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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As the Dawn Turns to Sunset

Today's Artists' Lab began with an interesting question. Why are you artists? asked Rabbi Davis. The answers flew out, tripping over and jostling each other, as we each weighed in on what drove us to create art.

A way to understand the world, a thinking process, a distillation, a clarification, a way of seeing, a lens on the world

A process of feeling, sensitivity, refining and maximizing the senses that we have, a spiritual experience

A full possession of body and mind, an alignment

A way to communicate, to observe and confront questions

Some of us weighed the thinking side more heavily, others the feeling, some saw it as a way to align thinking and feeling and for many the communication to others is equally important. One of the observations that I found most meaningful is that it isn't static.

When I reflect on my own experience as an artist I think about the early days when I painted just for me, because it gave me pleasure and stilled and focused an over active mind. At its best it was a meditation and occasionally I created something that delighted me, that left me a bit amazed that it was my creation. That evolved into a communication to others. Enough so that I overcame my reluctance to speak publicly because it was more important that I give my artwork voice. What drove me as an artist grew and changed as I grew and changed and I suspect that was true for each of us.

As I pondered these issues, I realized that we had switched directions to review a passage by Michael Fishbane in the book Sacred Attunement. Fishbane speaks of the ruptures of our everyday routines that can happen through a jolt, perhaps a sudden death, an intense love or an creation of culture. He posits that these experiences can change us and through that charged moment direct us towards a course of action. Artwork too can act as a crossing point to challenge our daily awareness. He then contrasts artwork with theology which he believes experiences all of existence as filled with crossing points.

We contrasted this rather dense passage with a commentary by Bahya, an early rabbi, on Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:1) Bahya writes of Mose's growing perception of the burning bush as he gradually distinguishes the fire, the angel and the presence of God. The text talks of the goal of knowing God and describes the nature of the pursuit as "not all at once, but gradually 'as the dawn slowly but surely turns to sunrise'.

Is the creative experience a rupture or more akin to dawn turning to sunrise? The general consensus was with Bahya.

For the creative portion of our exploration we were joined by Elisa Berry Fonseca who shared her artwork which focuses upon light and also makes use of wire to create spatial drawings. Elisa also shared a number of artists with us who create artwork using light. Among the better known ones are James Turell who makes use of the physicality of light while Dan Flavin used light as a painterly medium. She shared Andy Goldsworthy who used snow and ice in a series of artwork and reminded us of Jim Hodges whose work is currently at the Walker Art Institute. Elisa also noted artists who make use of everyday elements in their artwork. Among them is Tara Donovan (see left) who uses styrofoam cups joined together to form large organic forms that interact with light. I observed her work at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and found it quite stunning.

Other artists she shared included Olafur Eliasson, Aurora Robson, Alyson Shotz, and Soo Sunny Park.

We were then turned loose with wire and translucent colored materials to create our own sculptures. Add light and voila!

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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Making It Our Own

I just returned from a trip to the West Coast where I had an opportunity to visit the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. With Passover approaching, they had a timely exhibition on the beautiful Haggadah illustrations of Arthur Szyk. Szyk created his Haggadah in the 1930s as Hitler came to power and often incorporated imagery related to the troubled state of the Jews of Europe. His work represented the preservation of the Pesach story, but adapted to the times in which he lived.

My return to the Artists' Lab picked up on that exploration with another dive into the Haggadah. To set the stage our facilitator Meryll Page shared several stories with us to illustrate the assumptions that we carry that may not be universal. She related a story of a local rabbi who was a chaplain in Morocco in the 1950s. When Passover was approaching the local people offered to cook a Pesach meal for them. All they needed to do was to share the recipes. Their assumptions were obviously not universal. They ended up with gefilte fish floating in the matzo ball soup.

The Pesach story has been handed down to us and with its passage through time incorporates issues that modern day eyes may find challenging. The assumptions that may have been the norm in earlier times may no longer be as shared by today's world. We were asked to consider how we approach parts of the story that may be repugnant to us. For example plagues were visited upon the Egyptians, plagues that ultimately destroyed their first-born child. How can we rejoice in that destruction? 

