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UNTITLED, Ken Kalman
A note from the artist: From generation to generation time passes as does the Star of David. for years I have been working with maps and attaching them to aluminum sheet. Maps tell stories, give direction, and help us navigate the world.
About the artist: Having been born in that magical time and place might suggest the source of the seeds that grew in Ken Kalman and compelled him to embrace the medium he has chosen. But unlike the Motor City, Ken found his inspiration from seeing the harmony and the irony in the world around him. And unlike the Motor City, Ken has only gotten better and more prolific over the years.
UNTITLED, Joanne Levin
A note from the artist: I loved putting shalom on the front of my pot. Jewish & proud❤️
About the artist: Joanne feels like she is into something good when she creates work she loves. Making pottery awakens her inner child: she enjoys molding soft, squishy clay into playful, sometimes fantastical shapes, and often finds her favorite pieces born from mistakes. The process is meditative, like a quiet conversation with the clay that slows life down. She began throwing and handbuilding three years ago, and what started as curiosity quickly became an obsession. Now at 70, she continues to explore form, texture, and surface with a joyful, experimental approach, showing and selling work locally and through Instagram, and deepening her practice one piece at a time. She is Jewish, and has loved including this into her artwork!
THE HEART OF DAVID, Benjamin Zev
A note from the artist: This piece came out of love for my past and the promise of the future. A modern sculptural interpretation bridging Jewish heritage, identity, and enduring form. The Heart of David is a handcrafted Star of David statue designed as a modern Jewish sculpture blending timeless Jewish symbolism with contemporary art, making it a meaningful statement for generations.
About the artist: Benjamin Zev is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans sculpture, design, film, animation, digital media, and experiential storytelling. His practice explores the intersection of identity, symbolism, and contemporary form, creating works that bridge cultural meaning with modern design aesthetics.
TANGLED HERITAGE, Jillian Lieberman
A note from the artist: "Tangled Heritage" is a piece about the background of a Jewish family. After the Jewish Diaspora, families split apart and are slowly piecing themselves back together. The snake carved into the plate symbolizes two things. First, the tangling of a continuous ancestry. Second, the tradition of food that is passed down from generation to generation. Recipes are commonly passed down through family trees, but food is also a huge part of the Jewish lifestyle. On the back of the plate, my Hebrew name is carved. Part of the snake is below my name, because I am part of the snake. After me, there will be more tangling, but the snake will always continue.
About the artist: Jillian Lieberman is a student artist from Tulsa, Oklahoma, in her junior year at Holland Hall College Preparatory School. She participates in visual and performing arts, including Dance, Orchestra, and Ceramics. Her primary focus is working with clay as a visual art. Her clay pieces are usually thrown, sculpted, or handbuilt. She has incorporated themes such as family, Judaism, animals, and food. She combats antisemitism among her peers through education by serving as a Student-to-Student ambassador. She is an active member of BBYO, an international youth group that aims to “engage more Jewish teens in more meaningful Jewish experiences.” Her experiences in BBYO have led her to be more active in her Jewish life and find joy in everyday Judaism.
VISIONS AND VERSIONS OF JACOB, Danielle Atkins
A note from the artist: Visions and Versions of Jacob, is a series of 18 (The numeric value of Chai (חי) is the Hebrew word for life) fired clay heads. They reflect the evolution of my art making from an increasing dimensionality on canvas through the use of found objects to a fully three dimensional exploration in clay. Inspired by the Beit Midrash sessions with Ruby Namdar/ LABA fellowship, I examine the question of what it means to be a Jew after October 7th. Jacob’s head becomes a constantly reimagined vessel to explore Jewish mysticism, strength and fragility, and to pay homage to the ancient wisdom of my ancestors, the Jewish People. They are a push and pull between the ancient and the new. Each head creates a different visceral reaction in the viewer yet they are tied together through a reoccurring motif of ladders with 18 rungs.
About the artist: Danielle Baron Atkins is a painter working in Brooklyn and Woodstock, NY. Her work examines the female form as well as the many roles of women in our contemporary society. She abstracts, dissects, and exaggerates the female form. The women she depicts sit and stand in suggestive poses, often wearing stilettos. These anonymous figures exude sexuality, fertility, and motherhood. She utilizes a juxtaposition of delicate, stereotypically “feminine” colors with repetitive, aggressive, graffiti-like markings. Danielle repurposes remnants of her children’s discarded belongings such as broken headphones (used during school lock downs), worn out crocks and skateboarding sneakers, underwear bands that have lost their elasticity, socks and mittens that have abandoned their partner, candy wrappers, torn vintage comic books found under her children’s beds, old cookbooks, pill bottle tops, cardboard packages, and junk mail to accentuate her underlying themes. Motherhood has deeply affected her art making process. Danielle’s sharp observations of the roles and struggles of women create an ever-evolving definition of womanhood.
