Art

Mixed Media Journaling 

Sunday, Nov. 8, 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.*
Greinetz Art Studio
$60
Instructor: Judith Cassel-Mamet
Instructors Website: www.jcmamet.weebly.com
What would a Jewish Arts, Authors, Movies and Music festival be without its very own hands on experience? Join us for this Art workshop that uses a wide variety of materials and the book form to create pages and pages of playful, layered imagery. Guaranteed to open new doors to personal expression, students will explore a wide variety of materials to use in a simple journal. Students should bring a sketchbook with a spiral binding, a lunch, a variety of drawing pens and a magazine for collage photos. All other materials will be provided. Don’t miss out on the chance to experience the freedom of mixing media, and the pure joy in working with the book form and layered imagery. Only 12 spots are available so call (303) 316-6360 to register now!
* Includes a working lunch so please remember to bring a brown bag lunch!
Judith Cassel-Mamet is a retired high school art teacher and is now an adjunct professor at the University of Denver. She is a practicing artist working in mixed media and book arts.

Blazing the Trail: Denver’s Early Jewish Community

Sept. 13 – Nov. 15
Singer Gallery
Opening Reception: Sept. 13, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

During JAAMM Fest, the Singer Gallery features a new dynamic and interactive exhibit entitled Blazing the Trail: Denver’s Early Jewish Community. This exhibition, which runs from Sept. 13-Nov. 15, was created by the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society and Beck Archives of the Center for Judaic Studies and Penrose Library at the University of Denver as well as the Mizel Museum. Blazing the Trail: Denver’s Early Jewish Community is a new state-of-the-art exhibit that celebrates and documents 150 years of Jewish life in Denver. Particularly noteworthy is a major component that focuses on the role of Jewish women in Denver’s history and a “Scroll Through History” – an entertaining, interactive component for children. Utilizing fascinating images, rare objects and documents, and gripping stories, the exhibit traces the dynamic history of Denver’s Jewish community from the first group of befuddled but determined Jews that arrived during the Gold Rush in search of freedom and adventure to the vigorous and riotously diverse community of today.

In addition to the exhibit a free community lecture by the “father” of American Jewish genealogy, Arthur Kurzweil, titled “From Generation to Generation” will take place in the Philips Social Hall from 7:30- 9 p.m. on Sept.13. The lecture is sponsored by the JCC and MACC, the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society, the Mizel Museum, and the Colorado Jewish Genealogy Society. A limited capacity family tree workshop will also be led by Kurzweil in the Perlmutter from 2-4 p.m. on Sept. 13. Reservations are required for both of these events. Please call (303) 871-3016 to RSVP.

Dialogue with the Unknown: A Visual Conversation with the Zohar – Paintings by Michael Hafftka

Sept. 13 – Nov. 15
Cooper Balcony

The Zohar is widely considered the most important work of Kabbalah. It is a mystical commentary on the Torah which delves into the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of the soul, etc. It first appeared in Spain in the 13th century and has inspired, nourished, frustrated and enlightened generations of Jews seeking a direct encounter with God. Originally written in Aramaic, the Zohar was also singularly influential on the development of Christian and Muslim mysticism.

Michael Hafftka’s paintings arose from his experience of the Zohar as a “conversation that suggests traces of a hidden, supernal truth – a truth that can only be explored with a visual exegesis of a non-literal kind. In creating these paintings I felt I was repeatedly being asked ‘Where are you?’ In struggling to make sense of and draw or paint what I felt, I was answering “I am here.’ “

Michael Hafftka was born in 1953 to Holocaust survivors whose arduous journey landed them – and Michael – in the Bronx. Though he occasionally experimented with several creative forms he did not discover painting until he was 20. The outbreak of the Yom Kippur war brought on a series of visionary and mystical dreams. When writing proved an inadequate outlet for expressing them, Hafftka began to paint. Hafftka is represented in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Carnegie Museum of Art, The San Francisco Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Yeshiva University Museum and many others. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.