arts&life

exhibits / on the cover

Carrying On

A collective of artists

apply their Judaic studies

to “What We Carry,”

opening at the Janice

Charach Gallery.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

I

The Inner Life of a Golem by Judith Joseph

32

May 31 • 2018

jn

n 2015, 12 Jewish artists were chosen by
Chicago’s Spertus Institute for Jewish
Learning and Leadership to participate
in the Midwest Jewish Artists Lab. The year-
long residency allowed the artists access to
Spertus’ archives of art, artifacts and mas-
sive library, where they studied treasured
text together with local scholars and were
provided professional critiques, culminat-
ing in a group exhibit at Spertus called
“Wisdom.”
Although the artists were chosen inde-
pendent of each other, they bonded over the
experience and formed the Jewish Artists
Collective Chicago (JACC), apart from
Spertus. They rotate meetings among their
own studios and join forces to advance
members’ individual projects.
After “Wisdom,” the group scheduled
two more exhibits — all three different. The
second was at Hillel in Milwaukee, and the
third will run June 3-July 12 at the Janice
Charach Gallery in West Bloomfield, where
there will be associated programming.
The Michigan focus, expressed through
a multimedia display by 11 of the artists, is
“What We Carry.”
“The exhibit reflects both the themes that
we carry as Jews and the individuality with
which we live our lives,” says Judith Joseph,
who leads the meetings and has been cen-
tral to the upcoming exhibit. “Our heritage
is the common link while we express our-
selves uniquely.
“I’m showing woodblock prints that
reflect my Jewish identity in one way or
another — even if it’s subtle. I have a Golem
series that was created for an exhibit at the
Brooklyn Jewish Art Gallery in New York,
and I have a woodcut about my grandfa-
ther’s teenage pogrom experiences that
made him want to immigrate to America.”
Jonathan Franklin, who spent his early
years in Grand Rapids and returned to
the state to study art at the University of