Last week was the launch night of the PresenTense New York City Community Entrepreneur Fellowship, an incubator program aimed at revitalizing the established Jewish communal world through new initiatives by committed and energetic young leaders. Jewish Art Now founder, Elke Reva Sudin, participated in the program, presenting Jewish Art Now to the institutional Jewish community.
Curated by Adrianne Rubin, MOBIA associate curator, and Professor Matthew Baigell.
Museum of Biblical Art
1865 Broadway at 61st Street, New York, NY 10023
June 14 – September 29, 2013
Featuring the work of approximately a dozen contemporary artists, this exhibition will highlight books and, in some cases, series of individual pages, inspired by the Hebrew Bible and other sacred Hebrew texts. The works on view will underscore the relevance of the Bible to present-day book artists and emphasize how these artists garner personally resonant artistic subject matter from the source materials.
Brazilian cartoonists Adam Grzybowski and Luis Goldman will present their off-color humorous take on the Torah with the cartoon series BIBLE: Unauthorized Version the evening of May 28th at the Midrash Centro Cultural in Rio De Janeiro.
International audiences can read the BIBLE: Unauthorized Version comic strip and view the animated shorts in English, Spanish or Portuguese at their websites, http://bibleunauthorizedversion.blogspot.com and http://bibleunauthorizedversion.com/
By Saul Sudin
Rama Burshtein’s Fill The Void (Lemale et ha’halal) is the second film in as many years to emerge from Israel with not only a strong international presence, but a unique perspective on religious Judaism. Just as Footnote before it, this was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards after a run of significant festival appearances (including winning Best Actress at the 2012 Venice Film Festival). The film represents the crowning jewel of an emerging religious women’s cinema scene, which usually sticks to exclusively female audiences. Perhaps as the barriers on cinema in the Orthodox world evolve, the world at large will take notice and an audience for quality work will be there to support it- male or female.
Photo by Karin Bar, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Fill The Void tells the story of a Hassidic family living in Tel Aviv through the eyes of eighteen-year-old Shira (Hadas Yaron), just entering the age to be married, and her mother Rivka (Irit Sheleg), who places family above all else. We are placed inside this complex community without an introduction to their customs, and the film leaves it up to the audience to catch up. But the universality of nervous love through family trials and tribulations should ring true for anyone who sees the film. Only the rules in this particular culture- the modest separation of men and women at virtually any age and the arrangements surrounding a possible shidduch (a sort of blind date set up by a community matchmaker)- make it all the more intriguing.
by Tajlei Levis, Special To The Jewish Week
Putnam Valley, N.Y. — On a bright May afternoon on the grounds of an organic farm camp in this Hudson Valley town, a sculptor shaped branches found in the woods into letters of the Hebrew alphabet, while a singer-songwriter played guitar, inspired by the sounds of nature.
A performance artist read Torah in connection with an interpretive dance, and a composer focused on the connection between musical tones and the ripples on the lake.
These are just a sample of the creative responses of the first batch of artists-in-residence at Art Kibbutz NY to the environmental theme, “The Jewish Waltz with Planet Earth.â€
After a 5 month long residency in New York, contemporary Jewish modernist painter Israel Noaj Sauer will be exhibiting a solo show of Jewish themed paintings inspired by the island of Manhattan. All works were creating during the residency.
With a childlike playfulness, Israel Noaj Sauer of Buenos Aires discusses serious issues about life and ideas drawn from Jewish culture that bring him inspiration. Sauer grew up with exposure and passion to great 20th century modernists and after embracing Judaism as an adult, began his creative practice with a determination to reveal his unique perspective
Monday May 20, 2013
7-9:30pm
First International Jewish Artist Colony Open Studios at Eden Village Camp
May 12, 2013 11:45am – 6:00pm
The Jewish Waltz with Planet Earth Retreat
Art Kibbutz NY, the international Jewish artist colony launched its pilot residency program this spring at the spectacular Eden Village Camp in Putnam Valley, New York. The first season’s theme is THE JEWISH WALTZ WITH PLANET EARTH. From May 1-22, 2013, 30 outstanding Jewish artists from all disciplines will be able to work on developing their work while in residence at Eden Village Camp, renowned for its naturalistic beauty. Artists arrived from as far as Australia, Argentina, Israel, Russia, Canada, Great Britain and Hungary to the residency. Join us on May 12th 11:45am – 6:00pm to Art Kibbutz Open Studios at Eden Village to see surprising and creative ways Jewish artists are connecting with mother Earth.
