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.
April 10 – 28, 2025
Birnberg Fine Art Gallery
Capp Center St. Paul
A Partner Left Behind
Behind every story of a fallen soldier, there is another heart that breaks — the partner left behind.
This exhibition offers a rare glimpse into the emotions and experiences of the women who lost their loved ones in uniform. What does it mean to lose your other half? To carry love, pain, and memory in silence?
This exhibit was created by Yedidya Yasu, the St. Paul Shaliach (Israeli emissary) since 2023 through the Jewish Federation. His work focuses on building meaningful connections between Israel and the local Jewish community, through cultural programs, education, and personal storytelling.
“A Partner Left Behind was born from a deep sense of responsibility — to give voice to the women whose stories often remain untold. As a former soldier and as someone who understands the power of memory, I was moved to share the quiet strength of those who loved, waited, and ultimately lost. Their pain is part of our collective story.”
For questions, please contact Robyn Awend at robyna@minnesotajcc.org.
April 10 – May 29, 2025
Tychman Shapiro Gallery
Sabes Center Minneapolis
Rebuilding Israel
Humans of October 7th
The October 7th attack, along with the conflict on Israel’s northern front near the Lebanese border, paralyzed large parts of the country. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis were displaced, forced to scatter across the nation. Over the past year, the trauma, anxiety, and loss of life have taken a heavy toll. Yet, in the face of devastation, the resilience, strength, and hope of the Israeli people continue to shine. Despite immense hardship, they are choosing life and beginning the long process of rebuilding.
The Rebuilding Israel – Humans of October 7th project is an ongoing initiative that highlights the personal stories of Israelis committed to rebuilding their country. It showcases the remarkable spirit, resilience, and unwavering optimism of those who have taken their future into their own hands, rebuilding their lives, communities, and the nation as a whole. At its core, this project is about civilian valor, mutual responsibility, and tikkun olam (repairing the world). In 2025, the project will travel globally as a touring exhibition, reaching museums, U.S. campuses, and Jewish communities around the world.
Erez Kaganovitz, photographer, native Tel Avivi, and speaker, is the human behind the Humans of Tel Aviv, Humans of Israel, Humans of the Holocaust, and Humans of October 7th projects. Through his work, Erez has helped bridge a cultural gap in society both within and outside of Israel. His compelling work brings understanding, emotional connection, and unity to many around the world.
CLICK HERE for more information on Rebuilding Israel – Humans of October 7th project.
For questions, please contact Robyn Awend at robyna@minnesotajcc.org.
This exhibit was made possible by the generous Israel Engagement Grant From Partnership Between JCC Association of North America and Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs. The Minnesota JCC has been recently awarded this supportive grant from JCC Association of North America, which is collaborating with Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs as part of the international initiative Mit-habrim Connections.
March 13 – April 1, 2025
Birnberg Fine Art Gallery
Capp Center St. Paul &
Tychman Shapiro Gallery
Sabes Center Minneapolis
SMUG!
A Collection of New Ceramic Mugs by Phil Raskin
SMUG! features a collection of 100 newly commissioned mugs by local ceramicist Phil Raskin, created exclusively for this exhibit. Throughout the exhibit, community members are invited to exchange a numbered ceramic mug with one from their own personal mug collection. At the end of the exhibit, Raskin’s mug collection will be dispersed into the community and replaced with mugs from homes around the community. The final display will represent an extensive collection of mugs that hold significant meaning, connecting us to one another through everyday objects.
For questions, please contact Robyn Awend at robyna@minnesotajcc.org.
RELATED EVENTS
ARTISTS’ TALK & RECEPTION
March 20 from 6-8 PM at the Sabes Center Minneapolis
and
ARTISTS’ TALK & RECEPTION
March 27 from 6-8 PM at the Capp Center St. Paul
January 16 – February 27, 2025
Birnberg Fine Art Gallery
Capp Center St. Paul &
Tychman Shapiro Gallery
Sabes Center Minneapolis
Creating Community
A Celebration of Creativity & Talent!
The Creating Community art exhibition spotlights the vast talent and creativity of the multi-organizational staff housed on the Barry Family Campus & Minnesota JCC Capp Center St. Paul. In addition to the professional work of these dedicated and passionate community leaders, they are also talented artists, makers, hobbyists and creatives – making meaningful work through their personal artistic practice. We are pleased to showcase the immense talent among us.
Participating Artists:
Tychman Shapiro Gallery- Barry Family Campus / Sabes Center JCC, Mpls:
Aimee Orkin, Deborah Getsug, Elizabeth Gordon, Ethan Roberts, Jackie Smith, Katie Kline, Mike Kronenberg, Robyn Awend, Ryne Kirkland, Shay Elam, Tamar Fenton, Victoria Thor
Birnberg Fine Art Gallery – Capp Center JCC, St. Paul:
Clark Taylor, Ellen Larsen, Jo Ann Hendricks, Owen Herman, Patsy Taylor
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.