I have had very little to say in the past few weeks. Just so sad about all four boys who were killed. King Yoram Piece I don't know why, but I was reminded of this piece that I made quite a number of years ago when I was also feeling sad about events in the news. It is a depiction of a terrible story in Melachim Bet (Kings 2) when there was a famine a ...
Addendum to A View from the American Guild of Judaic Art’s Mentor Program
This is an addendum to A View from the American Guild of Judaic Art’s Mentor Program, Flora Rosefsky's post about mentoring in the American Guild of Judaic Art program. For background, the American Guild of Judaic Art's started a Judaic Visual Arts On-Line Mentoring Program. The program is open to students in grades 7-12. Flora Rosefsky spoke about m ...
Torah Stitch by Stitch project
The Torah Stitch by Stitch project is not strictly a project geared towards children, however it is one that children can participate in, and would be an interesting project for a group as a bar/bat mitzvah project. Created by artist, Temma Gentles, it is intended for people who want to experience "the purpose, rigor, and spirit of producing the holy te ...
A View from the American Guild of Judaic Art’s Mentor Program by Flora Rosefsky
Remember the American Guild of Judaic Art’s Mentor Program I posted about a while back? Today we have a guest post from Flora Rosefsky, a mentor in the program. I've long admired Flora's work so I'm excited to have her perspective in the Mitzvot Unplugged series. Her work is fun and vibrant, as you can see from the works included in this post. Fl ...
First Annual Jerusalem Biennale for Contemporary Jewish Art
I'm very pleased to be able to write about the first annual Jerusalem Biennale for Contemporary Jewish Art (September 15 through October 31st.) This first year will have five exhibitions in five separate locations. This looks like it should be very exciting and interesting. There are about fifty artists, both Israeli and International, emerging and esta ...
Judaic Visual Arts Mentoring Program
Do you have or are you an artistic junior or high school student who is interested in creating Judaic art? The American Guild of Judaic Artists has started an interesting new project: The Judaic Visual Arts On-Line Mentoring Program. This program is open to students all over the world in grades 7-12. Students interested in creating Judaic art will be ...
Temma Gentle’s Shiva Box
Its almost the end of the three weeks so I have been posting items related to themes of the times. Mourning is one of those themes. When my father passed away, one of the things that were helpful during the shiva was that the chevra kadisha had given us a book where people could write comments. This was both comforting because people wrote about things ...
Using Papercuts to Teach Values
We are happy to welcome artist Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik as part of the Mitzvot Unplugged Series. Isaac uses innovative materials in his paper-cuts (I encourage you to take a look at them.) He will be talking about the workshops (which he teaches to students young and old.) 1. How do you relay Jewish values in a creative way? Relaying ...
Kol HaOt – Illuminating Jewish Life through Art
We are happy to have a guest post from Kol Haot as part of the Mitzvot Unplugged Series. A fuller version of this post appeared in the Lookstein Journal Jewish Educational Leadership: The Arts in Jewish Education A short note, although i have never participated in the series, many years ago I visited David Moss's Jerusalem studio with my parents and my ...
Review: Mastering Hebrew Calligraphy by Izzy Pludwinski
A number of years ago on the suggestion of a friend, I had the opportunity to visit Izzy Pludwinski in his studio. I was impressed by how he spoke about his work, and the calmness he emitted during the visit. Since that visit, I have not met him, but his name has cropped up via artist friends who respect his work and who have learned fr ...