"Rise Up"

This is my newest papercut, "Rise Up" (click it to see it bigger), which I unveiled last night at the annual Temple Ahavat Shalom Gala and auctioned off LIVE to raise money for the synagogue community. My wife and I were proud the be honorees at the gala, the theme of which was "The Art of Jewish Living." Our thanks go out to everyone who contributed and supported us and the community!

"Rise Up" presents the figure of Bezalel standing in front of the parted curtains of the mishkan, revealing the ark and ner tamid of Temple Ahavat Shalom within. Its title comes from a speech bubble in Bezalel’s cloak: “Simply rise up to the task at hand,” reflecting the choice that each person must make to contribute to the building of a community.

A FEW MORE LIMITED EDITION SIGNED, NUMBERED GICLEE PRINTS ARE STILL AVAILABLE – CALL AARON SOLOMON AT TEMPLE AHAVAT SHALOM AT 818-360-2258 TO ORDER YOURS TODAY! (ALL PROCEEDS GO TO THE TEMPLE)

In the Book of Shemot (Exodus) we read that Bezalel has been named by God to build the mishkan — the desert tabernacle which houses the tablets Moses received on Mount Sinai. The name “Bezalel” means “in the shadow of God,” and it is written that God granted him skill in all of the arts in order to design and build the mishkan — but he was not solely responsible for its construction. We are told that all of the Israelites — each member of the community — contributed what they could: their goods, their talents, their commitment to the community’s goals. In "Rise Up," Bezalel represents each individual Israelite then and now, coming together in a kehillah kedoshah — a sacred community.

Midrash tells us that God showed Bezalel a heavenly model for the mishkan, which Bezalel represented in his plans; the blueprints he holds in this papercut reflect the movement of planets and heavenly bodies in the skies. Bezalel’s hammer and his clothing are constructed of cut-up Thor comics; just as the person who can lift Thor’s hammer is deemed worthy to control its power, so too does the person who commits to picking up a hammer (or any gift) in service of the community find the power to help; it is the choice to rise up and serve that gives one the power to do so.

The blue, purple and crimson of this papercut match the colors of the mishkan as described in Shemot 36:35-37, while at the same time, the brown wood of the ark and jagged lines of the ner tamid (eternal light) are modeled on the sanctuary at Temple Ahavat Shalom. There are speech bubbles and panels throughout the piece, hinting at more midrash. The bit of green grid in the blueprints comes from a Green Lantern comic; John Stewart was an architect when gifted with the green will-powered ring, and many of the creations he built with it to protect and defend others reflected his original calling.

The background comics include:

• All-Star Western #3 (January 2012)
• Automatic Kafka #1 (September 2002)
• Batman #23.3 (November 2013)
• Buck Rogers #2 (July 2009)
• Daredevil #49 (September 2003)
• Etc.: Book One (1989)
• FF #1 (April 2014)
• Green Lantern #165 (June 1983)
• Justice League of America #7.3 (November 2013)
• The Names #3 (January 2015)
• Promethea: Book Five (2005)
• Revival #16 (December 2013)
• Secret #1 (May 2012)
• Shazam! Power of Hope (November 2000)
• Silver Surfer #9 (August 2015)
• Superman Unchained #9 (January 2015)
• Thor #395 (September 1988), #616 (December 2010), #615 (November 2010), #619 (March 2011)
• Thor #2 (October 2007), #6 (February 2008)
• Astonishing Thor #1 (January 2011)

"Rise Up" — Teaser #4

This is the last "teaser" I'll be posting from my new piece, "Rise Up." This weekend is the big unveiling at the 2015 Temple Ahavat Shalom Gala. This year's gala is honoring me and my wife – the theme is "The Art of Jewish Living" – and to mark the occasion I created this papercut, which will be auctioned off (with all proceeds going to the synagogue) Saturday night at the gala.

I've let slip with a few details here – but if you want to see the whole thing you have to wait until the gala (or after, if you're not attending, of course)

I've already written about the origin of the papercut's name, and we've seen that there's a figure holding blueprints and a hammer. Here we get a little bit more text from a Torah commentary that could just about give it away... and another comic caption which reads, "Some things are beautiful, wonderful."

"Rise Up" — Teaser #3

This is "teaser" #3 from my new piece, "Rise Up," leading up to a big unveiling this weekend at the 2015 Temple Ahavat Shalom Gala. This year's gala is honoring me and my wife – the theme is "The Art of Jewish Living" – and to mark the occasion I created this papercut, which will be auctioned off (with all proceeds going to the synagogue) Saturday night at the gala.

