A Stitch in Jewish Time: Provocative Textiles

Coat of the Agunah - Andi Arnovitz

Middle Matzah - Leslie Golomb and Louise Silk

An amazing exhibit is currently on display through June 30, 2011 at the Hebrew Union College's Jewish Institute of Religion Museum (located at Brookdale Center, One West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012).

This exhibit "...explores how exceptional contemporary artists apply their skillful creativity to the ever evolving understanding of Jewish values. Individually addressing issues of memory and reflection, interpretations of history and ritual, and links between the past and present, they delve into aspects of the Holocaust, war, patriotism, celebration, prayer, feminism, and sexuality, frequently through the inclusion of Biblical texts and sometimes challenging traditional forms."
http://huc.edu/ckimages/files/Digest/August%2026,%202010/Press%20Release%20-%20A%20Stitch%20in%20Jewish%20Time.pdf

More Info About Some of the Artists:

Leslie A Golomb and Louise Silk - "Deez Nites Be All the Same to Me" : These two artists have created a series of quilts depicting the linked story of a Jewish slave-owning family, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Lyons Moss, and their run away slave boy.
http://www.lesliegolomb.com/deezlobby.html

Blog Post to The Jewish Chronicle by Louise Silk - Why Don't Jews Quilt?
http://thejewishchronicle.net/pages/full_story/push?blog-entry-Why+Don%E2%80%99t+Jews+Quilt-%20&id=10679000

Andi Arnovitz - Unchained: While Trying on New Artistic Hat, Artist Develops Series of Paper Coats:
http://www.tabletmag.com/arts-and-culture/26293/unchained/#3

"One series of coats is devoted to agunot, the so-called “chained women,” who, according to Jewish law, cannot remarry due to their husbands’ refusal to grant a divorce, or inconclusive evidence of a husband’s death. Arnovitz obtained and photocopied hundreds of ketubot (marriage contracts), and tore them into small pieces. With thread she affixed the fragments onto massive paper coats. The sleeves, hems and collars were sewn shut, and the threads, evidence of her painstaking process, were left hanging, a metaphor for the agunah, herself."

Robert Forman - String Pictures - "Forman's work is about the journey-his, theirs, ours. It is about transparent shadows of the real world, shifting as we shift, fortelling our own ephemerality even as they document us for posterity, playing tricks on our vision like Puck, like the trickster spirits of every culture. It is about surface, but also about deeper layers and juxtapositions-of thread, form, subject matter, symbol and meaning."
Website: http://www.glueyarn.com/site/Home.html

Robert Forman: The Journey of Self and Other (Surface Design Journal - Spring 2000)
http://www.glueyarn.com/site/Surface_Design.html

Jacqueline Nicholls - "...uses art to explore traditional Jewish ideas in untraditional ways. This website shows the variety of media I use in my work - paper-cuts, embroidery, corsetry, drawings & print, clothing - and explains some of my thinking behind each piece."
http://www.jacquelinenicholls.com/ 

Blog - http://jacquelinenicholls.blogspot.com/

Nancy Koenigsberg

Jane Sauer Galleryhttp://www.jsauergallery.com/sagemoon/MainPages/BasketryInPerspective2009.html#NK

Snyderman-Works Galleries
http://www.snyderman-works.com/artists/nancy-koenigsberg

Elaine Reichek - combines "...vintage and current photography with stitching..."
http://www.elainereichek.com/
.
Adam Cohen - "Embroidery offers me a way to explore imagery while still feeling connected to the piece through my hands."

Snyderman-Works Galleries
http://www.snyderman-works.com/artists/adam-cohen

Free Creativity Coaching Sample

Many of us are familiar with Quinnn McDonald as an artist and as one who has graciously shared tutorials, but did you know that she also is a certified creativity coach as well? Coaching sessions are phone based and are scheduled to fit when you have the time to be focused.

Quinn is offering a free 30-minute sample session and states that it is:

"Not a demonstration or a pitch, this 30-minute free coaching session starts with the issues that you want to be coached on. It's a real coaching session.

At the end [of the free session], we will decide on an appropriate challenge as 'homework.' You'll ask any questions you have on coaching. There is no pressure and I won't sign you up after the coaching sample. You'll have time to think it through if you want to start coaching"

To learn more and to schedule your free session:
http://rawartjournaling.com/Coaching.html

Imagination Works - Quinn's free creativity newsletter that is e-mailed twice a month. To sign up for it:
http://rawartjournaling.com/Newsletter_IVFF.html

Creativity Ariticles - written by Quinn and available through Creativity-Portal (scroll down):
http://www.creativity-portal.com/cca/quinn-mcdonald/

QuinnCreative: Tips, Slips, Stumbles, and Leaps on the Creative Journal - Quinn's Blog:
http://quinncreative.wordpress.com/

The Amazing Leather Work of Winfred Rembert

 "Winfred uses a canvas of cured leather to tool memories from his life.

These 'snapshots' offer an unprecedented view into the true lives of

African Americans in the Deep South only fifty years ago. The themes

present in his work transcend age, racial, gender and religious differences.

Through Winfred's work, we are encouraged to persevere and find a blessing

- to find redeption in the suffering we each experience as human beings."

- from his website

Many textile artists use leather in their work - Winfred Rembert, however, uses this "textile" as his fabric to create stunning and masterful narratives. The detailed imagery in the slices of life that he gives us from his own memories and experiences are fascinating, riveting and incredibly moving.

Family Picking Cotton - Winfred Rembert

Chain Gang (All Me) - Winfred Rembert

Website
http://www.velocissima.com/winfred/

The Indelible Images of Winfred Rembert - Folk Art Messenger Magazine
http://www.folkart.org/mag/winfred-rembert

Call Him "Artist" - includes a slideshow with 10 images of his work
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/05/13/entertainment/doc4bec01551d0fd865045524.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Adelson Galleries - Winfred Rembert - can view 44 images of his work
http://www.adelsongalleries.com/exhibitions/2010-04-07_winfred-rembert/

Winfred  Rembert at Work - 3:17 minute YouTube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UTfKyjHB_g&feature=player_embedded

WFXL Interview of Winfred Remnbert - 6:03 minute YouTube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2hPEitmam4&feature=related

Business Support for the Arts from Large Businesses Dropped Significantly

As we probably all could have predicted, a survey for the Business Committe for the Arts found that between 2006 - 2009, business support for the arts from large businesses "...fell from 43 percent to 28 percent, while the number that gave to any charitable cause dropped from 70 percent to 52 percent." Interestingly, however, over the same period support from small to mid-sized businesses actually increased.
http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=316900003

To read the executive summary of the Triennial Survey of Business Support for the Arts:
http://www.americansforthearts.org/pdf/information_services/arts_business_partnerships/bca/BCA%202010%20Survey%20Executive%20Summary.pdf