art exhibitions
The Minnesota JCCs are the home for many wonderful art exhibitions featuring local, national and international artists. The Tychman Shapiro Gallery at the Sabes Center Minneapolis and the newly renovated Herman J. Birnberg Fine Art Gallery at the Capp Center St. Paul, are premier destinations for Jewish arts and culture.
For questions or more information, please contact Alex Fisher, Chief Program Officer at 651.255.4739 or alexf@minnesotajcc.org.
November 21 – January 9, 2025
Birnberg Fine Art Gallery
Capp Center St. Paul
A Gallery of Dreams
Featuring Artists Toni Glotter, Avigail Manneberg, Rowan Pope, Bly Pope and Robin Schwartzman
Five select local Jewish artists created works of art on the theme of dreams, in real time, it’s part of Rimon’s summer gala, A Gallery of Dreams. This interactive event gave community members a rare opportunity to experience artists immersed in the creative process, carefully observing as their paintings, drawings, and collages came to life, layer by layer. Following the event, artists had the opportunity to complete these intriguing and sophisticated dream – inspired signature artworks on display at the Minnesota JCC Birnberg Fine Art Gallery at the Capp Center St. Paul.
Presented by Rimon: Minnesota Jewish Arts Council & the Minneapolis Jewish Federation
RELATED EVENT
ARTISTS’ TALK & RECEPTION January 9 from 6-8 PM at the Capp Center St. Paul.
November 21 – December 31, 2024
Tychman Shapiro Gallery
Sabes Center Minneapolis
Art Studio Exhibition
Celebrating the talent, artistic diversity, and new works created by our Art Studio participants.
“We have students from beginner to advanced skill levels in this class, and it’s truly exciting to see their work and talents evolve. Students choose the medium and
subjects for their art. They learn how to visualize and translate an image into artwork. This class has become like a community. Many students have been painting here for years, as well as new students coming in all the time.”
– Lou Kotlarz, Art Studio instructor
RELATED EVENT
ARTISTS’ OPENING RECEPTION on November 21 from 5:30-7:30 PM.
Join us as we recognize the work of our Art Studio class participants with instructor Lou Kotlarz. Refreshments will be served.
October 1 – November 15, 2024
Herman J. Birnberg Fine Art Gallery – Capp Center St. Paul &
Tychman Shapiro Gallery – Sabes Center Minneapolis
Healing Nature:
How Nature Helps Us Heal In Difficult Times
The victims came from many faiths and backgrounds and included citizenship from twenty different countries. We will remember those taken from us, the hostages recovered and still being held, the sacrifices of brave soldiers and civilians, and the innocent lives lost and uprooted.
The Tychman Shapiro Gallery and the Herman J. Birnberg Gallery will be filled with photographs submitted by community members, both locally and from our sister cities in Israel as part of the Federations’ Partnership 2Gether alliance – Rehovot (Mpls) & Sovev Kinneret (St. Paul), responding to the statement “How nature helps us heal.”
Israel’s national flower, the boldly colored, red crown anemone carpets fields along the Gaza border area during certain times of year, drawing large crowds. Many of these sites of grace and beauty have now become associated with the atrocities of October 7.
These delicate flowers symbolize rebirth and ironically are also viewed as the flower of mourning. The most significant anemone flower meaning is anticipation because on a sunny day, the anemone will track the sun’s movement across the sky. It will close up at night when the sun goes down and open back up in the morning to prepare itself for a new day.
Nature reminds us that everything is connected and that our actions have significant impact on all around us. Being outside renews our spirits, encouraging us to look beyond our immediate circumstances. It also allows us to process difficult feelings without judgment.
Exhibits are planned in partnership with the Minnesota JCC, Minneapolis Jewish Federation, St. Paul Jewish Federation, Partnership2Gether Rehovot & Sovev Kinneret.
August 18 – September 26, 2024
Herman J. Brinberg Fine Art Gallery
Capp Center St. Paul
Bits & Pieces
Works by Harold Samtur
Art came later in life for Harold Samtur. After painting his rooms each a different color, he was left with a pile of paint chips – the colored cardstock samples one gets at a local hardware store. He proceeded to cut and paste them on a canvas with a special glue, and discovered a hidden talent for color and composition, despite never having taken an art class. “My motivation is to play with color, to create something pleasing to the eye, to edify, and to uplift the spirit,” states Samtur. He has expanded from the paint chip realm to Jewish-themed mandalas and traditional collage. Subjects range from Torah to environmental themes and folk-art style, horses, New Mexico, and abstract designs. Harold has won awards in Minnesota and Florida for his artwork.
Harold Samtur grew up in the 50’s and 60’s in the South Bronx. He graduated fifth in his class at the Bronx High School of Science, a public school that has graduated nine Nobel Prize winners. After pioneering an interdisciplinary program in Environmental Studies at the University of Rochester, he received a fellowship for his Masters in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Public policy work on recycling and waste reduction followed at EPA in Washington, D.C. His first glimpse of Minnesota came when he testified before its legislature and moved here in 1975 after defending a MN state law in court. Harold’s artwork reflects his commitment and dedication to upcycling and repurposing materials to create something meaningful.
