Cleveland "Guests" Portraits for Sukkot 2020

 Last year at this time Rabbi Shawna and I were in Cleveland with the community of The Temple-Tifereth Israel, praying and studying and creating and celebrating Sukkot (check out what that was like). This year we had the opportunity to be back in Cleveland.... virtually. We joined them today for some visual text study about Sukkot and "the guests you can still have in your sukkah" (ushpizin and ushpizot), and for a sneak peek at what's going on in my studio.

I also shared with the TTTI community three new portraits I just completed, inspired by the upcoming virtual visit: three guests I'd invite to join me in the sukkah. Last year I added four guests to the traditional seven patriarchs and matriarchs: Cleveland's own Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, creators of Superman; Rabbi Sally Preisand, a Cleveland native who is America's first female rabbi (and visited the gallery to see her portrait!); and Golda Meir, Israel's first female prime minister.

This year's three new guests all have Cleveland connections. The first one is Simson Thorman, the first Jewish permanent resident of Cleveland, an immigrant from Bavaria who was a founder of the city's first Jewish congregation and the first Jew to serve on the Cleveland City Council. His portrait is made with cut-up comics featuring Nightcrawler, another German immigrant.

 

Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver is beloved by TTTI because he was their rabbi for 46 years starting in 1917. He was an early champion of rights for labor, for worker's compensation and civil liberties, though his highest priorities were to advance respect for and support of Zionism. 

 

My portrait of Silver is made of cut-up Superman comics focused on Perry White and the Daily Planet offices, inspired by his fighting for workers’ rights, and the renewed understanding 2020 has given us of the importance of those who work in the press and other fields essential to our emotional, political, and physical well-being.

 

My portrait of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is made of cut-up She-Hulk comics (she’s a super hero and her alter ego Jennifer Walters is a lawyer focused on defendants’ rights).

 

I wanted to capture the fight that “the notorious RBG” (in her "dissent collar") and *all* of us are engaged in for justice for all.

The portrait includes text from the Book of Judges (on Deborah), the text from Deuteronomy on “Tzedek Tzedek tirdof,” some Justice League comics, and pieces of an RBG comic book biography.

Can't wait to get back to Cleveland in person.

Men of Steel and Women of Valor

This fall I opened a new exhibition at The Temple Museum of Jewish Art, Religion, and Culture in Cleveland called "Men of Steel and Women of Valor," and I've been keeping you posted here (and on Facebook, and Twitter, and Instagram) but as the exhibition comes to a close it seemed appropriate to put everything up in one place – right here on my blog. (You can also read about it in The Forward or the Cleveland Jewish News.)

Standing in the gallery – in my Superboy shirt, of course.

At the heart of the exhibition is a series of large portraits made of cut-up comic books featuring Superman and Lois Lane, Daredevil and Elektra, the Fantastic Four — transformed into the biblical patriarchs and matriarchs, as well as modern figures. These portraits are a nod to the Jewish custom of inviting guests into one’s sukkah during the fall festival of Sukkot, since we opened the exhibition just before Sukkot. In fact, Rabbi Shawna and I went to The Temple-Tifereth Israel for a Paper Midrash weekend to coincide with the exhibition, praying and teaching and creating all weekend with the community.

Rabbi Shawna and I led a bunch of papercutting workshops during our Paper Midrash weekend

We led a number of projects to create new art for the walls of the TTTI sukkah

Teaching in "the birthplace of Superman"

The exhibition focused heavily on Superman, created in Cleveland in the 1930s by two Jews, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster — portraits of whom are included in the show, made of cut-up Superman comics from the past 90 years. You can see the whole show online in this PDF catalog, or check out the pix below.

"Abraham: Ignition" is made with cut-up Fantastic Four comics featuring patriarch Reed Richards

"Sarah: Forward" is made with cut-up Fantastic Four comics featuring matriarch Sue Storm Richards

"Isaac: Hurt" is made of comics featuring blind vigilant super hero Daredevil

"Rebekah: Someone" is made of comics featuring ninja badass Elektra

"Jacob:Disguise" is made of Clark Kent comics (and a little bit of Loki)

"Leah: Suppress" is made of comics featuring Lois Lane (and so is her sister)

"Rachel: Answers" is made of comics featuring Lois Lane (and so is her sister)

It also included portraits of Golda Meir, Israel’s first female prime minister, and Sally Priesand, America’s first female rabbi. The portraits share the walls with landscapes of Jerusalem, stories of fire and water and cloud, and explorations of the Mishnah — all made out of cut-up comic books.

“Siegel: Chutzpah” is a portrait of Jerry Siegel, the writer who co-created Superman. Siegel is represented with cut-up comics featuring some of my favorite Superman writers from the past 90 years.

“Shuster: Action” is a portrait of Joe Shuster, the artist who co-created Superman, Shuster is represented with cut-up comics featuring some of my favorite Superman artists from the past 90 years.

“Priesand: My Turn” is a portrait of the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi in the United States, Sally Priesand.

“Meir: Fight” is a portrait of Golda Meir, the first woman to serve as Prime Minister of Israel.

You can see the whole show online in this PDF catalog. For more information on our residencies and workshops, visit PaperMidrash.com.