Sharing some highlights from our People of the (Artists') Book series. Year 1 of the series was held in collaboration with Congregation Beth Israel, and now in year two we are located at the Atiq studio. Each month, over the course of 6 months, we study a verse that in kabbalistic tradition is understood to encapsulate the essence of that particular month. Our goal is to take the pulse of/locate ourselves fully within each Jewish month, and bring that into tangible, visual form in our unique artists' books.
We started with Heshvan, a month with no holidays, and often all
This month: Kislev. Hanukkah occurs in Kilsev, and is often what we associate most readily with this month, but its actually appears at the very end of the month. So what else is here? The source text (and its surrounding context - the story of Joseph and his brother fulfilling a promise to bury their father Jacob in C'naan/Israel), discussion, and making got us into a lot this class - Kislev can be a fraught stretch of year, but is of course also joyful (with Hanukkah greeting us in the last days of Kislev). What is the space, the home, that we are radiating light from? In what ways do we truly belong to that place, and does it belong to us; and in what ways are we far from a true sense of home? How do radiate light, and how do the people around us perceive and understand the light that we radiate?
A wonderful beginning to this year’s People of the (Artists’) Book series, with this group of glorious humans. We’re winding our way through an arc of the year that you could colloquially call Rabbinic time - there are no biblically mandates holidays from now until Passover. So what might we glean from paying more attention to the texture of this time, and how can we learn more about the spiritual opportunities in these fallow/Rabbinic/winter months? Our text for engaging these questions is a collection of four word snippets of a biblical verses, which in kabbalistic tradition, express something foundational about each Jewish month. Our learning of the verse chosen for Kislev (on its own and in its biblical context) surfaced these themes from the group: In what ways do we feel a sense of belonging, and in what ways are we other - as individuals and as Jewish people. In what ways do we have power and in what ways are we subservient to other people and forces? Are we home or are we traveling? How do we see those around us, how are we seen, and how do we see ourselves? When we feel a sense of home we can have the focus to sit, to pay attention, to find the light amidst the darkness, and then to shine it out. But how do we find home? Who is there with us?
... Worth looking up the verse and finding a partner to learn the section with! There’s a lot there!!!
... ... We then invited our minds to take a backseat as we brought that rich discussion into the start of our Artists’ books. Artists’ books are books or book objects where the form in some way matches the content. Each person was encouraged to pick up whichever materials called out to them. Spotlight on one creation for this week: Ariel reflected that the cardboard book she started working on seemed very present in its size, a start of a meditation on home. The windows or portals felt like they transported between times, between generations. ...
...Once we’ve had the opportunity to have our hands and the materials be the primary drivers, we can often step back and understand things that we wouldn’t have thought of before creating...the material world and our bodies hold deep wisdom y’all! ... ... Happy Kislev!