RELATED EVENT
Please join us for a Artist Tour & Art Creation Project on September 26 from 6-8 PM.
August 8 – September 22, 2024
Tychman Shapiro Gallery
Sabes Center Minneapolis
Myriorama, Yesterday and Today:
An interactive exhibition featuring works by Owen Brown
This ever-changing exhibit features a unique collection of Owen Brown’s paintings inspired by Myriorama, a nineteenth-century concept that involved a set of calibrated printed landscape cards, that could be rearranged into new and evolving scenes. Of the complete body of Brown’s 451 Myriorama paintings, a majority will be on display as part of this large interactive exhibit.
Dynamic abstract works created in a 12″ x 12″ format can be arranged and rearranged by the community, in any orientation or order resulting in a new experience with each gallery visit. “Art lives only if it touches someone… here you have an opportunity to do something bold. The JCC’s Myriorama will take on different aspects inspired by the changes that individuals make to the placement of the paintings. So please, be an artist, please touch.” – Owen Brown
One of Owen’s goals for this exhibit is to make art accessible to young people and to encourage the next generation of art collectors through his work. He is offering these 12″ x 12″ works for $18 each, up to age 18. Prices adjust with age.
Brown, a prolific Minnesota-based artist who acts thoughtfully with his brushes, boldly with his colors, and astutely with his content, paints the gallery with this joyful, hand-on exhibition experience. Owen was born in Chicago, trained as a classical musician, took his first studio art class at 23, and much of what he’s wanted to do since then has been paint.
Additional Myriorama works are on display in the Lobby exhibition area.
RELATED EVENT
Please join us for a Reception & Artist Talk on September 19 from 6-8 PM.
MODERATED CONVERSATION W/MARGOT ROSENSTEIN, VERONIQUE WANTZ GALLERY DIRECTOR
June – July, 2024
Herman J. Birnberg Art Gallery
Capp Center St. Paul
Owen Brown: Visions of Nothing
Owen Brown was born in Chicago, trained as a classical musician, took his first art class at 23, and much of what he’s wanted to do since then has been paint.
Brown holds degrees from Yale College and the University of Chicago and was a degree student at California College of the Arts. He lived for over 30 years in San Francisco, where he was represented by Meridian Gallery. He now lives in Minneapolis.
“Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking. The source of my practice is the world with all its beauty and confusion – nature, so alien and alluring, the social, equally baffling but no less wonderful, and the uncomfortable friction between that, and our internal interpretations. Life eludes easy understanding or conclusion: what are we seeing when we really think about it and how did we miss it before?”
June – July, 2024
Tychman Shapiro Gallery
Sabes Center Minneapolis
Paint: Triple Artist Showcase
Featuring: Michele Taly, Sarah Routman and Harold Samtur
Join us in celebrating three local Jewish artists as they recontextualize our definitions of what makes a painting a painting. Is it the rectangular frame that defines the experience? The artist’s third eye that brings you into their unique vision? Or is it that perfectly placed brush stroke, traveling across the canvas, paving the way for another and another and another…
This triple artist showcase explores the very concept of “paint on canvas” with spectacularly original approaches to challenge and thrill visitors.
March – May, 2024
Tychman Shapiro Gallery
Sabes Center Minneapolis
Visual Prayer
An Exhibit of the Interfaith Artist Circle
The Interfaith Artists Circle of the Twin Cities is a group of visual artists who create art on spiritual themes and pursue art as a spiritual journey. Originally founded in 2005 as the Jewish Women Artists’ Circle, the group became interfaith in 2015.
An important component of the Circle is studying with scholars, who provide a foundation in spiritual learning and inspire the individual art works. The artists in the interfaith group are diverse in traditions, observance, and belief. Exploring prayer through art is a way to find commonality and connectivity among religions and to appreciate and respect similarities and differences.
The Artists
Jeanne Aaron • Hend al-Mansour • Beth Andrews • Sandy M. Baron • Jane Bassuk • Sandra Brick • Gloria Cooper Elizabeth Erickson • Lucy Rose Fischer • Renanah (Rani) Halpern • Angela Heida Hammer • Fawzia Khan • Joyce Lyon • Kirsten Malcolm Berry • Aimee Orkin • Susan Peploe • Paula Leiter Pergament • Regula Russelle • Anita White • Rochelle Woldorsky
Please join us for a Visual Prayer Exhibit Tour on May 16 at 1 PM.
February 1 – February 29, 2024
Tychman Shapiro Gallery
Sabes Center Minneapolis
Caring Connections
Art Exhibition
February is Jewish Disability Awareness Acceptance and Inclusion Month (JDAIM), and to celebrate that, Jewish Family and Children’s Services Caring Connections program will be presenting an art exhibition throughout the month of February at the Minneapolis JCC Sabes Center.
Caring Connections provides opportunities for Jewish adults with disabilities to take part in social and educational events and to engage in Jewish holidays, celebrations and traditions. Caring Connections members recently participated in a three-series art class and these are their passion pieces.
Please join us for an opening reception for the exhibition on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 2 PM; dessert will be served. For questions, please email Stacey Spencer, Disability Services Manager, at sspencer@jfcsmpls.org.
