Sasha Okun

Jewish painter, graphic artist, teacher. Born in the family of Nison Okun in Leningrad (1949). Studied at the Vera Mukhina School of Art in Leningrad (1966–72). Member of Aleph (1975–77). Emigrated to Israel (1979). Won the Ofer Feniger Award for a Young Artist (1983). Awarded a Gestetner Fellowship (1985) and Cité Internationale des Arts Residence Fellowship (1987). Taught at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design (from 1986) and the Emunah Florence and Joseph Appleman College in Jerusalem (1988–2002). Adjunct professor of Bellarmine College in Louisville in Kentucky (1988). Member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels (1989) and Honorary Citizen of Jefferson County in Kentucky (1989). Contributed to exhibitions in Russia, Armenia, Israel, United States, France and Columbia (from 1974) and a one-man show at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (1993).