She graduated from the Gordon College of Education, Haifa, and taught in the army, in Acco and Zichron. She had a calm but authoritative style, loved teaching and was quite good at it. She would later return to teaching - as an Artist-in-Residence in schools and colleges.

Yoki was a talented musician, graduate of the Israel Conservatory in Haifa where she studied piano. She also played the clarinet.

Her hobbies included sculpture and photography.

After marriage and family she decided to make these hobbies her vocation, and she studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Delaware, with sculptor Victor Spinsky.

Yoki was a surrealist sculptor, with a sharp eye for detail and a mischievous sense of humor. Guests to her house would be treated to clay fruits (so realistic that a friend once smashed a banana in exasperation), and - if necessary to end a party - a clay mouse.

Behind the jovial mask was a thoughtful artist, whose works reflected the issues and threats of our time.

Yoki was fond of games of the mind, specially chess, a recurrent theme in her work.

She combined her artistic ideas in the Elements, her signature work. This colorful mural shows the periodic table merging into a chess board, and a city rising from the sea, suspended between the precipice and the clouds. Yoki gave it as gift to the University of Delaware, where it adorns the Chemistry Building. A janitor in the building answered my question about the mural - that it shows "everything they teach at the university", a good comment as any. I hope he is right (about the university.)

When a bad back put a stop to her work as a sculptor, Yoki changed course again, going into jewelry design, for the last 10 years of her life. Her jewelry pieces were bold, unique and made their wearer stand out in a crowd. She crafted every piece with her own hands, a work of love rather than commerce. She experimented continuously, developing her own techniques and glazes, that are no more.

She loved to show her works in arts and crafts shows, and to meet with clients and other artists. She had a loyal following of clients and fellow artists who became good friends, some - to quote a wise guy - are worse than family.

Throughout 8 years of battling cancer, Yoki never stopped her work and shows. At her last planned show, in March 2005, a memorial was held by her fellow artists.