Over time we have created adaptations that seek to acknowledge that discomfort. As we count off the plagues, we dip our finger in the wine and spill a drop. This reminds us that our cup of joy is not complete because people had to die for our freedom. 

The Seder has developed in response to such issues. Each of us can make it our own. Meryll noted that there are five approaches that are often taken when we encounter a conflict with modern day sensibilities.

1 Study the word more.
2 Think of alternatives. For example there are actually two beginnings, one which deals with physical slavery and one which addresses spiritual slavery.
3 Replace something real with symbol. Today we use a lamb bone instead of slaughtering a lamb.
4 Avoid it. We don't paint blood on our door posts.
5 Make it child friendly.

In the spirit of adaptation, Anat led us in an exercise to add two additional commandments to the original ten. The exercise was inspired by a section of a poem by Yehuda Amichai that begins with My Father Was a God and Didn't Know It (#4 of My Parent's Motel). We debated the meaning of the additional commandments in the poem. Our translation differed slightly from this link with #11 Thou shall not change and #12 Thou must surely change. I understand this to mean one is to preserve the essence of who one is, but continue to grow and develop in response to one's environment, an interpretation quite consistent with our treatment of the Pesach story.

So what were our additions? Caring for the environment loomed large as well as kindness and not being passive or silent in the face of injustice. There were fewer "thou shalt nots", reflecting a call to action, less focus on sins of commission, more on those of omission. One spoke to me personally in encompassing all of the issues we raised, "Seek out and treat all of creation with an eye to its divine origins".

As we concluded our exploration of adaption, Anat shared a site with us created by Madonna on the theme of freedom. The focus is especially timely with Pesach approaching as its purpose is to encourage creative expressions that bring attention to human rights violations.

 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.

A Plague of Darkness

With Pesach fast approaching, our focus in the Artists' Lab was on how darkness is dealt with in the Passover story. But first we began our session with a song based on a phrase about light; Yom Zeh l'Israel orah v'simchah, Shabbat m'nuhah. This day for Israel is joyous and blessed with light, happiness and Shabbat rest.

Rabbi Davis often uses song to mark the beginning and end of a discussion and I found myself wondering if the ability to carry a tune is a rabbinical requirement. Fortunately I don't aspire to such.  Having sung of light in a happy context, we then turned our attention to its opposite, darkness, specifically the plague of darkness visited upon the Egyptians as a prelude to the release of the Israelites (Exodus. 10:21). 

What does the plague of darkness represent to us? we were asked. "Fear, the unknown, hopelessness, a violation of the laws of nature (darkness during day) " we responded. This evolved into a discussion of our experiences with darkness, some which were quite unusual. One of our group recalled eating at a restaurant in Israel at which the wait staff was blind and the meal was served in darkness. A light code of sorts was enforced with a guest asked to remove his glow in the dark watch.

We discussed how darkness makes one appreciate its antithesis. But darkness is not always a negative. When one is in the womb, we float in darkness. It is light that shocks us upon the moment of birth. And in a world without artificial light, the phases of the moon were especially important for a full moon allowed one to see.

Coming back to the plague of darkness we were asked to imagine the response of the Egyptians when the power of their sun god was extinguished by darkness. The rabbi shared the relevant passages from the Torah together with excerpts of medieval commentary.

The interpretations sometimes grew out of disparate translations of words. Rashi argued that the verb in a key passage came from the word meaning "to grope" as in "you shall grope at noon as a blind man gropes in the dark (Deuteronomy 28:29)" arguing for a thick darkness, one of mass. Still other interpretations spoke of the darkness as a blinding light. 

Interestingly the Israelites were noted as having light in their dwelling, even as the Egyptians did not. We considered whether the term dwelling meant a home or perhaps our body, the home of our inner light.

In addition to the Egyptians, the plague of darkness also affected those Israelites who did not want to venture out of Egypt for forty years of wandering. According to the Midrash, twelve million Israelites died in the darkness.

