An update from Esther

It was long, and we were tired, but the Holiday Market at the French American International School http://www.faispdx.org/home was a success!

Rosana and I had tables right next to each other, which was nice. It was entertaining to watch all the goings-on, from students on stilts, to classes singing Christmas carols, to contortionists, to the French wine guys flirting with the young women, to kids trying to persuade Moms that they need their ears pierced.... you get the idea. And in between, Rosana and I each sold a healthy amount of work, so we were happy.

That's my last show of the season, so now I can turn my attention to our next ORA exhibit.
This is a challenge.... "Exodus: Our Journeys." Hmmmmm.....

More on our versions of Exodus coming soon - but save the date

Feb 7 - 24, 2008
Oregon Jewish Museum
http://www.ojm.org

Friday and Saturday

Rosana Berdichevsky and Esther Liberman will be exhibiting their artwork at the annual Holiday Market at Portland's French American International School [This is a fund raiser for the school.]

Friday, Dec. 7th 3pm - 6pm
Saturday, Dec. 8th 9am to 6pm
Free admission.

8500 NW Johnson St, Portland 97229. Corner of Cornell & Miller Roads.
More info: http://www.faispdx.org

This event includes food and gift vendors, a Parisian Cafe, and wine tasting from several local and international wineries.

Sounds yummy - art, food and wine - a great mix

About our artists

Once in a while one of our artists will be highlighted....today it is Esther Liberman of Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Esther is a beadwork artist specializing in beaded jewelry and Judaic ritual objects. She is known for her Kippot made entirely of glass beads, and her detailed Mezuzot and Yahrzeit candle covers created with thousands of tiny beads. Local customers also love her unique Mah Jongg bracelets and Hamsa pendants.

She holds a degree in Ethnic Arts and throughout her studies, she continued to be fascinated by the beads and needlework.

"I have done every kind of needle work imaginable," she says, "but I keep coming back to the beads. They just speak to me; they always have. The dance of various cultures is best accentuated by beaded costumes, and the music by beaded gourds!"

Liberman loves to explore the possibilities presented by mixing traditional forms with modern materials and aesthetics. Tribal African beads shine in modern jewelry, while ancient Hebrew texts are revisited with computer-produced beads.

Esther is a co-founder of ORA - our Portland art collective and completed an ambitious website for the group which can be visited at www.northwestjewishartists.org.

Her own personal website can be seen at www.geocities.com/estherbeads.

Her work will be for sale at the upcoming Hadassah Fair this Sunday - November 18th from 9 am - 4 pm.
This is held at Neveh Shalom, 2900 SW Peaceful Lane, Portland.
More info: http://www.portlandhadassah.org

Liberman will also be selling her work at at the annual Holiday Market at Portland's French American International School, which is a fundraiser for the school. This sale takes place Friday, Dec. 7th 3pm - 6pm and Saturday, Dec. 8th 9am to 6pm. Free admission.

8500 NW Johnson St, Portland 97229. Corner of Cornel & Miller Roads.
More info: http://www.faispdx.org

This event includes food & gift vendors, a Parisian Cafe, and wine tasting from several local & international wineries. (It IS French, you know : o ) ]

Upcoming places to see some of us

Esther, Diane, and Julie will be exhibiting at Hadassah's annual Holiday Gift Fair

Sunday November 18th from 9 am - 4 pm.
This is held at Neveh Shalom, 2900 SW Peaceful Lane, Portland. [Same locale as our recent show]
Free admission.
More info: http://www.portlandhadassah.org


Rosana & Esther will be exhibiting at the annual Holiday Market at Portland's French American International School, which is a fundraiser for the school.

Friday, Dec. 7th 3pm - 6pm and Saturday, Dec. 8th 9am to 6pm. Free admission.

8500 NW Johnson St, Portland 97229. Corner of Cornel & Miller Roads.
More info: http://www.faispdx.org
This event includes food & gift vendors, a Parisian Cafe, and wine tasting from several local & international wineries. (It's French, you know.)

Photos and ....

Here are a few photos from the show at Neveh Shalom.

It really was more wonderful looking in "real" time....



More photos of this event will be published on our website. That site [see link at left: ORA website] is also a way to contact each of the artists and/or look at some of their work.





And our next event will be at the Oregon Jewish Museum from February 7th to the 24th.....

The Day After

Wow - what a show. The social hall was truly transformed - the crowds never stopped coming - the coffee and yummies were great and the art and music were superb!

After all those superlatives - can we do this again? YES!

Nothing like a group of supportive women to keep each other going - creatively and emotionally.

Most of us are tired today but our creativity is running away with ideas for the "next" project - individual and/or collective.

Photos of the show to be posted when one of the picture takers sends them on to me.

And a personal PS: As a a long time Boston Red Sox fan - their winning the World Series last night was the ultimate capping of a super great day!

Scenes from "getting ready"

Here are some photos of our "space" after we hung drapes and set up table and grids






Come see it on Sunday - tomorrow - when these grids and table will transform into a world of colorful art!










And these signs will be outside Neveh Shalom to direct you to our Celebration of Art!

Yiddish Hour

Laurie Fendel, one of our artists, is subbing for the Yiddish Hour tomorrow morning on KBOO Radio. I hope she says nice things about us!

10am -11am 90.7 FM

Countdown to the Show

Egads - she says...will I ever be ready by the 28th?

For some of us, shows are still nerve wracking; while others see this "smaller" show as easier than the much bigger ones that they do.

Are you an artist? Do you do solo shows or shows with others? How long did it take for you to lose the anxiety about being "ready?"

We love comments - so just click on the word comments below the post and you'll get a little window where you can write as much as you'd like...

Rosanna goes to collage workshops!

