I fell into the world of Judaic Art by chance. I had been painting traditional oil and watercolor portraits, but I wanted to focus on my subjects’ spiritual side, rather than their physical appearance. I began to paint pictures that I called “Life Cycle Portraits.” My first paintings incorporated images and symbols important to my subjects and were reminiscent of American folk art quilts. A client who had seen these works asked me to do a painting for her daughter’s Bat Mitzvah.  We decided the painting should meld elements from both the girl’s personal life and her Torah portion, which fortuitously was the Creation  Beresheet.

            That painting led me to consider connecting my art with Judaism and particularly how Torah stories tapped into an artistic ideal that has intrigued me since I was a young artist. Certain universal themes touch chords within us, although we may not fully understand why. These archetypes often refer to themes in nature and life cycle events that helped earlier civilizations make sense of their world.  They include birth, coming of age, marriage and death, as well as natural phenomena like the sun, moon, stars and the seasons.  I was familiar with this imagery in Western art, but I had not previously thought about applying these archetypal forms to Judaic Art.

            I began exploring ancient and contemporary works of Judaic work. Visually, the ancient Ketubot are intricate and rich with symbolism. They are often embellished with wonderful decorative designs, and even the tiny details are full of meaning. The swirls that define the border are often based on the patterns that were representative of the friezes or tapestries of that artist’s particular geographic region. The explicit Jewish imagery is integrated into and not separate from those decorative elements and regional influences. Anchored by ancient Jewish symbols, there is a kind of experimentation and merging of the local culture with the age-old imagery found in Judaic art from all over the world.

            Being part of this wonderful Judaic Arts continuum has helped me to establish my place and time as an artist. I continue to create paintings for a wide range of life-cycle events, with my main focus currently on Ketubot. The COVID shutdown has highlighted how essential these rituals are. Right now, weddings, b’nai mitzvot, anniversary celebrations, and funerals have been pared down to their essence. It is the ritual aspect of these events that has endured. One might even say that these life cycle rituals define who we are as a people. For a recent Ketubah commission, the ceremony was pared down to just the couple, the Ketubah, and the Chuppah, with the immediate family and the officiating Rabbi on Zoom. Despite the physical absence of guests and no party, the couple were married under Jewish law and they were ecstatic.  My Ketubot have appeared in other tiny, but joyous, backyard weddings.  Seeing my artwork play a role in these important ritual events held in this strangest of years has brought me much joy and taught me how important the work that I do is in people’s lives.

            I have always reveled in the formal aspects of painting. I love the physical act of creating something original that has never existed before. I have a particular interest in color theory, exploring how colors harmonize with one another. In each of my paintings, I use a different palette with the goal of achieving a specific mood.  I have painted with oil and watercolor, but I have found gouache to be a perfect medium because the paint is rich and enables me to achieve various textures and brilliant color. I add layers of color and design by using stencils, sponging and masking areas to create a rich, visually vibrating surface texture in my work. Recently, I have begun to incorporate Adobe-generated designs into my drawings. I have even created a few pieces digitally, but I have found that the hand-created tactile nature of my work is very important. I strive to find a balance between technology and work done by hand.  

            I love to experiment with new techniques because that is how I continue to grow and develop as an artist.  Right now, I am having fun with papercutting. Papercutting is a traditional Jewish Art form.  Papercutting originated in China, but later became very popular in Eastern Europe. Judaic papercuts were often made for special events such as weddings or holidays and were also used as ritual objects known as Mizrach. This ancient artform has recently re-emerged and grown in popularity with the advent of digital printers to cut the designs. I am currently exploring this genre and experimenting with maintaining my own artistic style while integrating it into papercut designs. I am particularly intrigued about using collage and layers of papercut designs as another dimension in my work. I feel that this is the logical next step for me. 

            Each new painting that I create teaches me about my heritage and the importance of communicating the rituals that are central to our lives.  My commissioned work involves a collaborative process between the client and me, in which I ask them to contemplate which objects, symbols, or interests of personal importance they want to incorporate into the theme of the artwork. As I interview my clients, they often recollect stories from their past, and memories that may have been buried for years. Ideally as part of this process, my clients think about the deeper meaning of their lives and relationships.  I have the privilege of helping to translate these thoughts and ideas into visual images, pulling from a reservoir of ancient symbols. I also enjoy weaving symbols that contain secret meanings, like a Mexican wedding urn in a Ketubah, or objects or places that are significant to the client. Although I use many ancient symbols in my paintings, I also bring new images and symbols that reflect our time and place.  For me, each piece that I undertake is a journey and exploration of how to use symbolism, color, and pattern to reflect each client’s unique life experiences.