Something Surprising at Camp Newman

I’ve been cutting paper with campers at URJ Camp Newman for twelve years, and every year it’s roughly the same. I’ve got a lesson plan, and we do the same sorts of projects; I’ve got a pretty solid system in place. Which is why I was so surprised to be surprised this summer, as a couple of campers did something I’ve never seen before.

But let me back up a bit first, in case you’re new to this blog.

Same camp, new location!

My wife and I volunteer as faculty at Camp Newman every summer for two weeks — me as an artist, and she as a rabbi. This year we were at new (temporary) location — Cal Maritime University — but camp is camp no matter where we find ourselves. I spend two hours a day, nearly every day, for two weeks, cutting paper with about 20 campers and making "paper midrash.” The work that these campers produce always sends me back to my studio full of inspiration and ready to get back to cutting paper. (My wife and I had a couple of other exciting projects this summer as well, including protest art and tallit-making; stay tuned to this blog for posts about all that stuff.)

The campers I work with are part of Hagigah, the arts track for 10th and 11th graders; these campers spend four weeks in total at Camp Newman, where they're exposed to many different forms of art, and encouraged to try them all out and learn new ways to express themselves. Among the other offerings this summer were mosaics, performance art, dance, songleading, screenprinting and Hebrew lettering.

So, back to the surprise. Once the campers get familiar with their knives and what they can do (including some basic safety lessons because KNIVES), our first project is a mizrach: an ornamental wall plaque used to indicate the direction of prayer (east) in Jewish homes. We brainstormed as a group to get some ideas going, but each student designed their own mizrach and then backed it with comics.

Even though all of the campers start with the same project and the same batch of ideas, each of the pieces is incredible and unique. But this summer I was surprised that a couple of campers chose to go in a completely new direction: they went political. It was wonderful to see these teenagers working to find their voices and express themselves, especially in pursuit of a better world; see for yourself.

Jerusalem skyline

"East" in four languages

Sunrise over the Western Wall

The Old City of Jerusalem

The Wall, filled with notes of praise and prayer

The words in the figure at the bottom read, "To Be Continued."

The artist of the mizrach above wrote, "This piece depicts a sun rising over a mountain. The theme of the piece is 'east,' or the direction you face when you pray. There is a story that states if you look directly at the sun, you are looking at God; it’s up to us whether we believe it. That is why there is an eye in the center of the sun. The meaning of 'To Be Continued' is up for you to decide, but to me it means that no matter what happens, we will continue through fighting, war, anger, and fire."

Conflict and connection

The artist of the mizrach above wrote, "This piece is about conflict between Israel and America. This is shown by putting a split between both of the flags — but both sides have their heroes. Israel has Ragman, a Jewish superhero from the DC universe. America quite obviously has Captain America. The Nazi flag is to represent neo-Nazis, and the other conflicts are just to represent war."

A typographical approach

Star, mountain, earth

A compass pointing east

Sun and water

Jewish heroes make up the wall; American symbols make up the visiting figure

The state of Israel

The second project is our BIG project: paper midrash. Each camper had to find a Jewish story or character or theme from our tradition which they wanted to explore and develop with the aid of knife and paper. Some found midrash or stories to explore in Sefer HaAggadah, others made up their own commentaries, and all of them created stunning work; there are some incredible pieces of comics in the backgrounds, often driving a lot of additional meaning.

Here they are, along with the descriptions written by the artists themselves.

"This is Moses parting the Red Sea. I made his face blank because I want people to focus on the waves and not about the way Moses looks."

"My piece is about Abraham and Sarah being visited by an angel to bless them with a baby."

"For my midrash, I decided to show Joseph’s dream of him ruling over his father, mother, and 11 siblings. This is shown by a crown overlooking a sun, moon, and 11 stars. I made the stars different colors to show different siblings. The crown is starry to show how majestic and powerful Joseph is. This all together shows Joseph’s dream told in midrash."

"This piece depicts the crossing of the Red Sea. Egypt and Israel are shown on either side of the sea; the words 'Mi chamocha ba’eilim Adonai' ('Who is like You among the gods, Adonai?') are written across the middle."

"This piece of art tells the story of Jacob and Asaav in the womb when Asaav steals the role of the first-born by pulling Jacob’s ankle down and pushing himself out to be born. He does this to earn the birthright of the first-born."

The Sacrifice of Isaac

"This is my alternative to the midrash project that I used to help show my Jewish identity. When I had trouble finding midrash to make a piece on, I decided to make an ode to our history that is our suffering. The biggest part of our Jewish identity is that we keep coming back from devastating events and every time, survive further. The fact that I can make a piece of art 2000 years later about a devastating event to us shows that our resilience is nothing to be ignored."

"This piece shows Magneto, a Holocaust survivor, crushing a swastika buried in the ground."

"My piece is about Ephraim’s sons. The midrash says that his children will be archers, which is with there is a bow and arrows."

A cairn

"From the Torah, and the writings of many rabbis, anger and evil are seen as two separate things. Evil is a punishable impurity. Anger is different; anger is not bad – it is an emotion. Anger takes away the good and wisdom within a man. I made a figure with a mask to represent this. The mask is filled with images of angry heroes. I chose a mask with these images because it gives the idea that even a pure man can do wrong while misled in anger."

An hourglass

All of this work will be on display as part of the annual Hagigah Peachy Levy Arts Festival at the end of their session.

The best part of this is that I don’t just do this for two weeks every summer — my wife (Rabbi Shawna Brynjegard-Bialik) and I get to bring this to different communities across the country all year, leading art workshops and talking about art and comics and Judaism; we call it Paper Midrash. If you're interested in finding out what we can do with YOUR community — for a few hours or a few days — please visit our website at www.papermidrash.com.

