Visual Poetry

In an earlier lab we were introduced to the concept of shiviti through movement. This week we experienced it as a visual poem. Shiviti is a means of meditation and prayer through a visual representation of words in the form of calligraphic image. I was feeling quite knowledgeable that I even knew what shiviti were, when I learned there were yet more layers of meaning, a gradual unfolding.

Had I been proficient in Hebrew, perhaps some of this awareness might have struck earlier for I learned that all shiviti make use of Psalm 67. There is a reason for that. We were asked to count the Hebrew words in each line of the psalm after the first line which is a musical direction. A clear and symetrical rhythm emerged. 7-6-6-11-6-6-7. We then summed those words to arrive at a total of 49. What period was the focus of this psalm? Why the harvest for we are told in line 7 "the earth has yielded her produce". Next week is Shavuot, the holiday that commemorates the giving of the Torah, but also a time of harvest at the time this was written in the 6th century BC. We count the days from Passover to Shavuot, counting the Omer. And how many days are there? - 49. We were then asked to observe the symmetry within this poetic form. Each line is written in couplets, the second phrase amplifying the one before with lines 4 and 6 repeating. Because of its symmetry this psalm is used in shiviti. It is often called the "Menorah Psalm" as this symmetrical structure lends itself to this visual form.

In addition to Psalm 67, the other essential element of a shiviti is the verse of Psalm 16:8. The verse of the Psalm is, "I have set God always before me", a natural prelude to prayer. While other text may also be included, these two components are found in all shiviti.

I resonate with this. I love the intrinsic logic of numbers and words, the rhythm and buried meanings, the deciphering process. And in the vein of mysteries... Early in the Psalm we encounter the line echoing the familiar benediction, "May God be gracious to us and bless us. May he cause his face to shine upon us. selah." Rabbi Davis informed us that "selah" was an untranslatable term. It is believed to represent a pause to emphasize the passage immediately before and most of its 74 mentions are found in the Psalms. Some posit that it comes from two Hebrew words: s_lah, "to praise"; and s_lal, "to lift up." Others believe it derives from the Hebrew root word for "to hang", meaning to weigh.
There is much to weigh in this psalm and far more than I've related here as greater meaning is read into the words and letters. There is actually a process you can read more of for how one uses shiviti in meditation.

We closed with a beautiful passage from Rav Kook, the first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel in which he advises us to "mediate on the wonders of creation, at their divine life - not like some dim phenomenon that is placed before your eyes from afar. But know the reality in which you live. Know yourself and your world. Know the thoughts of your heart, and of all who speak and think. Find the source of life inside you, higher than you, around you, the wondrous splendor of life in which you dwell. "

You can find the handout with a passage from Robert Alter- The Art of Biblical Poetry and the entire quote from Rav Kook from the Orot Hakodesh.

To view information on lab artists and lab discussion links and handouts, please go to the Jewish Artists' Laboratory website.

*The Jewish Artists’ Laboratory is an arts initiative through the Sabes Jewish Community Center featuring 25 artists exploring the theme of Light through study and art making. The project is funded through The Covenant Foundation and similar projects are being done in both Milwaukee and Madison. Artists explore how the theme of Light is relevant to Jews and non-Jews, to religious and non-religious, to the community and to the individual, to the artist and the non-artist.

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Community Coalesces

The Artists' Lab regrouped post retreat and shared impressions of the retreat. The dominant theme was that of community. For those who had joined the group this year the retreat proved a turning point in feeling a sense of community both within our group and across our sister groups. Those of us who had participated in the retreat last year recalled a similar sense of the group coalescing at that point.

Our Saturday night gathering was the point where many recognized that sense of being a part of something larger. Others found that connection in the gathering of the sketchbook groups which brought members of the groups together for the first time.

The group was somewhat divided on religious content, no doubt reflecting the varied religious backgrounds that we bring to the lab. Some found the parsha discussion especially meaningful. Others found the overall retreat heavier on religious content than they preferred. Some felt challenged by the constraints created by doing the retreat over Shabbos.

We also talked about the topic selection process and the fact that those who were not present didn't have an opportunity to weigh in. It was generally felt that all of the topics were broad enough to offer considerable scope regardless of what was selected.

For our creative segment Avi and Anat supplied us with a table of shimmering, colorful and translucent materials to be used in a collaborative installation that will be on display in the Sabes JCC Shared Walls exhibition area. It will be displayed in conjunction with the final exhibition. We were to select a theme related to light and develop it using some of the provided materials. My group worked with the contrast between light and dark and the component of shadow. Still more to do so we will see how well it shapes into something ready for display.

