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Women and the arts: S.F. crafts fair will feature four unique Judaica artisans

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Message: If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/40666/full/40666/women-and-the-arts-s.f.-crafts-fair-will-feature-four-unique-judaica-artisa/ Women and the arts: S.F. crafts fair will feature four unique Judaica artisans Wednesday, November 25, 2009 | by stacey palevsky You might expect a number of Christmas-related items at the annual Celebration of Craftswomen this weekend and next at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco — but at least four artists will be showcasing their Judaica wares. Though the art is varied — made of glass, silk, clay and bronze — all were inspired by Torah, Jewish ritual and spirituality. “All my life I’ve been an artist but I feel like I’ve finally found myself,” said Joyce Steinfeld, who two years ago began making bronze sculptures of the Hebrew alphabet. She’s completed aleph, bet, gimmel and lamed, and intends to sculpt all of the letters. <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 216px;"><img alt="Acraftswomen2" class="left" height="259" src="/images/uploads/z_photos_2009/d11_27_09/Acraftswomen2.jpg" title="“Jacob and Esau” by Ruth Petersen Shorer" width="216" /> <div class="caption">“Jacob and Esau” by Ruth Petersen Shorer</div> </div> “I’ve always had a spiritual interest, and here I’m able to combine my art with my spiritual interest, and that’s huge for me,” said Steinfeld, a member of Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos. “Every artist has to find who they are as a unique individual, and by incorporating my Jewish heritage into my art, I have found my true self-expression.” Steinfeld, of Los Gatos, has drawn all of the Hebrew letters in an original font she calls “life.” But they come alive when she casts them in bronze. “When the letters are flat they are perceived differently than when they become three-dimensional,” she said. “Similar to life, when we change our point of view and see things in a different way.” Gila Sagy was similarly inspired by Hebrew — in the form of the tiny scroll inside mezuzahs. “When I was a kid, I never saw what was inside — it was like a little mystery box,” Sagy said. “Now, it’s not a mystery anymore.” That’s because Sagy, who lives in Concord, makes fused glass mezuzahs that are translucent so as to make the scroll visible. One design, which she calls “Windows,” has the user insert the mezuzah from the front instead of the more conventional back entry. In this design, “the main focus is the scroll — the glass is just a background to the scroll,” Sagy said. Though Steinfeld has been an artist all of her life, Sagy fell into it just seven years ago when she randomly enrolled in an art class with Civic Arts Education in Walnut Creek. She soon discovered how to make fused glass, and fell in love with the process. “I was so fascinated with the colors and the possibilities that it was a must — I just have to do this,” she said. “I spend all my free time dedicated to this … I wake up in the morning and rush to the kiln to see if I succeeded. It’s exciting every morning to open the kiln and see what’s inside.” Ruth Petersen Shorer shares the sentiment — she sculpts clay and has a kiln in her Berkeley backyard. <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 360px;"><img alt="Acraftswomen4" class="left" height="270" src="/images/uploads/z_photos_2009/d11_27_09/Acraftswomen4.jpg" title="Ruth Petersen Shorer‘s infinity candleholders" width="360" /> <div class="caption">Ruth Petersen Shorer‘s infinity candleholders</div> </div> For a number of years, Shorer worked as an artist in addition to working fulltime as a graphic designer for the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay and then as a preschool teacher and director at Gan Shalom at Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley. “Always I made art on side — I decided sleep was not really a priority in my life,” she joked. At the Celebration of Craftswomen, Shorer will display only her sculptures and candlesticks. As a painter, Schorer has been commissioned to make murals for Congregation Netivot Shalom and for Berkeley Midrasha. The paintings are bright and whimsical because Shorer “finds a lot of joy in Judaism.” Her background as a Jewish educator has given her a good sense of Torah stories and Jewish ritual, yet she will still reread a Torah portion before embarking on a project related to a Torah story. “I go back to the source and reread it … With every story I’ve read and reread, I get another take on it, a deeper insight,” Shorer said. Meryl Urdang has been similarly inspired by Jewish text. While working on a glass plate, she read about the symbolism behind the fact that the Hebrew word for giving, “v’natnu,” is a palindrome. “It’s interpreted to mean that the giver receives as much as the receiver,” Urdang said. <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 288px;"><img alt="Acraftswomen" class="left" height="285" src="/images/uploads/z_photos_2009/d11_27_09/Acraftswomen.jpg" title="“Mizrach” by Meryl Urdang" width="288" /> <div class="caption">“Mizrach” by Meryl Urdang</div> </div> She was so moved by the symbolism that she created a tikkun olam plate, a burnt orange glass plate that has since become one of her biggest sellers. “It’s been given to newly ordained rabbis and been taken on a mission to Africa,” Urdang said. “It’s one of those very special things that came from deep within. Or from above.” Urdang had worked for a number of years as a health care management consultant when she signed up for a painting class. One year later, she had painted her daughter a silk tallit for her bat mitzvah and showed her silk paintings at the To Life! Festival in Palo Alto. Since that time seven years ago, she’s developed an original technique she calls “silk under glass.” She paints silk or transfers photographs of butterflies, flowers or feathers onto the silk and then places it under glass to create an iridescent quality to the silk painting or photo. “More and more, there are so many different ways to get involved with art,” Urdang said. “I encourage people to find a class. You don’t have to be a full-time artist. You can dabble. It’s even a wonderful thing to do as a family.” Celebration of Craftswomen will take place 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 5-6 at the Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason Center, Marina Boulevard and Buchanan Street, San Francisco. Cost: $8.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors and students, free for children under 12. Proceeds benefit the Women’s Building in San Francisco. More information: (650) 615-6838 or <a href="http://www.womensbuilding.org/craftsfair">http://www.womensbuilding.org/craftsfair</a>.

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