Saturday, June 25, 2011

Teaching Papercutting
at URJ Camp Newman

Every summer I spend two weeks at URJ Camp Newman as an artisti-in-residence, teaching papercutting to high school-age campers. Their program is called Hagigah, and it's focused on expressing Judaism through the arts -- so they paint, they sculpt, they dance and sing and write... in addition to everything else you'd expect at Jewish sleepaway camp.

This year I have two groups of cutters, and they're already doing great work.








Wednesday, June 8, 2011

"King David":
Commission for a Magician

I'm very pleased to share with you a photo of my latest completed commission, titled "King David."


[CLICK TO SEE IT LARGER]

Commissioned for award-winning magician Paul Green by his wife to mark his birthday, "King David" is a representation in paper of the King of Spades playing card, an oft-used tool of the close-up magician. The King of Spades is traditionally known as King David -- an acclaimed warrior, musician, and poet, and credited with writing most of the Book of Psalms.

The "King David" papercut brings together magic and Judaism in this birthday commission, backed in shades of green to represent Paul's name and his predilection for that color.

The background of the papercut features cut-up comics, featuring snippets of Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and others. The papercut also includes a section from Psalm 145 (from a book taken from the genizah before ritual burial), written by King David, which contains reference to "thy wondrous works" -- used by the artist as an allusion to Paul's magic. The English words of the psalm are found in the "top" face, and the corresponding Hebrew is found in the reverse.

Below are details of the two faces -- click the images to see them larger.