Newspaper article about Richard Edelman

Our "very own' Richard Edelman is featured in an article on the Milwaukee Jewish Chronicle!

The article mentions his participation in the Laboratory and the photograph on the first page is of Richard working on "Isaac Bound," one of the sculptures included in our last exhibit.

See the photo and read the article here:

http://www.jewishchronicle.org/article.php?article_id=14047

Sarah Bryant visits the Lab!

What a great session we had last Monday, November the 12th, when printmaker, letter press printer, and book artist extraordinaire Sarah Bryant came to visit! Sarah holds an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa. Her recent artist's book Biography is the winner of the 2011 Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) Prize and the 2010 Award for Artistic Excellence at Pyramid Atlantic.

Be amazed by her work: Sarah's website.

At the JCC, Sarah showed us her beautiful books and spoke about her inspiration and process. Then, she conducted a workshop on simple, book making techniques. Here are some pictures of the evening:

 First, Sarah showed us how to handle the paper:

Then how to fold it and crease it:



Marc (in background) threading the needle:



Stitching with Audrene and Clarice:



Judith carefully folding her book:



Maida and David at work:



Men at work:



The stitched book:



Our finished products: a stitched book and an accordion fold:

A Flag Book out of Sarah's "box of wonder": 

-could this be our next workshop? ;)

The happy Lab co-facilitators, Natanya and Jody with their special guest:

Introducing the JCC Artists' Laboratory 2012-13 Emerging Artists

Michal Jubelirer, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina belongs to a family of artists. She works in a wide variety of media encompassing both fine art and design, and is equally as comfortable painting on canvas as she is creating computer animation.  Go to Mijal's website to see some examples of her works and process.

A native of Maryland, David Hercenberg is an educator as well as the photographer and videographer owner of the award winning Documented Video Productions, LLC. David and his company have an active web presence, though he is especially proud of his inclusion in the Internet Movie Database (IMBd)

Through their participation in the laboratory, both David and Mijal will be creating permanent works for the community. 

And speaking of young talent, here is a sneak peak at "Noah's Arc" by last year's emerging artist Benno Rothschild:

Once finished, it will be transported to the JCC where community children and their families will help the artist paint the arc and make clay animals to inhabit it. See what else Benno is up to: his website HERE! 

The "mother" of all texts

To start our Jewish study, Jody brought in a Torah scroll. Indeed, the "mother" of all texts, each scroll is also a timeless piece of art which has been lovingly written in the exact same way (mistakes and all) by specialized scribes, for thousands of years.

BRUCHIM HABAIM (WELCOME) to the 2nd year of the Milwaukee Jewish Artists' Laboratory!

We have a new topic and several new members who joined last year's cohort, including two young emerging artists. Stay tuned to find out who they are and what we do while we study and work together.

We also welcome the Madison, WI and Minneapolis, MN recently formed Jewish Artists' Laboratories. They will be working with the same topic, and we will have a chance to meet both virtually and in-person. 

OUR TOPIC THIS YEAR IS:

TEXT/CONTEXT/SUBTEXT

TEXT: the original words and form of a written or printed work.

CONTEXT: the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning.

SUBTEXT: the implicit or metaphorical meaning [of a text].

The above definitions are the first ones found for each word, on the online version of the Merriam- Webster Dictionary . Of course, if you keep reading or look elsewhere, you will find many variations. How many definitions can you find? How can these be applied to the creation of works of art?

Exhibition Opening: A Great Success!

The opening of our first exhibit was so much fun. Thank you to the scores of people who came to view the show, and share in this special moment for the Milwaukee Jewish and Artistic Communities!

Here's a great article by H. Glenn Rosenkrantz, who flew in from New York City to attend the event. All images are by our very talented Ryan Hainey:

http://www.covenantfn.org/news/106/251/A-Midwest-Movement-Creates-and-Elevates-Jewish-Art


And thank you to all who have been coming to the JCC to view the show since the opening. We receive daily praise, and have distributed over 300 copies of the artists' statements.

OUR FIRST EXHIBIT IS HERE!

We are incredibly excited and proud to invite you to the first Milwaukee Jewish Artists' Laboratory exhibition! This show marks the end of out debut year and will be up May 31 - June 20. You don't want to miss it: each of our 14 participating artists has created one or more inspired pieces, that together have transformed a light filled hallway into a veritable museum-quality gallery.

Please join us at the JCC for the show's 

GRAND OPENING ON JUNE 6
(6-9pm, program 7:30-8:1.)

All of the artists will be available to speak about their work and their experience as part of this group. There will also be readings of both Judith's piece and Jody's play (read the entire play:  http://www.jccmilwaukee.org/article-665-honi-a-talmudic-tale-in-one-act.html ).

Here's the front of the postcard invitation:

And the back with the information:

Annette Hirsh

Hello All!

Her  work-intensive pieces include jewelry,
sculptures and Judaica objects.

Last week, we had the pleasure of visiting the studio of the JCC Artists' Laboratory talented metalsmith Annette Hirsh.

For over 50 years, Annette has been working in her basement studio where she creates exquisitely delicate rings, necklaces and earrings, mezuzahs, candelabra, Torah yads and crowns, small sculptures of birds, fish and butterflies, and a myriad other items.

"Metal work is not for the faint hearted"

The artist explained her working methods which include molten (lost) wax metal casting and etching, among others. Later, we moved into her living room where Annette treated us to hot cider with a cinnamon stick, and we studied text surrounded by her works.

We look forward to visiting more of our artists' studios in the near future.

THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL EVENING ANNETTE!

Click here to see one more piece by this artist

Here's Richard admiring a fish-candelabra

Studio where Annette has worked since 1956

Matriarchs and Wandermaps

The energy was high at our meeting last night! We discussed differing views and opinions on the Matriarchs while reading from Genesis and looking at work by Abel Pann. Here's his pastel "The Four Matriarchs." Do you think these portraits are in agreement with the traditional idea of what (from left to right) Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah might have looked like? Why, why not? Leave us a comment with your response.

The second half of our time together was devoted to looking at and discussing some of the WANDERMAPS we have been working on. Not surprisingly these are very diverse! Take a look at those by Rosalind, Judith and Barbara...more to come during the next few weeks.

The objects in the image below represent just a few of those collected by Rosalind in different countries where, for three months each year, her husband volunteered throughout the 1970’s and 80’s.

Here is a much downsized image of Judith's recollections of significant people and places arranged on a map of the Canadian Rockies where she and her husband honeymooned years ago.

 

This little handmade book includes a collection of the names of those individuals who have been an important influence in Barbara's life. She stated her "wandermap is all about people, rather than objects".

One more for the "Show and Tell" list!

Here's an example of work by our very own Annette Hirsh: