Meet The Experts
Extraordinary experts have helped flesh out the detail of this novel. From the thorn on a caperberry bush, to the bristle of a paintbrush, to the rim of a glass chalice, to the cuff of a dress.
Australia
Clare Belfrage
Glass Artist
Clare's detailed and complex glass drawings on blown glass forms reflect a level of artistic innovation and mastery of her craft that makes her one of Australia’s most renowned artists in this medium. Inspired by nature and its various rhythms and energies, Clare’s unique sculptural objects express her fine attention to detail and a deep interest in the minutiae of the natural world.
Tom Moore
Glass Artist
Tom Moore works in blown glass, an ancient technique, but his images, narratives and settings are completely contemporary. His fantastical world embraces gorgeous birds and animals that have already hybridised with modern automobiles and aeroplanes and is inhabited by exquisite creatures that are morphing to inhabit a universe that seems quite as ominous as it is beautiful.
Mary-Anne Gooden, Kristin Phillips, Victoria Thomas
Artlab Australia
Artlab Australia conservators Mary-Anne Gooden, A/Principal Conservator Textiles, and Kristin Phillips, Senior Textile Conservator, both read the chapters relating to my fictional textile conservator and their work is mind-boggling. And Victoria Thomas, Textiles Conservator, whose talented mind helped design Dr Reed’s gorgeous opening-night dress was nuanced and inspired. Together, their combined humility is astounding. Most especially given the ongoing contribution their talent and work makes, both metaphorically and literally, to the global story and legacy of the fabric of who we are.
Mary Jose
Textile Conservator, Fabric of Life
Mary Jose has a lifelong passion for textiles and a career spent mastering the art of textile conservation. A world-renowned textiles expert, she has served notable museums, galleries, private institutions and collectors since 1984 in Australia, Asia and the UK. She is dedicated to the preservation and appreciation of irreplaceable textiles and the cultural heritage they represent.
Israel and Palestinian Territories
Hebron Glass & The Natsheh Family
Traditional glass blowing experts
Hebron Glass is a family-owned traditional Palestinian glass blowing business. “According to family history, this craft correlates with the Natsheh family’s presence in Hebron between 122 BCE–330 CE,” says artist and co-owner Hamzeh Natsheh. Located in the city of Hebron in the West Bank, Hebron Glass employs approximately 60 artisans who work in one of three workshops across the city or from their homes.
Dr Yael Gorin-Rosen
Head of Glass Branch, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
Where do I start with the woman who is Yael? Perhaps with this question: who among us could sense, by smell, the origin of a newly excavated ancient glass vessel? Who among us could be so gracious as to allow us to view with trembling awe glass artifacts fresh from the earth? Yael lives her work with a dedication and commitment that make it clear why she stands at the helm of Glass at the IAA. She is also a woman with tender and fierce love for her family and friends. That she shared both these worlds with me in Haifa and Jerusalem is more than I could have dreamed.
Nahum Ben-Yehuda
Bar-Ilan University, Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology
Nahum has endeavoured to provide ancient Aramaic words that not only reflect the language of the period, but the sense of the people by whom it was spoken. Nahum’s integrity, efficiency and prodigious mind are all too rare. Nahum: my humble thanks is not enough, but it is the beginning of honouring the miracles you have performed under our shared high-pressure timeline.
Rabbi Ken Spiro
Tour Guide, Speaker, Educator, Author, Israel
Rabbi Ken Spiro is an advocate of knowledge and connection. His commitment to presenting Jewish history in a way that is both rooted in archeology and sociology provides seekers of understanding with information and knowledge that is sure to enliven and enlight.
Hana Bendcowsky
Rossing Centre for Education and Dialogue, Tour Guide Israel
Hana Bendcowsky, Rossing Centre for Education and Dialogue, our official tour guide in Jerusalem and non-stop on-the-spot advisor for each and every query, is a paragon for the exemplar of interfaith connections. Hana's personal work and that of the Rossing Centre seeks understanding of a many-sided story.
Ilana Stein & Davidi Maller
Artist and wild plant forager
Ilana Stein, artist and wild plant forager, took me on a wild plant foraging tour of Ein Kerem valley. With partner, Davidi Maller, they introduced me to grape honey and to their artisanal ceramics made in, and inspired by Elisheva's home, the heart of Ein Kerem.
Amram Eshel
Plant Ecophysiologist (previously Professor in Molecular Biology & Ecology of Plants, Tel Aviv University), Israel
Amram Eshel was born and raised in Israel. He received his degrees from Tel Aviv University, where he was a member of the academic staff from 1980 until his retirement in 2012. During this time, he held short visiting appointments at Ohio Agricultural Research Center in Wooster, Ohio; Michigan State University; The Pennsylvania State University; CNRS at Gif-Sur-Yvette; and University of Western Australia. His main research interests are in the area of plant physiological ecology, especially as related to mineral nutrition and water relations. He is the manager of the Sarah Racine Root Research Laboratory at Tel Aviv University.
Shelly Eshkoli
Researcher of femininity
Shelly Eshkoli holds an MA in Biblical Studies from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She is a researcher of femininity in ancient Israelite society with a rich background in the Israelite culture and the ancient Orient. Shelly develops unique lectures that allow us to read between the lines of the bible and hear the voices of our strong and powerful mothers.
Carol Ann Bernheim
Tour Guide Israel
Tour guide, Holy Land expert, global traveller and voice of reason, Carol Ann's multi-decade knowledge, wisdom and spirit of adventure is fathomless. She is an adventurer ahead of her time. With the wit and endurance of those pioneers that have come before us, Carol Ann's respect of humanity's complexity is tender and fierce.
