heritage, 2008).
She also designed the trophy for the WIZO Literary Prize, which is awarded every year. Her national honors and decorations include: 1989 Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres; 2001 Chevalier de la Légion d’honeur; 2001 Officier des Arts et des Lettres; 2012 UNESCO Artist for Peace. Awards that she has received include: Grand Prize for the Tapestry at Beauvais (1997), and at the Grand Palais in Paris (1987). Her monumental sculpture, « Tree of Peace », is at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Rehovot (Israel). Her iconic Tree of Peace sculptures are permanent exhibited at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; at the A.T. Still University in Mesa, Arizona; and at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A Tree of Peace is also on the campus of the Al- Quds University in Ramallah, Palestine since July 2013. In May, 2014, a Tree of Peace was “planted” at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Another Tree of Peace was installed at the Verdala Palace Presidential sculpture garden in Malta, commemorating the end of the Cold War, signed in Malta in December 1989. Most recently, Madame Ser has been active, in her role as UNESCO Artists for Peace, as the “godmother” for the 3rd UNESCO “Art Camp” in Andorra. The week-long festival brought together artists from five continents, in order to promote cultural and artistic exchange between states that have experienced violence, war and conflicts; and to the sharing of each other’s culture and art in an atmosphere of mutual respect.