Photo of Rosanna [left] with Ann Baldwin
[click on photo to enlarge]





Rosana Berdichevsky, our multimedia collage artist, recently attended the "ART AND SOUL" Conference held in Portland where she attended workshops with well know multimedia collage artists Traci Bautista, Angela Cartwright and Ann Baldwin.

Rosana enthusically jumped into workshops on black and white collage, the dance of your life and creating stories with collages.

She said she found these workshops to be soul inspiring and you can see how she incorporates all of this into her joyous new work when you attend the ORA show on October 28th at Neveh Shalom in Portland.

Music to Celebrate With

We are thrilled to tell you about the three exceptional local musicians who have agreed to perform at our CELEBRATION OF ART, scheduled for October 28th.

• Stephanie Schneiderman, well known singer, songwriter and member of Dirty Martini will grace our stage for an hour of stunning vocals and guitar work.

• Justin Jude, recently named "Oregon's Best Singer/Songwriter 2007!"
will perform songs from his newest CD to be released in early November.
Rumor has it he may make a few copies of this CD available at this performance!

• George Fendel is a jazz historian & columnist for JazzScene Magazine who can be heard weekly (Sunday afternoons) on jazz radio KMHD 89.1 FM. George is also well known for his beautiful piano stylings and has played widely around Portland.

Congrats to Leslie

Our member LESLIE ELDER entered her painting, Jerusalem Spice Shop, in the Watercolor Society of Oregon Transparent Show and it was accepted!

This painting had sold at our show at the Oregon Jewish Museum last year, but the owner agreed to let her show the piece.

It will not be for sale but will be displayed at the Fall Show at the Meadow Lakes Golf Course in Prineville, OR beginning Oct. 6th through the end of the month.

The painting was one of 80 entries selected for the show.
There were 173 artists (all Watercolor Society members) who submitted 306 total images.

Celebration of Art

The magic begins as you enter our Main Exhibit Hall.

Live music by well known recording artists and performers will greet your ears, and a coffee house featuring fresh treats will tantalize your palate as you listen to the musical stylings of Stephanie Schneiderman (of Dirty Martini fame), George Fendel, jazz pianist, and Justin Jude, recently named "Oregon's Best Singer/Songwriter 2007!"

Stroll from exhibit to exhibit to experience a unique show that blends the best elements of a gallery opening with an artist colony tour -- with a coffee house of a forgotten age tossed in. Celebrating their second year as a collective, ORA artists invite the public to discover their new work. Although the artists are Jewish , Judaic and secular works are available for purchase.

Members of ORA are: Rosana Berdichevsky, collage and multi-media; Lynn Dorman, photography; Leslie Elder, water colors, Robin Esterkin, water color, acrylic and mixed media; Laurie Fendel, fabric construction; Diane Fredgant, silk painting; Sara Harwin, fabric construction, acrylic painting and serigraph prints; Julie Hockley, hand-cast precious metal jewelry & ritual objects; Esther Liberman, handmade bead work; Sharon Segal, acrylic and mixed media paintings and cards; Eddy Shuldman, fused glass; and Sabina Wohlfeiler, water color paintings.

Best of all, admission is free! And - you don't need to be Jewish to come look, schmooze with the artists, nosh a little, and buy art that speaks to you.

For more information visit our website: www.northwestjewishartists.org

Pre-Blog Blog

These were our earliest "blog" entries before we had a real blog.









September 16, 2007
We are thrilled to announce three exceptional local music talents have agreed to perform at ORA's CELEBRATION OF ART, scheduled for October 28th.
• Stephanie Schneiderman, well known singer, songwriter and member of Dirty Martini will grace our stage for an hour of stunning vocals and guitar work. 
• Justin Jude,  recently named "Oregon's Best Singer/Songwriter 2007!" will perform songs from his newest cd to be released in early November. Rumor has it he may make a few copies of this cd available at this performance!
• George Fendel is a jazz historian & columnist for JazzScene Magazine who can be heard weekly (Sunday afternoons) on jazz radio KMHD 89.1 FM.  George is also well known for his beautiful piano stylings and has played at the MAC Club, Salty’s and at private parties around Portland.
 
 
September 11, 2007
Our member LESLIE ELDER  entered her painting, Jerusalem Spice Shop in the Watercolor Society of  Oregon Transparent Show and was accepted!  This painting sold at OJM  but the owner agreed to let her show the piece. 
It will not be for sale but will be displayed in their Fall Show beginning Oct. 6th  through the end of the month  at the Meadow Lakes Golf Course in Prineville, OR.  The painting was one of 80 entries selected for the show. 
There were 173 artists (all Watercolor Society members) who submitted 306 total images. 
 
 
August 26, 2007
We have lift-off!  Our website is up on the internet.  We're fine-tuning, and correcting mistakes, but basically it's done.  This is very exciting!

 
August 20, 2007
We've got a domain name!  And website hosting!  The website should be up and running by the end of this week. 

 
July 12, 2007
We will have a two-week exhibit at Oregon Jewish Museum, probably in  February of  2008.  The theme will be Exodus: Our Journeys.  If possible, we hope to have another fabu First-Thursday reception on opening night. Stay tuned for more details.
 
 
June 10, 2007
We will have an exhibit feauturing the "Miriam" theme during this year's Women's Day of Jewish Learning.  It will be held at Mittleman JCC on Sunday, March 9, 2008.  The day includes workshops, classes and lunch.  Our group's work will be on display all day.
 
 
May 17, 2007
Good news!  Our fall/winter show will be held at Neveh Shalom!  This was what we hoped for.  It will be held on Sunday, October 28th.  What a relief!  Now we can get down to the business of planning the show, and creating some new artworks!