Pnina Ein Mor
Tour Guide Israel
Pnina Ein Mor, longtime resident of Ein Kerem, and self- proclaimed wanderer of Ein Kerem’s paths, who was awarded Jerusalem’s ‘Worthy Citizen’ prize for contributions to tourism in Ein Kerem and whose gracious time brought me to precious local details. Her cookbook/history lesson is a love letter to this beautiful region.
Italy
Elaine Ruffolo
Art Historian, Florence, Italy
Art Historian, Art History Encounters, Florence, who helped me flesh out San Michele alle Trombe, both locationally and speculating on what it might have looked like inside.
Carlo Falciano
Professor of art history at Florence’s Accademia di Belle Arti
Carlo spoke at a MET exhibition opening on how language is used in the “battle for power”. Today it’s through the internet. In Cosimo’s time, it was “through the promotion of a new vernacular based on the three great poets of the 14th-century republic: Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio.” Falciani adds: “[Cosimo] understood that the success of his Tuscan state depended not on arms, but on the power of language and culture.” Carlo aided me in my exploration of Albertinelli's minor work on a second La Visitazione, painted later, and possibly aided by Bugiardini.
Hector Ramsay
Fresco Artist, Florence
Hector is an artist who works with fresco and other techniques in Florence where he also runs workshops. He is preparing for an exhibition in 2024 of his drawings at a foundation in Lisbon.
Christina Mifsud
Adjunct Professor in Art History at Loyola University of Chicago's John Felice Rome Centre, Florence Tour Guide
Christina, a native of California, has made her home in Italy for over twenty-five years. She is an Adjunct Professor in Art History at Loyola University of Chicago's John Felice Rome Center and operates “TourItaly Travel” from the city of Florence where she resides.
United Kingdom
David Hill
Glass Artist, Glassmakers UK
David Hill and Mark Taylor, ‘The Glassmakers’, UK. I urge you to view their incredible work. David’s willingness to deliver beautifully articulated responses to my novice questions over two full years offered me fascinating insights into the always- mystifying process of glassblowing. He also bolstered my courage for creativity. This mattered, a lot.
Dr Mary Brooks
Textile Conservator & Associate Professor, Durham University, UK
Mary's first-hand knowledge of the embroidery Embracing Figures and whose assessment and recording of the embroidery on behalf of the Ashmolean Museum, along with the fact that she took such time and care to help me understand the piece, was a gift.
United States
Anatole Tchikine
Curator of Rare Books at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC
Anatole came out of the clouds like a bright slant of sunshine, and with fierce intellect and overwhelming compassion, offered technical guidance to the many complexities of rendering an exotic world into plain English. His sensitivity and insight towards my vision for this novel was overwhelming. And, at the time it was conveyed, a tonic for my soul. If there is an argument for cloning, Anatole’s humanity is the resolution.
Cristina Balloffet Carr
Textile Conservator, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Cristina Balloffet Carr is a global treasure in the textile world. Conferring with her — as well as the textile conservators here in Australia — has been one of the highlights of my extensive research.
Professor Sharon Strocchia
Social & Cultural Historian, Emory University, Georgia, USA
Sharon has written impeccably researched books on nuns, nunneries and women healers. Her work — like Forgotten Healers: Women and the Pursuit of Health in Late Renaissance Italy — should be on the reading list for every avid reader, not purely for their historical illumination but for their elegant and accessible lyricism.
Professor Carol Meyers
Mary Grace Wilson Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, Duke University, North Caroline, USA
Carol's specialties of the Hebrew Bible, archaeology of the southern Levant, and gender in the biblical world, offered rigorous insight into subjects of ancient Israelite women including household and socio-political activities, relationships and reproduction, gender and society. And much, much more. Explore her acclaimed work Rediscovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context.
Crystal King
Author, Culinary Enthusiast, Professor and Marketing Expert
Crystal’s novels on food and the Renaissance are a sumptuous delight! Her passion for the era and its nuances take the reader on a journey for all the senses. And her regular, thoughtful and beautifully written newsletter is one of the few I allow into my busy inbox!
Dr Gregory Dale Smith
Otto N. Frenzel III Senior Conservation Scientist, Indianapolis, USA
Gregory's brilliant chemist's mind and willingness to think creatively helped me invent paint processes to support Antonia’s journey.
Roy Saper
Saper Galleries, Michigan, USA
Roy was once the keeper of the largest Hebron glass display outside the Middle East. Roy’s gentlemanly demeanour, early enthusiasm and experience in exhibiting glass pieces were pivotal in helping me feel I could render the world of glassmaking. It was Roy who connected me with the Natsheh family in Hebron. A connection that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Katherine Duiguid
Katherine Duiguid Designs, Embroiderer, Designer, Textile Artist, Educator, North Carolina, USA
Katharine is an independent artist, scholar and educator, an angel of the embroidery world! Kat’s pieces are literally divine. As is her gentle nature. Her explication on the embroidery featured in the modern narrative was truly a magnanimous gesture.
Dr Alysia Fischer
Artist
Alysia's rigorous and thoughtful work, both archeologically and artistically in glass, is proof that the academic world and the arts world can intersect in an educational, lively and inspirational way. Alysia is also an artist, whose suspended sculptures, wearables, wall pieces and metalwork demonstrate her bona fide talent.
Patricia Nguyen Wilson
Artist, Teacher
Dr. Tricia Wilson Nguyen is a teacher, historian, entrepreneur, and engineer. Her interests stretch between the embroidery and technology of the past and present. Dr. Nguyen’s primary field is engineering where she has been part of a small group of scientists and artists who have pioneered the new field of electronic textiles.