Radical Artists: Jewish Art in Diaspora

MoVeRs: Jewish Mavericks, Visionaries & Rebels wraps up the series for the fall with a special presentation from Carol Zemel, professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History in the Department of Visual Arts at York University of Canada.

Her visual presentation, Radical Artists: Jewish Art in Diaspora will be at the University of Colorado in the Aspen Room of the University Memorial Center on Monday, November 16 at 7 PM. The lecture is free and open to the public but RSVP’s are required and can be made on line at www.jewishmovers.org or by calling the Program in Jewish Studies at 303.492.7143. This event is co-sponsored by the CU Art Museum.

This presentation will examine “What is modern Jewish art? What is its place in our secular, multi-cultural art world? How does it convey Jewish diasporic experience; does it declare or affirm our hyphenated (Jewish-American) identities?” Professor Carol Zemel will explore these questions through consideration of work by cutting-edge contemporary artists including Hannah Wilke, Ken Aptekar, and Tobaron Waxman.

Zemel, a popular educator at Limmud Colorado, focuses her research and publications on 19th and 20th-century European art, the modern art market, feminism in the arts, Jewish visual culture and diaspora studies. An authority on the work of Vincent Van Gogh, her books include “The Formation of a Legend – Van Gogh Criticism 1890-1920” (UMI Research Press, 1980) and “Van Gogh’s Progress: Utopia and Modernity in Late Nineteenth-Century Art” (University of California Press, 1997). Her articles have appeared in The Art Bulletin, Art History, Artscanada, Art in America, Jong Holland and several scholarly anthologies. She served as co-editor of RACAR (Revue d’art canadienne/Canadian Art Review) from 1995-98.

In 2000/01, Dr. Zemel was a Fellow at the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, engaged in completing a book titled “Graven Images: Visual Culture and Modern Jewish History.” With Professors Shelley Hornstein (York University) and Reesa Greenberg (Concordia University), she is co-founder and co-director of Project Mosaica (www.mosaica.ca), a web-based exploration of Jewish cultural expression in the arts.

MoVeRs events resume January 9, 2010 and continue throughout the spring with lectures, performances and films. Visit www.jewishmovers.org for more information.

The thirteen collaborating organizations who worked to make MoVeRs possible are Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado, ADL, Congregation Bonai Shalom, Boulder JCC, Hadassah, Congregation Har HaShem, Hillel – University of Colorado, Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity, Menorah, Nevei Kodesh, Pardes Levavot, Program in Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado, and Soul Food.  MoVeRs is made possible with support from Rose Community Foundation, SCFD, and the Goldberger Fund for Jewish Culture at the University of Colorado at Boulder.