PRAISE, OR DEFY ME, Marc Melis
A note from the artist: Title: 'Praise, or Defy Me' (Tehillah o chutzpah) תְּהִלָּה אוֹ חוּצְפָּה - בְּזַעַם צַדִּיק (Based on the poem by Aaron Zeitlin: 'If you Look at the Stars and Yawn') One of my most cherished aspects of my Jewish identity is the tradition of questioning—even challenging—G-d. Life’s contradictions and losses often leave us wounded and searching for fairness, but this value invites us to appreciate the breath in our lungs and the gift of existence. It teaches us that there are no simple answers to the complexities of personal and political conflict, and encourages us to seek common ground rather than “othering” people. Like Abraham and Moses, our tradition teaches that G-d is vast and merciful enough for a close relationship, even as we wrestle with faith. Indignation, rather than apathy, often defines our engagement. The sculpture’s title reconciles the adult’s graphic expression with the child’s serene trust, prompting us to ask: what could cause such divergent reactions to the same presence? This theme draws inspiration from Aaron Zeitlin, a Polish Yiddish poet who survived the Holocaust by chance, losing his entire family. Zeitlin’s righteous indignation and grief were justified, yet he transformed his pain into prolific writing, including the original words to the folk classic popularized by Joan Baez “Donna, Donna,” which speaks to the Holocaust’s cruelty. “Sing Out” (or sometimes “If You Look at the Stars and Yawn”)
Poem by Aaron Zeitlin:
Praise me, says G-d, and I will know that you love me. Curse me, says G-d, and I will know that you love me. Praise me or curse me And I will know that you love me. Sing out my graces, says G-d, Raise your fist against me and revile, says G-d. Sing out graces or revile, Reviling is also a kind of praise, Says G-d. But if you sit fenced off in your apathy, Says G-d, If you sit entrenched in: “I don’t give a hang,” says G-d, If you look at the stars and yawn, If you see suffering and don’t cry out, If you don’t praise and you don’t revile, Then I created you in vain, says G-d.
About the artist: Marc's work is born from an intuitive and improvisational process. He enjoys the excitement of the unknown when approaching each untouched block of clay or blank canvas. By looking inward with a sense of wonder, he aims to create pieces that resonate with the viewer’s own experiences and offer opportunities for reflection. He is a lifelong sculptor and painter based in Tempe, Arizona. Beyond his studio work, he enjoys participating in the arts community by exhibiting at The Finer Arts Gallery and in premier art festivals throughout the Phoenix Metro Area. He also works as the culinary instructor for young adults with autism at the nonprofit SEEDs for Autism. He is the proud father of five children, whose presence continues to fuel his pursuit of life, love, and art. He also enjoys participating regularly in religious and community activities in his Synagogue, Tempe Emanuel of Tempe, AZ. His Jewish identity gives him peace and strength and is central to who he is as a person and as an artist.
UNTITLED, Lois Trader
A note from the artist: This piece is deeply personal. It reflects conversations with my mother about our heritage that shaped my understanding of identity — including parts that were complex and difficult. Creating this work allowed me to process both gratitude and tension within generational inheritance. It is offered with respect for the resilience that sustains families through history.
About the artist: Lois Trader is a self-taught interpretive sculptor based in East Tennessee whose mixed-media works explore resilience, memory, grief, and spiritual identity. Her art practice emerged organically after years of caregiving and profound personal loss, becoming both refuge and revelation. Working with found objects, foam clay, wood, cement paint, and discarded materials, Trader transforms the broken and overlooked into emotionally charged figures that invite reflection. Rooted in heritage, faith, and generational story, her work often reflects themes of perseverance, lament, hope, and redemption. As someone deeply aware of history’s weight — both personal and collective — she creates sculptures that hold tension between sorrow and strength, fragmentation and restoration. Her pieces do not offer easy answers; instead, they encourage viewers to sit with complexity, memory, and identity. Trader has exhibited in juried shows and galleries throughout Tennessee and beyond, earning recognition for her bold, textured forms and psychologically evocative presence. Through her work, she seeks not only to create art, but to foster empathy — reminding us that survival, faith, and cultural heritage are lived experiences shaped by endurance, storytelling, and quiet courage.