Teenagers + knives = magic

I love papercutting – and I love teaching others to cut paper, leading them to try something new and engage with our tradition in a manner very different from their usual methods. That's why I lead papercutting workshops throughout the year — and why I spend two weeks every summer at URJ Camp Newman doing so with high school-age campers. This summer was my TENTH YEAR at Newman, and a spectacular one.

The Hagigah program at URJ Camp Newman is the premier Jewish arts teen program on the West Coast. Campers choose majors and minors in visual and performing arts, studying with distinguished Jewish artists in an exploratory and collaborative atmosphere.

Their experience culminates in the camp-wide “Mark & Peachy Levy Hagigah Festival of the Arts” to celebrate their work – and the 2016 festival is tomorrow night, July 14. This year, with thanks to Dream Lab and generous support from The Covenant Foundation, I produced a booklet featuring all of the campers' work — to be distributed at the festival to all attendees.

This summer I had 16 campers in my papercutting workshop – two hours every day for two weeks. The campers made some wonderful art, and I'm pleased to share it with you here.

First, the "mizrach" project. Each of the 16 campers made a mizrach (מזרח means "east"). East is the direction that Jews outside of Israel traditionally face during prayer, and a mizrach is an ornamental wall plaque used to indicate the direction of prayer – and that's what the students made, after some group brainstorming about what imagery might work in such an artwork. They were allowed to interpret the idea of a mizrach however they wanted. What I find fascinating about the process is how everyone starts in the same place, with the same goal... but each piece is different, expressing something about the camper-artist who made them.

Dani

Ethan C.

Ethan R.

Hannah

Hannah S.

Jacob

Max

Mia

Noah

Phoebe

Rachel

Sam

Thea

Tristan

Yaron

The second project we do is "paper midrash" – each camper had to identify a story or character from Jewish tradition, and explore and develop it with the aid of knife and paper. Some worked with one of the camp rabbis to find fascinating little tidbits, others made up their own commentaries, and all of them created stunning work. I've included their descriptions of their work in the captions of the photos – their words about their inspiration and process.

Dani: "I wanted a piece that illustrated the forbiddenness of secular music in biblical times. The colours I used are meant to symbolise the beauty that music — religious or not — can bring to the world."

Ethan C.: "I chose the story of the burning bush because I thought that it was interesting that ‘the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed’ [Exodus 3:2]."

Ethan R.: "Judah ben Tema said, ‘Be fierce as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a gazelle, and strong as a lion to do the will of our Father in heaven’ [Mishnah Avot 5:20]."

Hannah: "I designed a mezuzah that has the Tree of Life in it. At the base is a pomegranate, which represents mitzvot. The tree then branches out with a Star of David, which represents Judaism. The mezuzah is being hung over the city of Jerusalem to remind us that Jerusalem is always our home."

Hannah S.: "My midrash is a depiction of the creation of night and day [Bereshit 1:4].
I like the idea of the sun and moon because they are everyday things we see, but don’t fully understand."

Max: "This piece is a representation of the idea that everyday is a new opportunity to improve your life. Your future is constantly changing and each day is a new chance to change who you are or what you will become. Each ray of light of the sun is a different shade and design of red, yellow, orange, or purple. This is a symbol for how each day is different. It’s up to you whether or not the day is good."

Mia: "This is my representation of Eve. She is surrounded by green to show her in the Garden. She is holding a pear instead of an apple, showing that she is good and not evil, as she is often portrayed to be. Pears represent motherhood and love. Eve stands alone in this piece because she is usually shown as simply being Adam’s partner, but this shows that she does not necessarily need a man to complete her."

Noah: "I was interested in how Judaism teaches about death and mourning. I thought it was interesting that Jews were virtually the only ancient people to forbid cremation. As Jews, we don’t let ourselves forget the dead. This is why I wrote ‘Never Forget’ and ‘zichronam livracha’ which means ‘Let Their Memory Be For a Blessing.’ We also recognize that life is ending like a flame. This is why I chose to put darkness in place of the flame, while the candle still stands like the body we refuse to cremate."

Peyton: "I chose to do my midrash on an olive branch and dove. When I was trying to figure out what I should do my piece on I read about how olive branches signify peace, and in the Noah’s Ark story — when the flood is over —a dove brings Noah an olive brach signifying peace and that the flood is over and a new life is waiting [Bereshit 8:11]. I love the story and I think peace is a great thing and I wanted to show that in my art."

Phoebe: "The Babylonia Talumd tells us, ‘When a boy was born, it was custom to plant a cedar tree; and when a girl was born, an acacia. When they wed, the tree [planted at birth] was cut down and the wedding canopy made from its branches.’ I believe this tradition is so beautiful. The idea that two separate trees are planted and then brought together is so amazing, and what love should be about: two people coming together. I decided to depict an acacia and cedar branch, both with different coloring. I put a heart in between as a symbol of love, and backed it with a comic in which two people in love were holding hands."

Sam: "As a kid, I always loved the song, ‘There’s a Dinosaur Knocking at My Door, [and He Wants to Have Shabbat with Me]’ and every time I think of that song, I get nostalgic."

Thea: "I chose the creation/separation of night and day for my midrash [Bereshit 1:4]. I chose this theme because I think the sun and moon are very pretty. By using this story, I could incorporate the sun and moon into my art."

Tristan: "I decided to create my piece on lightning, because it has always fascinated me. R. Berekhiah the Priest said: ‘Lightning is something generated by the fire from on high. Hence, when it goes forth, its light illuminates the world from end to end.’"

Yaron built an ark to house the Torah – an original design, backed with super hero comics.

I'm so proud of these campers – they created such beautiful, meaningful work. Yasher koach to all of them!