I'll let slip with a few details here – but you won't see the whole thing until the gala (or after, if you're not attending, of course). There's one more teaser image that I'll be posting tomorrow – stop back tomorrow to see it.

I've already written about the origin of the papercut's name and showed that there's a figure holding blueprints... here's another key feature: a hammer. Made of cut-up Thor comics, of course (now you know why that tag has been in the past posts).

"Rise up" — Teaser #2

As promised, here's another "teasers" of my new piece, "Rise Up," leading up to a big unveiling this weekend at the 2015 Temple Ahavat Shalom Gala. This year's gala is honoring me and my wife – the theme is "The Art of Jewish Living" – and to mark the occasion I created this papercut, which will be auctioned off (with all proceeds going to the synagogue) Saturday night at the gala.

I'll let slip with a few details here – but you won't see the whole thing until the gala (or after, if you're not attending, of course). I'll be posting a teaser image each day this week – stop back again to see more.

My last post explained where the name of the papercut comes from – this little teaser square hints at the subject of the piece. Who could be holding those blueprints? And what are the blueprints for?

"Rise Up" — Teaser #1

I've got some "teasers" for you this week, leading up to a big unveiling this weekend at the 2015 Temple Ahavat Shalom Gala. This year's gala is honoring me and my wife – the theme is "The Art of Jewish Living" – and to mark the occasion I created a piece titled "Rise Up," which will be auctioned off (with all proceeds going to the synagogue) Saturday night at the gala.

I'll let slip with a few details here – but you won't see the whole thing until the gala (or after, if you're not attending, of course). I'll be posting three more of these teasers this week – stop back each day to see a new one.

For now, let me say that the papercut takes its name from one of the snippets in the teaser image above, which reads: "Simply rise up to the task at hand."

Heroes & Villains: Exploring Archetypes Through Art

I'm pleased to announce that three of my papercuts have been accepted into an upcoming show called "Heroes & Villains: Exploring Archetypes Through Art" at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, a museum in Maryland affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. I'm packing up "The Thicket," Jacob and Esav," and "Masters of Mysticism" for a little cross-country trip!

Left to right: The Thicket, Jacob and Esav, Masters of Mysticism

The opening reception will be Friday, June 19, from 6 to 9 pm, and the show is open through August 23.

For more information about the show, you can visit the website here.

More pix from Temple Beth Hillel workshops

This past weekend we had the last of three sessions in my papercutting workshops at Temple Beth Hillel and I took some more photos to share with you.

A big thank-you to Rabbi Eleanor Steinman for capturing this image
of me working with a student!

The students in my class really gave it their all – some finishing up their mizrach projects, and nearly all of them completing their midrash projects as well.

Papercutting in a workshop means you get feedback and support from the other students.

I took a bunch photos of the students hard at work; here are some of my favorites.

Yes – there were other southpaws in the workshop. Hooray for lefties!

I love seeing work coming together – the process is nearly sculptural.

The day was overcast, and the room a bit dimmer than usual...
but one enterprising student brought a mini lantern!

And of course, each student posed with their finished work. Some didn't quite get all the way done, but they'll be finishing up later – and you can already see how great those are going to be as well.

Barbara's mizrach was gloriously colorful.

Barrie built a house with the Hebrew letter bet and a tree branching through it.

Cindy made great headway with her midrash-inspired landscape;
just a bit more background to incorporate and she'll be dine!

Esther made a papercut inspired by Bamidbar, the second book in the Torah.
("Bamidbar" means "in the desert.)

Fran's "Miriam's Well" is so expressive, really capturing the shape of water blasting out.

You've got to see the image she used in the background of the water... stunning!

Leslie had a very complex design for her mizrach – so much time cutting,
not quite enough to finish backing it – but look at that pomegranate!

Margaret worked on three pieces in the workshop, including this "Tree of Life"
which she is backing with cut-out pieces from magazines she brought in.

Samantha missed the first session, so she had 2/3 the time of most students –
but still nearly finished this gorgeous tree!

Stuart (the lefty) was working on interpreting the hidden meanings of Hebrew letters.

His painstaking layering of colors behind the letters was inspiring (and time-consuming)!

Toby made a piece exploring "the endless cycle" of the Hebrew letter samech.

Papercutting Workshops at Temple Beth Hillel

This has been a busy season for me – workshops up and down the coast, with kids and adults, cutting paper like there's no tomorrow!

Right now I'm in the middle of a series of workshops for adults at Temple Beth Hillel in Valley Village, California, and I love to share photos of the fun places I go and teach... so here we go!

