Art

Content type
Collection
Adina Karpuj and her Grandmother, Esther Rebeca Leibowich de Bortz, circa 2011

“Thinking Inside the Box”: Framing My Grandmother’s Life

Adina Karpuj

I had never taken the time to learn much about my grandmother, Esther Rebeca Leibowich de Bortz’s past. While I knew that something in her history must have gone right—she became a renowned gynecologist in Argentina—large gaps existed between each of the detailed but disconnected anecdotes that she recounted to me over the years.

My grandmother—or Bobe as I call her—and I have never lived in the same country. She was born in Argentina and has lived there for her entire life, while I was born in Chile and have lived in Atlanta for most of mine. With each of her visits, I learn more about this woman I have always been taught to revere, but in truth never knew much about. Consequently, I welcomed the opportunity to take the course, “Jewish Women in Modern America,” at The Weber School in Atlanta, where I am a junior.

Topics: Crafts, Family

Los Angeles’ Woman’s Building remembered

January 15, 2012

In 1973, artist Judy Chicago, graphic designer Sheila Levant de Bretteville, and art historian Arlene Raven set out to find a home in Los Angeles for the Feminist Studio Workshop (FSW), their new independent school for women artists. The space they chose occupied the site of the old Chouinard Art Institute near MacArthur Park.  The Woman’s Building, as they called their new home, was a hotbed of creativity and inspiration for the next 18 years.

Creator of Central Park Boathouse Adeline Moses Loeb dies

November 28, 1953

Adeline Moses Loeb, formidable fundraiser and philanthropist, passed away just a few months before the opening of The Loeb Boathouse in New Yor

"95 Lives" Movie Poster

95 Lives: A Film You Should Know About

Tanya Sleiman

Ever wanted to learn more about an amazing, captivating, female pioneer only to find the story undocumented, or worse, simply buried? That's what happened to me when I discovered the work of Jewish American photographer Helen Levitt. I am making a film to fill that gaping hole. 95 Lives uncovers Helen Levitt's legendary career documenting NYC streets for 70 years and transforming American street photography forever. Born in 1913 in Brooklyn to Jewish Russian parents, Levitt died at aged 95 with an outpouring of obituaries celebrating her art while noting her disdain for fame.

Topics: Photography, Film

Birth of Sally Lilienthal, founder of Ploughshares Fund

March 19, 1919

A spunky child expelled from a tony private school for passing a note in class that contained dirty words.  A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College who grew up in a family where “there was some k

Sonia Delaunay, prolific artist, dies in Paris at 94

December 5, 1979

Sonia Delaunay (1885 – 1979) was in on the birth of several art movements—Dadaism, Surrealism, Cubism, Fauvism, Futurism.  She knew Picasso, Braque, Tzara, Diaghilev, and married the painter R

Helene Aylon Book Launch, October 10, 2012

Helène Aylon: Artist, Ecofeminist, Author

Gabrielle Orcha

The room was filled with an open, excited energy.

Anastasiya Sphpagina

Anime Anastasiya-- Good for the feminists?

Gabrielle Orcha

“To me, being Jewish has always been aligned with women’s empowerment and multiculturalism.

Anita Steckel, 1930 - 2012

She taught in such a simple, loving way and made everyone feel safe. “You're allowed to mess up here,” she would say. “It's OK to fall.”

Anita Steckel with her Painting "Skyline", 1974

Of Peonies & Penises: Anita Steckel’s Legacy

Deborah Fineblum Raub

Anita Steckel was 82 when she died last March. But Anita, her many fans would insist, was way younger than most of us will ever be.

War memorial by Bashka Paeff dedicated in Kittery, Maine

May 31, 1926

On May 31, 1926, a bas-relief bronze and granite memorial to the sailors and soldiers from Maine who died in World War I was dedicated in the coastal town of Kittery.

"Butterfly Summers" Front Cover By Deborah Thompson

Celebrating Gloria Stuart

Deborah Thompson

It was fitting that Gloria was born on Independence Day. She was a firecracker: sharp, witty, energetic.

