Photo: Courtesy of Nireh Or
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
I am a visual artist and studied Sofrut (Jewish Scribal Arts) in Israel. My partner, Rabbi Hayley, is a Rabbi for Base Hillel in Ithaca, NY. I am from Bainbridge Island, WA, she is from Minnetonka, MN. Together we created Nireh Or on Instagram, where we post Jewish art and commentary. For the first year, we posted art and an Instagram-sized d’var Torah that we created each week for each Torah Portion. That culminated in the release of our book, Nireh Or: Illuminating the Weekly Torah Portion. For our second year, we posted about the months and holidays, culminating in the release of our Jewish art calendar, The Nireh Or Calendar: Year 5781.
What inspired you to become an artist?
I’ve been obsessed with creating ever since I was a kid. With the support of my school art teachers, who sent home a list of special supplies for my family to buy, and my mom, who sent me to many art workshops out of school, my passion flourished. I always had a pen or marker in my hand as a child. I didn’t grow up religious, so I was able to approach the Hebrew Alef-bet from a place of mystery and intrigue as an adult. I learned the letter’s shapes and beauty before I learned how to read them. I lived in Israel from 2018-2019 where I studied Sofrut (Jewish Scribal Arts) with Rabbi Dov Laiman in Jerusalem. Being able to truly understand the letters on a new level and incorporate that into my art moved me forward into a new realm of creation.
What is your specialty?
Jewish art that uses Hebrew text, whether excerpts from Torah, teachings, or sayings. I love to illustrate concepts or stories in Judaism, for example, my piece for Bereshit, shows each concentric circle as a visual representation of each day of creation.
How and where do you work?
For the first year of Nireh Or, I worked wherever I could. Since we were doing the art and words in real-time with the Torah portion, we had to post every single week, no matter what. I’ve done Nireh Or on a train in Italy, on a bus in Jerusalem, in my old apartment in Tel Aviv, on planes flying back to the US, all over the place. I create the pieces by hand, mostly using pens, alcohol-based markers, watercolor, metallic gold pen, white pen, gold foil, etc. and enhance them digitally. Now I work from my home studio in Ithaca, NY.
What is the most indispensable item in your work?
I have stencils with many different sized circles. Because I create so much art oriented around the shape of a circle, they’re very important for me to get shape and scale correct.
Where do you take your inspiration? Are you pursuing any themes?
All over the Jewish world. My partner decides the topic for the post and then finds a teaching to illustrate the concept. I’ve drawn pieces for every single parsha, words from the Torah, Talmud, and teachings of some of the great Hasidic masters. The themes are generally light, connection to HaShem and each other, and finding meaning in our tradition. Every piece ties into a teaching or Jewish concept visually in some way.
What projects are you currently working on?
We are about to enter into year 3 of Nireh Or! We have yet to decide/announce our new approach for the year, but will do so soon.
What are your favourite item in your current collection?
The Nireh Or Calendar – 10% of the profits are being donated to JFREJ, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.
All of the Prints based on the weekly Torah Portions.
How do you know when a piece is finished?
Since I don’t work with paint, I don’t have the same temptation to keep adjusting and tweaking. For me, it’s more about whether or not a piece is good enough. Since we post for events in the Jewish calendar, I don’t have much freedom to spend too much time on my pieces. Generally, either I love it, or I’m out of time.
What was the first artwork you ever sold?
A painting I did called “Mixed Nuts,” it was a bunch of crazy looking cartoon people in a jar. I made it when I was a kid and it was bought by a local art-gallery owner. That concept has not aged well!
Which project have you enjoyed working on the most so far?
The Nireh Or calendar was extremely fun to create. We all experience the movement and rhythm of the Hebrew calendar year, but to get to stop and think each month about a way to represent it visually and incorporate was very exciting.
One of my favorite pieces from the new calendar has not been posted yet, and it’s for the month of Tishrei. I actually divided up the circle into 12 concentric rings and visually represented each Shabbat, each holiday, each fast day. Every day is represented and in the middle, my favorite name for God from the Torah, and the words that tie my partner’s d’var Torah together, eh’yeh asher eh’yeh
What do you want to achieve with your work and what are your wishes for the future?
I want to help people connect to Judaism visually. My partner wants to make concepts and teaching Judaism accessible and relevant to our everyday modern lives. She seeks to distill huge concepts in a way that people understand and connect to. A friend of mine was dating a very religious guy in Israel and they failed to connect over religion. The Nireh Or posts helped them bridge that gap and I’m proud to say they’re now engaged! Together, we hope that to continue to create, post, and create beautiful and one-of-a-kind Jewish objects.
Where can we find your work?
nirehor.com and all art is posted for free on Instagram.
Photos: Courtesy of Nireh Or
