Happy Hanukkah! And Thanksgiving, too!

I made you a little something, with the help of Normal Rockwell. Whatever you're celebrating, I hope you enjoy it.

Artist-in-Residence at URJ Biennial -cutting paper live, in person!

If you're attending the 2013 URJ Biennial in San Diego this December I hope you'll come by Kikar Biennial (the "town square") and see me working on a new papercut (as well as sharing photos of recent work and other information). I'm proud to have been selected as the 2013 artist-in-residence, and am creating a new piece designed specifically for Biennial. Protective eyewear will not be required.

On Wednesday, December 11, from 2:35-3:05 pm I'll be doing a "meet and greet," and I've got guaranteed scheduled cutting time from 12-2 pm on Thursday and 12:15-1:45 pm on Friday – but I'll be around more than just that, and I look forward to meeting you; please come by the table and say "hi."

And on Saturday, December 14, I'll be leading a workshop for those of you who want to put knife to paper with me; details here.

Treehugger!

This papercut is called "Treehugger," and it was created as a gift for Ruben Arquilevich, Senior Camp Director of URJ Camp Newman. Last night we held an event to honor him and camp leadership.

URJ Camp Newman Advancement Director Ari Vared
presents "Treehugger" to Ruben Arquilevich.

The piece is inspired both by Ruben's love of nature and the way he expresses it through camp leadership. Tucked within the branches, in addition to the imported papers and cut-up comic books, is a snippet of text from the Torah (a book that had been destined for the genizah wound up in my hands first!) – it references his biblical namesake, but also the lineage of Jacob – that is, the children of Israel. This, for the "dor l'dor" nature of camp, and for the way it nourishes continuing generations of Jewish kids.

Welcome aboard, Gabriel!

Yesterday we welcomed a new member of the Jewish community – Gabriel Max Roher-Smith – with a ritual brit at the home of his parents. I was pleased to be able to make this papercut marking the date of his birth and to present it to his parents at the simcha.

The rainbow bands are made of cut-up comics featuring (in descending order) Spider-Man, The Thing, Kid Flash, Hulk, and Superman.

Corrie Siegel's papercuts at AJU

I'm not the only papercutter with work in the "Sacred Words, Sacred Texts" exhibition going on now through the end of December – Corrie Siegel (who also created the theme map artwork for the show) has some beautifully fragile pieces at AJU.

As she describes the work, "These cut paper works are created through overlaying text in a matrix to obscure the original message and reveal a pattern composed of symbols.The intricate detail work is inspired by micrographic texts by Hebrew scribes who sculpt, skew and stretch letters to create dynamic and textured compositions. Through using the form of a traditional Jewish paper-cut, these loaded texts are abstracted and cut into fragile lace."

You can see more of Corrie's work on her website.