The Jewish Art Salon is a global community of artists, art professionals and art enthusiasts that works within the Jewish community and art world to bring innovation to contemporary Jewish art. Since 2008, the Salon has organized exhibitions, panel discussions, and educational & other art programming with leading international artists and scholars.
Benefits: Membership allows you to be considered for exhibitions and speaking opportunities.
As a Jewish Art Salon member your work will be recommended to curators, art historians, and programming professionals on an individual basis, as well as the other benefits listed below.
1. This year, the Salon is preparing several tightly-curated group exhibits in New York and elsewhere; one of these projects will include a catalog. You will also be able to apply to one of three solo exhibits at the Anne Frank Center in NY; call for art here.
2. The Salon Speakers Bureau, which will bring the members of the Jewish Art Salon into dialogue with the larger community. The Speakers Bureau will be a forum for the public to find lecturers for museums, synagogues, universities, and public institutions throughout the world. Our speakers will provide sessions with a wide range of topics and approaches. Already we have been retained by a non-profit to create artist-led lectures and workshops, and we will be hiring artists soon.
3. We will be building a new & improved website, which will feature artists, 3 of their images, their contact info, links to their website, and keywords to describe their work and media.
We are strengthening our connections with other art communities in the USA and Israel, and we will be working on collaborative projects.
Artist Application Deadline May 19, 2013
The Anne Frank Center USA and the Jewish Art Salon will co-host three solo exhibits at the Center in 2014.
Theme:
Small-scale 2-dimensional works that are in line with the center’s mission “to educate about the dangers of intolerance, anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination, and to inspire the next generation to build a world based on equal rights and mutual respect.”
We are not looking for art that graphically depicts the Holocaust. The work does not have to be Jewish-themed either. For instance: upcoming exhibits include a photo series of Cuban Jews in present-day Havana, a photo series of the Roma and Sinti in 1940-45; and calligraphy paintings inspired by the French children killed in WWII.
Sunday, June 30 – Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Isabella Friedman
116 Johnson Road Falls Village, CT
Berkshires
A wildly diverse array of opportunities to learn about, create, and engage with the arts.
Select Sessions:
Creator and Creation presented by Saul Sudin of Jewish Art Now
How do we draw upon our own creator for the way we create? What is the meaning of man as created in G-d’s image? This session goes in depth on the creative process as laid out in the book of Genesis and elaborates on ways we all can connect to it.
Life Drawing Meditation led by Elke Reva Sudin of Jewish Art Now
Join artist Elke Reva Sudin in a meditative life drawing session to calm the mind and see subjects as they actually are, not how we perceive them. Materials are provided.
Jewish Self-Discovery Through the Art of the Mandala presented by Sarah Pauker
The Eye, The Fish, The Hamsa presented by Michelle Bentsman
The Book of Ezekiel… and Zombies: Theatrical Research on Resurrection presented by Jesse Freedman and Bronwen Mullin of Meta-Phys Ed.
“Punk Jews” Film Screening and Discussion led by Saul Sudin
Amulet Painting led by Yona Verwer of Jewish Art Salon
Revolutionizing the Jewish Art Community led by Yona Verwer of Jewish Art Salon
Esther’s Day: Purim in Art led by Richard McBee of Jewish Art Salon
Authentic Visual Art Journaling led by Haifa Bint-Khadi
Sanctuary Builders: Va-Yakhel: 35 v20-21 led by Elizabeth Yaari
The Creative Spark (3-part workshop) led by Pete Nelson
Creating successful Jewish public art projects with Art Kibbutz led by Patricia Eszter Margit of Art Kibbutz
Registration Information
Use Discount Code EARLY when you register by June 2nd and save $25.
(Registration Required)