RADICAL KINDNESS II

Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World), 2019

Fiber Art 12” x 12” x 1.5” $750

In Tikkun Olam, soft purple figures work together to stitch together a broken landscape. Often the world feels so broken it seems like there is nothing we can do to help, but Pirkei Avot reminds us, “You are not obligated to complete the work of repairing the world, but neither are you free to desist from it.” Alone, things feel hopeless, but if we join forces with others and follow the wisdom of our ancestors our small actions can add up and make a real difference.

Mending Our Country, 2021

Fiber Art 19” x 37” $1800

Mending Our Country shows several purple people working together to repair a tattered flag of the United States of America. Our country is so divided that it feels like nothing can bring the two sides together or repair the damage that has been done. But this piece shows some hope that if people see each other as individuals, not as enemies belonging to one side or the other, neither red nor blue, we can come together to mend some of the holes that have been made in the fabric of our society.

Teach Them, 2017

Fiber Art 30” x 30” $1800

Teach Them shows a family facing the darkness of the world armed with love, kindness, bravery, resilience, and so much more. While our first instincts may be to hide from this world and protect our children from it as much as we can, it is important to teach them how to bring a little light to the darkness.

Compassion, 2023

Watercolor and ink 9” x 12”

What is the burden of the other? Responding with kindness and understanding, without judgement, to ourselves first and then to others. The feeling of being seen through the eyes of Chesed. Gentleness, sweetness. To reach out from wherever we are with the kavanah of kindness. Revealing light trapped in shame. The relief, the release, the transformational power of forgiveness.

Thinking About Dance of Kavod, 2021

Acrylic on canvas 8” x 6”

I honor you. I respect you. I will dance with you, even when it is hard. I see your beautiful Neshama. I bow to your beauty, the way the Light shines through you. Together we can dance through the fear, the pain, the struggles. Come, play with me in the God field.

Chai

Mixed media, sequin fabric threads, acrylic skins, paint, and ink 12” x 12”

This piece depicts a Chai or Hebrew symbol for life. Radiating in a circle are descriptions of actions, goals, and results we can work towards. Kind words and love heal. They help build self-esteem and trusting relationships. This is the foundation of Judaism and of my life.

Date Palm and Pomegranate (front view)

Indigo dyed shibori and wax resist on rayon with wool tzitzit
17" x 73"
$500

The Date Palm and Pomegranate tallit is built around two iconic Jewish symbols, the pomegranate – symbol of righteousness and love as well as many other qualities – and an image of a date palm inspired by an ancient coin. This tallit combines wax resist with indigo dyeing. The atarah reads עולם הסד ׳בנה – “We will build the world with love.”

Date Palm and Pomegranate (back view)

Date Palm and Pomegranate

Pathways

Appliqué, patchwork and embroidery on silk with silk lining and linen tzitzit
16" x 72"
$500

Pathways is a tallit inspired by the Eitz Chaim prayer in our Torah Service. The two lines – וכל נתבתה שלום דרכה דרכי נעם – Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace – caused me to reflect on the small town in rural Georgia where I live. I built, in patchwork appliqué and stitching, an abstract textile map of our town with its gardens, fields, dirt roads, and railroad tracks. This town has many multi-generational residents who care about each other and express kindness both to the newcomer and to those who are different from them, as evidenced by the acceptance of our family and our very different beliefs. We have now lived in Taylorsville for 39 years.

Pathways

Pathways (side view)

Renewal

Print, hand cut stencil and embroidery on vintage linen tablecloth, vintage corners with linen tzitzit
18 ½" x 72"
$500

Renewal is a tallit based on the phrase בכל יומ מאשה ברשית המחדש בטובו "He renews daily, perpetually, the work of creation," resonating with the potential for change every day and the ideal of bringing people closer, through daily kindness. The tallit is sewn from a linen damask tablecloth from my childhood. Embroidered stitching intermittently around the floral damask elements flows in color from cool to warmer shades to express these gradual changes. Also included are silkscreened elements to make these floral motifs more visible, emphasizing the flow.

Renewal (back view)

Renewal (side view)

Friendship Mural, 2013

Spray paint and house paint
20’ x 12’

This mural, painted at Camp Ramah in Ojai, California during the summer of 2013, was located at the entrance of camp, greeting everyone who entered with an outstretched hand. The Hebrew text reads: וּקְנֵה לְךָ חָבֵר — U-k'ne lecha chaver (Acquire for yourself a friend), from Pirkei Avot. The hand outstretched in friendship, bright colors, and fun shapes, inspired campers daily to delight in their time together. My intent with murals like this is to create art featuring traditional Jewish content in a totally new way. The design is still compelling even if the viewer can't read the words, reinforcing the message through vibrancy and whimsy.