Topics: Painting, Family, Film, Poetry

Mindy Weisel

The first baby born in the Displaced Persons Camp at Bergen-Belsen right after the war, Mindy Weisel grew up with the responsibility to “be everything” to her parents, who had survived Auschwitz. Today, she is an acclaimed abstract artist, working in paint and glass. She has had international commissions and exhibitions; her pieces are in the permanent collections of the Israel Museum, Vad Yasem, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, among others.

Nina of alltumbledown the Modern and Modest project

"Modern and Modest:" Interview with Nina of alltumbledown

Chanel Dubofsky
When not memorizing Latin declensions, Nina, a graduate student of history, authors alltumbledown: a modest attempt at style, a blog about the intersection of modesty and daily fashion. In addition to brightly colored pencil skirts and everything sequined, she is a fan of Mad Men, the quickly-disappearing Jewish Lower East Side, and the printing press. She currently calls both Philadelphia and New York home.
Isabella Karp in a Tallit by Miriam Karp

The story of creation: Artist Miriam Karp on making her daughter's bat mitzvah tallit

Leah Berkenwald

Miriam Karp is an artist who has been creating hundreds of one-of-a-kind ketubot since 1976.

Gyno-Star: Feminist Superhero

Meet Rebecca Cohen and Gyno-Star, the world’s first explicitly feminist superhero

Leah Berkenwald

Wonder Woman, created in the 1940s, showed the world that women could kick butt.

Topics: Feminism, Art, Writing
"Self-Portrait (for Graphic Details)" Miss Lasko-Gross, 2010

The Comic Book Diaries

Jessica Leader

As part of Yeshiva University Museum’s “Graphic Details – Confessional Comics by Jewish Women” event, I attended the October 24th “Close and Personal: Jewish Women Artists and Their Graphic Diaries” panel at the Center for Jewish History, which featured authors from the exhibition in dialogue about the confessional nature of comic book art. The panelists come from distinct backgrounds: Lauren Weinstein is the lead singer of a metaphysical rock band; Miss Lasko-Gross is creating an iPhone app about religious fundamentalism; Ariel Schrag is a lesbian screenwriter for HBO and Showtime series; and Miriam Katin is a holocaust survivor. Yet these women share a commonality: they are comic book creators with semi-autobiographical stories about coming of age as a Jewish woman.

Topics: Art, Writing
Boston Fashion Week Logo

When the Jewish calendar and the fashion calendar conflict: My letter to Boston Fashion Week

Kate Bigam

Last week, I received an invitation to attend Fall... In Love With Fashion, billed as "a fun and chic night of fashion at Northshore Mall complete with runway fashion shows, hors d'oeuvres, cocktails & much more!" Sounds fun, right? I thought so, too, & was planning to attend - until I realized that the event falls on September 29th, which is Rosh Hashanah, one of the holiest of Jewish holidays.

"Jewesses with Attitude" gets a makeover

Jewesses With Attitude

The team at JWA is excited to share the results of our quick and dirty Jewesses with Attitude makeover! We love the updated look and the new and improved functionality of the blog.

The thing about rings

Kate Bigam

Upon her arrival in Israel this week, a friend of mine picked up this pretty, functional necklace.

"Miss Etta and Dr. Claribel," by Susan Fillion

Miss Etta and Dr. Claribel: A new look into the lives of the Cone sisters

Ellen K. Rothman

Growing up in Baltimore in the 1950s and 60s, we got our doses of high culture at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Who is Frida Kahlo?

Leah Berkenwald

Tomorrow we celebrate the 104th birthday of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist known for her striking self-portraits. Kahlo's work was largely influenced by pain after a bus accident left her with permanent disabilities, making her an inspirational figure from a disability point of view.

In 2006, conceptual identity performance artist Maya Escobar (@mayaescobar) created a Youtube video called "el es frida kahlo," below.

Forget Barbie; Dress Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Instead

Renee Ghert-Zand

Adding to the various portrayals of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas that are part of San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum’s current “Seeing Gertrude Stein” exhibit, reviewed recently in the Forward, are a set of paper dolls of the two women.

Topics: Art
Beverly Pepper and Carol Gilligan

Women who frame our world

Elizabeth Stone

Who are the women who frame our world? A small gathering of about 100 women met in San Francisco last week to hear from an array of leaders in the creative arts.

Donate

Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women.

donate now

Get JWA in your inbox

Read the latest from JWA from your inbox.

sign up now