Drawing in the New Year: Exploring Ancestry and Memory at the Jewish New Year


Works by Rachel Brumer, Isabel Kahn, Karen Kosoglad, Sherry Markovitz, Deborah Mersky, Ellen Sollod, Selma Waldman, and Marc Wenet

Eight Seattle artists -- Rachel Brumer, Isabel Kahn, Karen Kosoglad, Sherry Markovitz, Deborah Mersky, Ellen Sollod, Selma Waldman, and Marc Wenet -- come together at the time of the Jewish New Year to show work that explores themes of ancestry and memory. Although the artists share similar experiences of childhood and upbringing, their approaches to reflective art making are quite different.

This exhibit coincides with the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which are the “day of remembrance” and “the day of atonement”. This is an important period of introspection and planning for the Jewish people, and the pieces in the show are works about contemplation and reflection. Sherry Markovitz’s painting on rice paper “1880 SHOES,” is a perfect example of this introspection. She says, “In this piece the antique shoes point to a time of immigration, precisely the early 1900's, when all of my grandparents came to this country from Eastern Europe.”