Do Not Separate Yourself from the Community / Do Not Judge Your Fellow Until You Have Stood in His Place, 2024

Acrylic, water media and collage on Yupo paper.
20” x 26”
$1600

Intolerance is the result of lack of empathy for certain groups. Our sage, Rabbi Hillel, is the epitome of kindness, tolerance and showing the need for stepping in another’s shoes before judging. Pirkei Avot, Chapter 2, verse 5 states: “Hillel teaches: Do not separate yourself from the community. Do not judge your fellow until you have stood in his place.

Take Up the Mantle

Mixed media on canvas

The 20th Century saw the rise of the suffragette movements, and Take Up the Mantle is a play on words. On the one hand it takes the shape of a woman’s mantle, as would have been worn at the time. On the other, it gently demands the viewer to take up the mantle of advocating for equality, inclusion, and justice. Here the artist uses red string– a cross-cultural symbol of protection – to create a protected garment for its future wearer. The bells – the voice of the garment – would announce the coming of the advocate and are within the protected space.

Sign of the Times, 2021

Digital print on panel
20’ x 12'

I have EMT family members and made this art piece celebrating their role & those who acknowledged them. To me, these signs were unexpected public acts of kindness. Now that the signs are gone, I hope that people viewing this art will pause and reflect on those who shouldered so much of the burden fighting COVID-19—the workers who couldn’t telecommute to their jobs. What can we do to elevate all the essential workers and frontline healthcare providers in our communities, to understand their experiences, and to inject some permanent "radical kindness" into how our society treats essential workers, the working class?

Sign of the Times, 2021

Sign of the Times, 2021

Rough / Brite, 2024

woven paper and drafting film
Photographs - Maple leaves, Seattle, Washington / Rock face, Carbondale, Colorado
16"x 20" framed
$275

Accompanying Haiku:

     As harsh meets kindness
     sharp edges lose rough purpose
     and acceptance thrives.

Single / Many, 2024

woven paper and drafting film
Photographs - Chair Mountain, Colorado / Rock face, Mt Rainier, Washington
16"x 20" framed
$285

Accompanying Haiku:

     One way. Many ways.
     Encircling kind presence
     finds common ground.

Handshake, 2023

Paper and acrylic on canvas
30" x 40"

Shaking hands is such a common gesture in some settings and taken for granted, but in others the fact that someone extends their hand can feel very special, a special kind of kindness and recognition. It can be an affirmation of the other person’s identity and dignity.

If I Am Only for Myself, 2021

Screen print
20" x 15"

The aleph is a pictograph of the isolated human. Here it stands alone, asking, what am I?

Spreading Kindness, 2023

Monoprint on paper
9”" x 12"

By disseminating random acts of kindness, we make the world a brighter place.

Kindness Permeates Everything, 2023

Monoprint on paper
21" x 20"

Random acts of kindness imbue everything with feelings of wellbeing.

Kindness Multiplies, 2023

Art Quilt: hand-dyed, printed, and painted fabric by the artist, machine quilting
14" x 34"

When we model kindness, it expands and multiplies.

Awake, 2023

Oil on canvas
9" x 12"

This stark, minimalist piece references the direct gaze of empathy and enlightenment, despite the isolating, disquieting darkness that surrounds it.

Light Vessels, 2023

Porcelain and wire
Charity

Divine light is the currency of Kindness. These light vessels are metaphors for a humanity that deals in this currency. We humans carry, conceal, grow, and shine our spark of divinity through acts of kindness. Like the vessels, we can be brittle yet resilient, stubborn yet translucent, fearful yet lustrous. We can flicker with our own unique story of cracks, fissures, and textured experiences that give meaning to us, shaping and determining the quality of kindness we display. Perhaps the first man was not made of God’s Breath and earthen red clay but of God’s Light and heavenly white porcelain.

Peace in Israel / Palestine

3D printed (lithophane)
This charity box / ritual object / educational tool raises awareness of grassroots solutions in Israel Palestine.

Weaving In Kindness, 2024

Book and atlas pages, acrylic, oil, and ink
13 ½" x 13 ½"

I want to make the readable unreadable. Using the unobservable space between plate and paper enhanced with the mystique of the pull, I implement printmaking techniques and collage to disrupt existing texts to create altered pages. Printing on book and atlas pages obscures the original text. The voices and world of generations past in the words and maps, written by authors long deceased, are engaged with again although in a unique visual modality. Borders that once started wars become softened and obscured. Erasing the harsh definition of dividing lines, people on all sides can listen to one another and like the paper are now part of a harmonious whole.

