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.

The rolled-up scrolls of Andi Arnovitz... and a group show announcement

I'm very pleased to be in a group show this fall with, among others, Andi Arnovitz, whose work reflects tensions that exist within religion, gender studies and politics. Above you can see a close-up and full shot of one of her pieces that will be in the show. This is focused on the marginalization of alternative voices in our tradition and a vision of an alternate reality with a broader inclusion model.

What show?

"Sacred Words, Sacred Texts" – a first-time collaboration between three big Jewish Los Angeles institutions: Hebrew Union College, USC Hillel, and American Jewish University. The group show will be spread out over these three venues, with work from Jewish artists around the world working in many different media. I will have a dozen pieces included in the show, most on loan from private collections.

I'll provide more detail coming up, as well as photos of more works – but in the meantime if you're going to be in L.A. on Sunday, October 13, please join me for the public reception. It starts at HUC at 2 pm and then proceeds to USC Hillel, accompanied on the way by a marching band. There will be a dessert reception at the Hillel, and the event ends at 5 pm.

Telling stories by cutting paper... at camp

Two weeks ago I posted about what I do every summer at URJ Camp Newman – teaching kids to cut paper. Last week I posted about the campers' first projects: mizrach plaques. This is the third of my four posts about cutting paper at Camp Newman, and this one is about the big project: paper midrash.

Bereshit

All of the campers in the two-hours-a-day yetzirah group (and many in the one-hour-a-day hizdamnut group) made "paper midrash" – they used their newly-developed papercutting skills to tell a story from the Tanakh (Torah, prophets, and writings) or midrash, picking a story or theme that was personally meaningful and interpreting it in this medium.

Eden

The Giants

The Rainbow

Parting the Sea

David and Goliath: Kavannah

Samson

Others had more esoteric sources for their work, pulling ideas from Sefer haAgaddah or other books that I brought for inspiration.

Claws

Dwarvish

Li

Mad Man

Pillar of Fire

Time

Sus

Next time – my last post about the camp workshops – will feature photos of the finished group projects which we made as a gift for camp.

Double rainbow!

 Wasn't planning to post so soon, but then this happened (click pic to see it larger).

Rainbow Over Ararat

I just completed this Noah's Ark papercut titled "Rainbow Over Ararat" as a donation for the Temple Ahavat Shalom ECEC (Early Childhood Education Center) Brunch & Boutique this Sunday, April 10. They're having an auction to raise money for the school, and this papercut is one of the available items.

The ark has landed on Mount Ararat and, as the flood waters recede, a rainbow appears in the sky -- signifying God's promise to never flood the earth again. (No comment here on the potential effects of global warming.)

As with all of my current work, the piece is backed by cut-up comics. In this case, comics from all over the spectrum, with lots of characters and artist styles throughout.

Very colorful, very bright and cheerful... if you're interested in acquiring the papercut (not a print -- the original cut), click here.