Led by Associate Professor of Art, Rachel Cohen, we will be asking What makes art "Jewish"? Is it the subject matter or identity of the artist, or is there something inherited: a way of seeing or a set of cultural values? There is a persistent myth that Jewish traditions discouraged visual representation, but the history of Jewish art, architecture, and craft tells a different story. Today, contemporary artists are drawing on the diversity of Jewish culture to explore and celebrate connection.
Over the course of this three-day artist-led workshop, we will trace traditional and contemporary visual culture through discussion, close looking, and hands-on making. We will hear from two visiting artists working in different media. Noah Breuer, Assistant Professor in Print Media at the University at Buffalo, uses printmaking to activate family history, working with patterns from his family's textile factory in Bohemia, seized by the Nazis in 1939. Rotem Tamir, Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Minnesota, uses sculpture to examine how objects change meaning in the diaspora, drawing on her Sephardic traditions.
We will also visit the print collection of the David Owsley Museum of Art to look at Jewish artists within their collection over time. The final day will be devoted to hands-on making, including creating protective amulets rooted in Jewish folk tradition, using paper cutting and spices.
As part of this workshop, Professor Cohn, whose own work engages with Jewish ritual and mysticism, will give a public artist talk about her recent exhibition "To Rejoin the Ocean" at Form + Content Gallery in Minneapolis, MN, which brought together interdisciplinary research into mikvehs and the spiritual significance of water.
The workshop will run from 9 am - 1 pm May 4-6. Each participant in the workshop will receive $200 + required articles and/or Kindle downloads. Participants are limited to TEN (regular or contract faculty or teaching graduate students). Early application is strongly advised.
Completed applications must be received by April 21st. Participants will be notified of their acceptance by April 24th. The application form can be accessed here: https://forms.gle/NuUnCYtiNxtsQRms7
The Jewish Studies Program at Ball State University, funded by the Benjamin and Bessie Zeigler Fund, was established to provide the university and community with an understanding and an appreciation for Jewish history, Jewish culture, and the Jewish faith. Specific initiatives include faculty development and course offerings in Jewish Studies; library acquisitions for the Bracken Library’s Judaica Collection; and support for programs, lectures, and cultural events.
Questions should be directed to Dr. Robert Phillips, Director of Jewish Studies, rfphillips@bsu.edu.
Rachel Leah Cohn https://rachelleahcohn.com
Rachel Leah Cohn exhibits her work nationally and internationally, including Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi) (IN), New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art (IN), ACRE Gallery (IL), Satellite Art Fair (FL), Terrain Biennial (IL), Massey University (NZ), Qatar Museums (QA), the Istanbul Design Biennial (TR) and Aterlierhaus Salzamt (AT) and has attended many artist residency programs, including Arteles Creative Center (FI), Vermont Studio Center (VT), ACRE Projects (WI), Signal Culture (NY), Otis College of Art and Design (CA) and the Fire Station (QA). She holds a BFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design, an MFA in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University and teaches at the School of Art at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.
Visiting Artists:
Noah Breuer https://www.noahbreuer.com/
Noah Breuer is an American artist originally from Berkeley, California. His creative work examines themes of family, identity, labor and diaspora. His current project examines the visual legacy of "Carl Breuer and Sons," his jewish family’s former textile printing business, founded 1897 in Bohemia and seized by the Nazis in 1939. Breuer holds a BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design, an MFA from Columbia University and a graduate research certificate in traditional woodblock printmaking and paper-making from Kyoto Seika University in Japan.
Rotem Tamir https://www.rotemtamir.com/
Rotem Tamir is an artist whose work engages with global conversations about migration, transcultural identities, and the complexities of belonging. Drawing from their Sephardic heritage, Tamir explores how objects and traditions morph as they travel with their makers through time and place, carrying cultural sentiments, passed-down knowledge, and collective narratives. Through sculpture and installation, their practice bridges the physical and the transcendent, crafting spaces where histories, personal stories, and cultural traditions meet, overlap, and evolve.