I See Myself in You, 2019

Discarded clothing
26" x 36" x 2" (reversible)

My emotional narrative portraits are created from discarded clothing. I give second chances to the old, the worn, the damaged, the unwanted, the devalued, and the overlooked. Repairing, caring, transformation, and healing are recurring themes in my artwork. My portraits give face to the faceless and dehumanized. They remind us that we are fragile like cloth, that we are all “cut from the same cloth,” all of us threads entangled together sharing a common humanity. I create this work to engage the viewer on an emotional level, to inspire empathy, compassion, and unconditional love for others.

I See Myself in You (back view), 2019

Will There Yet Come? The Struggle of Destinies (from Birds of Longing: Exile and Memory), 2014

Unweaving fiber art and mixed media
56" x 30"
$7000

Part of my Birds of Longing: Exile and Memory project, the poets here challenge us to find radical compassion for one another, to come together in respect, in kindness, in peace:

Leah Goldberg – Israel (1911-1970)
    "Will there yet come days of forgiveness and grace"

Abdul Wahab al Bayati – Iraq (1926-1999)
    "Your cries were my cries
    Our rivalry is pointless
    I am tired of moral competition
    And the struggle of destinies."

Mahmoud Darwish – Palestine (1941-2008)
    "Teaching you to see us, to know us, to listen to us, to feel our blood
    safely,
    Teaching you our peace."

Kesher (from The Meditation Project), 2015

Unweaving fiber art and mixed media
22" x 22"
$2500

Isolated during the pandemic, searching for solace in a world turned upside down, I joined Rabbi Buchdahl’s daily meditation circle on Zoom, finding comfort in her teachings, in the communal aspect of meditation. "Kesher" responds to Rilke’s poem "Widening Circles."

"I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world."

Kesher / connection is the focal point. Chesed / lovingkindness and Rachamim / compassion encircle Kesher. Adonai, Adonai al rachum v’hanun – lovingkindness, compassion, mercy flow around the large circle.

Kesher - to be in connection, relationship – an antidote to isolation caused by disease, strife, and war – to form a circle of healing.

Will There Yet Come? A Grain of Hope (from Birds of Longing: Exile and Memory), 2021

Unweaving fiber art and mixed media
35" x 43"
$5800

Part of my "Birds of Longing" project, the poets here challenge us to engage with tikkun olam – to make room for one another, as individuals, as nations.

Leah Goldberg - Israel (1911-1970)
    "Will there yet come days of forgiveness and grace?"

Mahmoud Darwish - Palestine (1941-2008)
    "Salaam is two enemies longing, each separately, to yawn on
    boredom’s sidewalk."

Samih al-Qasim - Palestinian Druze (1939-2014)
    "Jerusalem rose thorn: It’s our fate. . .I die so that you may live
    Or you die so I may live
    Ear of corn: There’s enough room for both of us in the field."

Home Blessing, 2023

Papercut
18" x 18"
$350

Home Blessing, also a papercut, with the words, "Birkat haBayit," in the center and a home blessing around the border. In both pieces the top layer is a papercut and the bottom layer is a hand painted design. I am teaching myself this new process and am enjoying learning new techniques, while also sharing designs that represent kindness and goodness during these very uncertain times.

Am Yisrael Chai, 2024

Papercut
18" x 18"
$350

I created this piece, Am Yisrael Chai, to give to people who have been directly affected by the war in Israel. I have already given charity to causes I believe in, but I wanted to give kindness to individuals in a more personal way. So far, the recipients have been a Holocaust survivor, an Israeli who leads trips to the hostage families in Israel and someone who has relatives fighting in the War. I wanted to create a colorful powerful image, sort of an affirmation to help them get through these tough days. Everyone who received this gift was thrilled and it was my pleasure to be kind to people who are more affected by the War than I am.

Not Without a Thank You, 2023

Pastel and ink on paper
16" x 24"

One may eat fruits of the seventh year with an expression of thanks and without an expression of thanks (to the owner of the field), according to the opinion of Beit Shammai. But Beit Hillel says: one may not eat except with an expression of thanks (Mishnah Eduyot 5:1). Why is Hillel's opinion radical kindness? Because explicitly expressing thanks, even or also for what is allowed by law, strengthens the social glue that keeps society together. Kindness is contagious.

The Knives on Pesach, 2023

Oil on black canvas
12" x 16"

In (Tosefta Pesachim 4 : 11 ) , Hillel commented on people who did not bring their mandatory Pesach offerings or slaughtering knives on Shabbat, thinking that Shabbat overrides these offerings. But they were wrong. However, Hillel did not call them ignoramuses, but stated: "Leave it to them, (since) the Holy Spirit is upon them. If they are not prophets, they are the children of prophets." Those who did bring offerings stuck the knives in the wool or tied it between the horns of the animal in order not to carry them on Shabbat. Hillel’s radical kindness didn’t chase them away because they had misinterpreted the halakhah but included them with kind words in a time and society where this wasn’t always the case.