To view information on lab artists and lab discussion links and handouts, please go to theJewish Artists' Laboratory website.

*The Jewish Artists’ Laboratory is an arts initiative through the Sabes Jewish Community Center featuring 25 artists exploring the theme of Light through study and art making. The project is funded through The Covenant Foundation and similar projects are being done in both Milwaukee and Madison. Artists explore how the theme of Light is relevant to Jews and non-Jews, to religious and non-religious, to the community and to the individual, to the artist and the non-artist.

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Water Cities

View from the Guthrie Bridge

Today we gathered at the Guthrie for our final day in the Artist Lab retreat, a bittersweet occasion as we would soon be saying goodby to our friends from Madison and Milwaukee.

I arrived early with one of our special guests, Harlene Appelman, Director of the Covenant Foundation. The foundation has played an instrumental role in the existence of the lab, recognizing the importance of this venture with its financial support and encouragement.

A film is being produced on the lab and it was soon my time for my turn before the camera. I have done many interviews of others for my various projects, but it did feel a bit different to have the camera pointing at me, a dose of my own medicine. Camera rolling, I shared the value of the lab as I experience it. It has truly created a welcoming Jewish community as well as an artistic engine. For our external audience it contextualizes some of the study with which we engage and often relates it to the world in which we live.

We then had the opportunity to do tours of the Guthrie, from costume rooms to rehearsal rooms. I love to gather odd facts and our guide offered some interesting tidbits that intrigued me.

* The familiar feeling of the thrust stage is because they used the same blueprints as the original.

* Except for a few special circumstances such as musicals, the actors are not "miked". Acoustical panels in the ceiling or walls do an excellent job at magnifying sound.

* Rehearsal rooms mirror the layout of the stages and the floor is taped with the layout. Actors only get on the actual stage two weeks before the production and can do everything as they rehearsed because of the identical layout.

* I was struck by the black Singer sewing machines in the costume room that looked so much like the treadle sewing machine used by my Russian tailor grandfather. Totally was not expecting that.

* One theater has seats and walls of a rich red. As they were debating the tone of red to use, one person raised their hand with the computer mouse in hand and they selected the red tone of the mouse LED.

Upon our return we tackled our business item of the day, deciding on our topic of next year. I must confess to being torn as I had been an advocate of the topic of community which encompassed how we separate ourselves from a larger community into insiders and outsiders, setting boundaries that determine who belongs where. I am also intrigued by how the level of responsibility we feel for others often is affected by whether they are viewed as part of our community and the need for a more global definition in today's world.  Another topic that spoke to me because of the work I already do is that of memory and legacy, or echoes of the past as it was phrased. Having said all that, I must confess to being swayed by Rani's eloquent articulation of the theme of water which captured the environmental group to secure the greatest support and become our topic for next year. Rani's words evoked ruach - God's breath upon the water in the beginning of the world, a child in the womb and even the fact that our three cities all sit upon the water.
 
 We closed with Jody interviewing Harlene about the focus and history of the Covenant Foundation and the extensive work they do in supporting Jewish education.  Two intriguing projects that were mentioned were Projecting Freedom, a cinematic interpretation of the Haggadah and G_dcast, animated Torah, Talmud and folktales for children (and maybe some of us grownups too).

 And so another Artists' Lab came to a close and off to my studio I went, infused with new energy to tackle my painting for our fast approaching deadline.

To view information on lab artists and lab discussion links and handouts, please go to theJewish Artists' Laboratory website.

*The Jewish Artists’ Laboratory is an arts initiative through the Sabes Jewish Community Center featuring 25 artists exploring the theme of Light through study and art making. The project is funded through The Covenant Foundation and similar projects are being done in both Milwaukee and Madison. Artists explore how the theme of Light is relevant to Jews and non-Jews, to religious and non-religious, to the community and to the individual, to the artist and the non-artist.

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How the Light Gets In

This weekend we gathered for a retreat of the Jewish Artists' lab. Forty-five artists from Minneapolis, Madison and Milwaukee gathered to celebrate and foster community. We had decided to meet over Shabbos as our theme is light, a central aspect of Shabbos.

The retreat began for many of us with a visit to the Walker Art Institute to view the Edward Hopper show which included 20 of his paintings and many of his drawings. Ever notice how once you focus in on something, it seems to appear everywhere. Such it is with our theme of light. Many paintings had multiple light sources, often coming from an unanticipated direction. In a letter to the museum about the painting it had recently purchased, this was the detail Hopper chose to highlight. Hopper was fascinated by the voyeuristic glimpse into the buildings he passed on elevated trains and the little psychodramas that he witnessed and painted. Often the light followed the artist/voyeur's gaze.