So what are we to learn of darkness? Hiddushei haRim notes that the greatest darkness is when we fail to see another person, a failure to empathize. Yet another interpreter Even Haezel references language that states the darkness was as thick as dinars (gold coins) meaning that chasing wealth "increases selfishness and darkens the eyes".

Meryll Page then shared a Haggadah created by David Moss. As we are asked to imagine ourselves as someone who came out of Egypt, Moss assists us in this effort by embedding mirrored sections among images of Jews. Traditionally Jews have added to the Haggadah through illustration, thus illuminating it. As we learn in different ways, Passover makes use of many methods. We talk, taste and look. Our final exercise of the evening was to consider how we would add to our Passover Seder through image or text and what our message would be.

 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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An Exploration of Memory

This week's Artist's Lab began with an introduction to Keren Kroul whose colorful watercolors hang on the walls of the Tychman Shapiro gallery. Her brightly colored geometric segments repeat and twist, moving forward and away. White space is carved out, drawing one's eye to the negative space that defines the larger image. Complementing her work are large sculptural forms by Jeffrey Haddorf, assembled from ceramic and metal. Through the open space within his sculptures you glimpse Keren's colorful imagery and realize that each echoes aspects of the other.

Keren began by orienting us to the concerns that inform her work. With one parent from Argentina and one from Israel, Keren spoke Hebrew at home and Spanish in her daily life in Mexico and Costa Rica. As the only Jewish child in her Spanish speaking school, identity became a central focus of her artistic exploration. Keren explores identity through the lens of memory, reconstructing it through fragments that repeat, creating emphasis.

Along one long wall hung watercolors that captured forms that tied to memory, the reflection of Israeli blinds on the floor, a braid from her grandmother's twin who died in the Holocaust, figures curled in the ground. It is a storyboard of sorts, replete with iconic imagery. The colors change, becoming brighter, more optimistic as figures begin to connect to the landscape. In the last panel are geometric forms which Keren carried over to her next body of work, expanding on the forms as if a meditation, a repetition, but with variations of form and color.

Keren began as a painter, but when she was pregnant twelve years ago she sought a non-toxic medium and shifted to watercolor on paper. That practical decision opened up a dialogue with drawing and paper and became an ongoing exploration. She abandoned the physicality of the large stroke of painting for very focused work with small brushes applied as she stands. Always open to happy accidents, Keren creates forms that conjure neurons or perhaps a coral reef.

What is the relationship between memory, art and history? How would we draw it? These were the questions that were posed to us as we broke into groups following Keren's discussion; familiar turf for me as my work focuses on memory and I have often contemplated the linkage to art. Several of our groups drew double helixes while a third created sculptural forms to express the interrelationships between memory, art and history.

Memory seems more immediate than history, there is someone who remembers an event that presumably occurred in their experience. Both memory and history are created through the lens of the viewer and thus can differ among those recording it. Each is also subject to distortion. History represents more of a collective view, not necessarily universal, but codified and reinforced within a group. It in turn begins to create a collective memory, less immediate and more subject to being shaped by art or history.

We continued our exploration of these themes with a video which explored how art shapes memories of history and creates acts of remembrance. The work of Shimon Attie was presented as an illustration of the layering of time and memory. Attie projected images of the former Jewish community of Berlin on buildings, matching photos to the original location, juxtaposing time and place to create remembrance.

Equally powerful is his project Portraits of Exile which uses light boxes submerged in water to juxtapose the 1943 rescue of Denmark's Jewish community with present day refugees.

Memory is fostered through imagery and story creating a fundamental linkage to artwork. While artwork may represent and shape history, whose history it represents and with what level of veracity can be an open question.

Author note: Art and memory is my personal artistic focus. I have addressed many of these issues in my personal blog and am providing some of the links below for your reference.

Art and Memory

In 2013 I attended a workshop at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies on the topic of Holocaust memory and its expression through art and literature. The following entries were based on that workshop.

Creating Collective Memory
Juxtaposing Time and Place

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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