The Opinion of the Weavers, 2023

Pastel and ink on paper
16" x 24"

Hillel and Shammai often fiercely disagreed. Once, they discussed the amount of permitted water needed for a ritual bath (less would make it invalid, Shabbat 15a:4). They disagreed until two simple, unlearned weavers came from the Dung Gate in Jerusalem and testified about the right amount in the name of Hillel’s teachers Shemaya and Avtalyon. The Sages followed their advice. The Gemara emphasized that the occupation and neighborhood of the weavers were both held in contempt. But there is no preferential treatment when it comes to Torah. At that time and in that milieu, this was radical kindness! It still shines through in our age and time.

Hope, 2024

Paper collage
20" x 24"

This paper collage is a self-portrait, an annual birthday tradition. This year, I wanted to offer an image of hope, as I believe we all need some in these days. I am a believer in the idea that the purpose of art is to bring light to a moment of darkness.

Sharing Earth’s Gifts, 2024

Digital art, collage, and paint
16" x 12"

This collage emerged while thinking about the Jewish festival of Tu B’Shivat, and the kindness – and respect – we can show to both others and our earth. Taking elements from my portraits of amazing WWII/Holocaust-era (and beyond) artists, Magdalena Abakanowicz and Chana Kowalska Winogora, I comingled their hands sharing roses. The abstracted roses blend red, for love, and pink, for gratitude, both of which factor greatly in the notion of kindness. Overall, this piece celebrates women harmoniously sharing the beauteous offerings of "Mother Earth" and platonic affection among people, often enabling them to better endure their struggles.

Windows That Open Doors

Digital artwork using original photographs and hand drawing on the computer

For 20 years The Stained Glass Project: Windows That Open Doors has united students of all backgrounds with recipients of their hand created glass artwork all over the world. Together, a group of teens and adults of mixed races, religions and sexes has created art for charitable organizations worldwide. The camaraderie and sense of purpose has always inspired. The coming together of diverse people has always fostered understanding toward each other and the recipients of the magnificent windows. The students have exhibited their work and gifted it every year, working together once weekly. This interaction exemplifies "Radical Kindness."

We Wish You Were Here; Embroidery and Prints of Life and Loss, 2023

Embroidery on linen
7' x 7'

In We Wish You Were Here; Embroideries and Prints of Life and Loss, three plates with vibrant embroidered flowers bring life and resilience amid chaos. Yet the fourth plate is absent, replaced by genogram symbols (emotional history of families) representing a loved one who is missing, tortured, and deceased - an irrevocable absence from the family table. In the center, a serving plate etches a new narrative through a fusion of genogram symbols and rocks. The genogram speaks of a new reality, a perpetual absence. Rocks, reminiscent of graves, and wielded in moments of anger, serve as metaphors for the burdens and challenges that confront us today. The weight of these situations seems impossible to digest. You choose life when you opt for kindness!

Inside and Out, 2020

Monoprint
30" x 40"

Thinking about the state of the world today, I cannot avoid thinking about borders, fences, limits, and the people who live on both sides of dividing walls. I also think about our own psychological barriers, emotional barriers, communicational barriers, cultural barriers, and perception barriers of the mind. Does kindness transcend those barriers?

Fragmented Pain Fragmented Justice, 2019

Mixed media
60" x 40"

This artwork explores the profound transformative potential inherent in the acts of giving and receiving, particularly in the challenging context of social trauma. It not only embodies the essence of community, but also emphasizes the vital role of unconditional kindness as a resilient response when adversity unexpectedly unfolds at our doorsteps. The utilization of sawed printed tea bags serves as a symbolic representation, illustrating the process of telling and retelling stories. This creative approach enables us to perceive "the other" and ultimately facilitates the building of lasting connections through shared narratives.

Welcome Stranger, 2019

Woodcut print, stencil, watercolor
39" x 86"

Welcome Stranger is about love, kindness, community, and the generosity of women. When I went to Morocco, I wanted to bring together women of different faiths and life experience to build bridges. This happened through a Henna Party in the home of a local woman; we danced, ate, got henna, and connected. It was a life changing experience. The kindness and generosity of the women I met will forever live in my heart.

Ice Cream, 2023

Mixed media on canvas
22" x 32"

In Ice Cream, children and adults wait for ice cream in an idyllic setting, where all is innocent and bright, childlike colors.

Listen to My Words, 2022

Mixed media on paper
34" x 22"

In Listen to My Words, a subway preacher fills up the L train with the words of Torah, teaching blessings of love and kindness.