We had been given a few assignments for the retreat. One of them was to bring candlesticks which we now aligned on the table in preparation for Shabbos. We were asked to speak to someone we didn't know and address our choice of topics, among them the story behind our candlesticks. So here's my story. Multiply it by 45 unique stories and you will get some flavor for our retreat. 

When I was a child, my grandmother lived with us for several years. She had lost her memory. She only spoke Yiddish so I really never understood the extent of her memory loss, but I can still picture her gnarled hands nervously twisting the buttons of her sweater. I grew up in a pretty secular family where Shabbos blessings were not part of our Friday night routine at home, except in those few years when my grandmother lived with us. When I did a series of paintings on family history I painted my grandmother saying the blessing over the candles. It was called Memory of Blessing as it represented my childhood memory of her saying the blessing and her residual memory of something which was still very central to her life even when so many memories had fled. When I viewed the painting, I invariably assumed my position at the imaginary table of my childhood, never standing in front of the painting, but rather to the side. My mother, touched by my recollection of her mother, had given me the candlesticks over which my grandmother had said the blessing, now imbued and polished with the story of memory.

But now we needed something to light. We were each given two flat pieces of beeswax, two wicks and two pieces of paper. Our assignment was to write on one piece of paper what we wanted to get from the retreat. On the other we were to write what we wanted to let go of, much like setting an intention in yoga. We wrapped the paper around the wick and rolled the paper and wick within the paraffin to form two candles for our Shabbos candlesticks, each containing a wish or hope to release in smoke, just as we release our yoga intention with breath. Then together we said the blessing over the candles and welcomed Shabbos into our midst.

Andrea, the rabbi from Madison, led us in a Shabbos service and then joined by Rabbi Davis we gathered around a meal, followed by a piece on light by storyteller Carla Vogel and a celebration of singing and dancing. Joel had begun our retreat by speaking of the four immutable gifts of the spirit ... singing, dancing, storytelling and ...... silence. By the end of our day 1 Shabbos celebration we had shared a little of each.

Day 2 also had an assignment. We were to bring something that inspired us that we were willing to part with. At a loss, I had taken a step back to contemplate my source of inspiration. History, mystery, story and image, those are the themes that engage and excite me. What would connote that? I recalled some amazing photographs that had found their way to me upon the death of my father's cousin. As the family historian, I am the repository for all such family detritus, grateful to receive it lest it be lost. These photos were not the typical family images, they connoted young revolutionaries, deal making cronies, each reminded me of the many stories I've read in books over the years and now attached to this unidentified imagery.

Inspiration in hand I arrived in time to participate in a morning exercise of movement and song as Judith Brin Ingber and David Jordan Harris led us in the morning prayers. Judith incorporated movement, as we gave thanks for sight and the use of our bodies. As she guided our movements, David sang the morning prayers. He also offered this little nugget as we counted the Omer, the days to Shavuot, even as Judith incorporated the count into our steps. The word for count is found in many words for story, some examples are account and recount. Judith then had us break into groups and create a movement for light and then for strength. She then joined them together into a modern dance that seemed far more graceful than any of us anticipated.

Later we broke into groups by media and responded to quotes about light, identifying those that spoke to us. Anthem, a poem by Leonard Cohen offered us this inspiring refrain,"there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in".

In the afternoon we gathered to discuss this week's parsha on you guessed it, "light". How does that happen? Chapter 24:1-4 of Leviticus addressed establishing light in the Tent of Meeting. Our discussion focused on what it means to do something consistently, with intention, for Leviticus offers directives that we are to follow.

We concluded our Saturday meetings by gathering with the artists in our sketchbook group and admiring the many beautiful sketchbook creations within the lab.

Later we gathered for dinner at the lovely art-filled home of one of our group, closing our evening with the Havdallah ceremony and the exchange of our inspirational gifts.

To view information on lab artists and lab discussion links and handouts, please go to theJewish Artists' Laboratory website.

*The Jewish Artists’ Laboratory is an arts initiative through the Sabes Jewish Community Center featuring 25 artists exploring the theme of Light through study and art making. The project is funded through The Covenant Foundation and similar projects are being done in both Milwaukee and Madison. Artists explore how the theme of Light is relevant to Jews and non-Jews, to religious and non-religious, to the community and to the individual, to the artist and the non-artist.

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