During our first session the students made mizrach plaques – which designate a wall as "east," the traditional direction in which we pray. Most of the students were able to complete that project by early in the second session, when we moved on to "paper midrash" — telling stories about our stories, in paper. I love sharing midrash with workshop participants; I brought a number of books with me, including Chaim Nachman Bialik's Sefer haAggadah, which is a collection of stories and legends from the Jewish tradition.

This Sunday (March 22) is the last of the Temple Beth Hillel sessions; maybe the next ones will be at your synaogogue!

Workshop participants cutting paper under the watchful gaze of some beautiful Mordechai Rosenstein prints

"Look, I made a tree... where there never was a tree..." (Name that musical!)

Some of the students worked on adding a lot of detail to their designs

Building a wall out of paper

Our first project was making "mizrach" plaques.

I explained to my students that I usually work standing up... some of them liked that approach!

Look at that concentration!

As always, I provided some materials to help jumpstart projects

It gets a bit messy when we're working, but we always clean up afterward

That may be too many people at one table – spread out!

Using natural light through a window as a makeshift light table

It's always wonderful to see how workshop participants take to a new medium

Husband and wife cutting paper, side by side. How sweet!

The People of the (Comic) Book

Some of you have asked for a copy of the slides I made for the class I taught the other night at my synagogue, called "The People of the (Comic) Book" — so here's a PDF. I should warn you – there are no presenter notes in it, and not a lot of words on the slides either. I have mostly images (and a few dates) used to help me tell the story of the beginning of comic books, focusing on the Jewish creators. I also have a section on Jewish characters... but again, lots of pictures, not much in the way of words. I talk about this topic a lot, and I no longer need notes to do so.

People of the (Comic) Book

Washington Workshops at Congregation Kol Ami

I just flew back from the Pacific Northwest, and boy are my arms tired! From cutting paper!

OK, I'm no comedian. But I did, in fact, just return from a long weekend in Washington and Oregon, where I was leading a papercutting workshop at a synagogue, checking on the windows I designed for a day school, and also just having some fun. Want to read about it? Then you're in the right place!

I love the design and thought that go into the making of airplane safety brochures. Just love it. And I took it as a good omen that across the aisle from me a gentleman was reading a trade book with DC's "Shade the Changing Man" comics in it. Obscure! Perfect for a Portland citizen, right?

The entire flight up I was amazed to see gorgeous, snow-covered peaks from 30,000 feet up – just beautiful. And those dots? A close-up of the wall next to my seat. Just thought it looked cool.

There's a lot of water in the Pacific Northwest – and so, a lot of bridges. Portland has ELEVEN, I am told, and I was on at least half a dozen of them.

There was an exhibit of quilted tapestries at the airport, much of the work featuring bridges.

And then there's the Portland Cuckoo Clock, in the airport. I've got a picture of the description here because it was crazy awesome.

Congregation Kol Ami of Vancouver, Washington, had invited me to up be their artist-in-residence for the weekend, working with their high school students and teaching them to make their own "paper midrash."

Their synagogue is beautiful – three years old, modern and sleek but warm and welcoming as well. Their ark has a gorgeous "parting of the Red Sea" design and a blown glass ner tamid that complements the theme. And the sanctuary has one wall of glass which looks out upon Mount St. Helens. Just beautiful, the way the building is situated on the grounds and integrated with the landscape.

As usual, I started off the workshop talking (a little) about what I do, teaching a little about papercutting (a little more), and going over knife safety (a LOT). And then, after a warm-up project cutting out their names, we jumped into "paper midrash."

We talked as a group about the idea of midrash – stories about stories – and how we can add to those stories, especially by creating art to express our ideas about them.

The students each found a story that held some meaning from them – such as Creation, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Cain and Abel, Abraham and Isaac, and stories and legends from deeper in our tradition, discovered in Sefer haAgaddah – and planned their work. They sketched and drew and erased and measured... and then began to cut.

The students had a break Saturday night, and while they did their own thing, so did I! My good friends Debra and Lisa showed me around Portland – including the world famous Powell's Books.

We had dinner at a great Mexican restaurant and got to visit Debra's studio, which was furnished with a mix of vintage knick-knacks and artifacts and state-of-art design equipment.

 Sunday morning I headed back to Congregation Kol Ami to continue working with my students.

The engagement of the students was matched only by their inventiveness. They really put all of themselves into their projects, and came up with some incredible work.

And of course, I had brought a big box of comics for them to cut up and incorporate into their work – just as I do. (Thank you again, Brave New World Comics!)

Really, just spectacular work.

Two days with them, and already creating things I will DEFINITELY STEAL. Not really. But I am genuinely inspired by what my students created.

A wonderful congregation, and a wonderful community.

(As for the rest of my adventures... you'll have to read this.)