GROWING UP JEWISH - ART & STORYTELLING
Growing Up Jewish – Art & Storytelling is an exhibition of contemporary paintings and personal narratives by artist Jacqueline Kott-Wolle exploring the key people, experiences, and community that shaped her distinctly North American brand of Jewish identity.
Kott-Wolle, who came of age in the late 20th century, draws upon decades of family photos for inspiration. The exhibit includes playful images of Jewish holiday and ritual observances; moments at Hebrew school and summer camp; vacations as well as milestone celebrations marked by the artist’s family through the years. Paired with the artist’s own narration, Kott-Wolle asks ‘what does it mean to be Jewish for past, present and future generations in North America?’
Kott-Wolle’s Jewish identity was informed by the experiences of her parents and grandparents who arrived in Canada in 1949 after the Holocaust. As a member of the ‘Second Generation’ the artist also reflects on how her forebears faced the enormous task of starting over upon surviving one of modern history’s darkest chapters. The exhibit includes paintings of this colorful cast of characters as they rebuild their lives and flourish in North America’s vibrant Jewish communities. Growing Up Jewish – Art & Storytelling speaks to the resilience of newcomers who must navigate a painful past, contend with tradition and summon optimism for the future. Painted in a fresh palette of color, Growing Up Jewish – Art & Storytelling traces the story of one North American Jewish family through five generations from 1925 to the present.
CURRENT EXHIBITION
THE MALTZ MUSEUM
JUNE-SEPTEMBER 2024
2929 Richmond Road, Beachwood OH
www.maltzmuseum.org/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/
READ ABOUT IT - THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
www.timesofisrael.com/in-new-exhibit-artist-shows-american-jewish-life-cant-be-painted-in-broad-strokes/
PAST EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
BOOK: www.blurb.com/b/11292128-growing-up-jewish-art-and-storytelling
"This is work that is Jewish but is entirely original in its approach and its contemporary quality"
Sara Angel, Founding Director, The Art Canada Institute
"Kott-Wolle has helped diversify the canon of Jewish art by producing all of these rich paintings and stories"
Ari Goldstein, Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust NYC
"My project is to insist that there is a continuity in Jewish-themed art separate from mainstream
American art. I have compared Kott-Wolle's family paintings to what was expected 100 years ago on New York's Lower East Side--paintings of grim sweatshop scenes, and the like. "Growing Up Jewish" works are examples of the immigrant American dream fulfilled. So, in my telling, this series has a place in Jewish American art history".
Matthew Baigell, Professor Emeritus, Art History, Rutgers University
“Personal archives are reinvigorated in the works of Jacqueline Kott-Wolle who uses family photographs as source material. Kott-Wolle’s ‘Growing Up Jewish’ series highlights the events and celebrations that shaped her Jewish identity, referencing a family history of migration and acculturation over several generations”
Nadiah Rivera Fellah, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Cleveland Museum of Art
www.newamericanpaintings.com/issues/161
“It was a joy to show 'Growing Up Jewish' at the Koslowe Gallery from February-July 2023. We and our community were utterly taken by the relatable and vibrant quality of these paintings, each and all! Month after month we got rave reviews from our members..”
Amy Levine-Kennedy, Curator, The Koslowe Gallery, Westchester NY
"Family photos, no matter the family, can be a source of sweet memory and even mirth (“Look at that wallpaper! Can you believe I wore my hair like that?”). But when the people pictured have passed and that living room is long gone, the snapshots of our lives can be sad and, sometimes, inscrutable. Kott-Wolle’s subjects— their celluloid mortality translated into paint—seem to rise above hard truth. Many of her pictures project an unmistakable echo of good times together. But when they touch on something other than joy, she doesn’t change a sour face to a smile or straighten a back to its youthful uprightness or ignore, in the text accompanying these images, tough times and unrealized expectations. She accepts life in every aspect, in sunlight and in shade".
Thomas Connors, Editor at Playbill
Sheridan Road Magazine
jwcdaily.com/sheridanroadmagazine/2022/12/01/say-cheeeese/
"Kott-Wolle is an inspirational storyteller who documents powerful heritage and history through art"
Diana Mashia, Founder, Invest in Her Art
"This year we were charmed by Jacqueline Kott-Wolle’s painting series Growing Up Jewish – Art & Storytelling, tracing the story of her North American Jewish family through five generations."
Jewish Arts & Culture Highlights of 2021, Canvas Compendium
www.facebook.com/jkwpaintings or www.instagram.com/jkwpaintings
"This is work that is Jewish but is entirely original in its approach and its contemporary quality"
Sara Angel, Founding Director, The Art Canada Institute
"Kott-Wolle has helped diversify the canon of Jewish art by producing all of these rich paintings and stories"
Ari Goldstein, Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust NYC
"My project is to insist that there is a continuity in Jewish-themed art separate from mainstream
American art. I have compared Kott-Wolle's family paintings to what was expected 100 years ago on New York's Lower East Side--paintings of grim sweatshop scenes, and the like. "Growing Up Jewish" works are examples of the immigrant American dream fulfilled. So, in my telling, this series has a place in Jewish American art history".
Matthew Baigell, Professor Emeritus, Art History, Rutgers University
“Personal archives are reinvigorated in the works of Jacqueline Kott-Wolle who uses family photographs as source material. Kott-Wolle’s ‘Growing Up Jewish’ series highlights the events and celebrations that shaped her Jewish identity, referencing a family history of migration and acculturation over several generations”
Nadiah Rivera Fellah, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Cleveland Museum of Art
www.newamericanpaintings.com/issues/161
“It was a joy to show 'Growing Up Jewish' at the Koslowe Gallery from February-July 2023. We and our community were utterly taken by the relatable and vibrant quality of these paintings, each and all! Month after month we got rave reviews from our members..”
Amy Levine-Kennedy, Curator, The Koslowe Gallery, Westchester NY
"Family photos, no matter the family, can be a source of sweet memory and even mirth (“Look at that wallpaper! Can you believe I wore my hair like that?”). But when the people pictured have passed and that living room is long gone, the snapshots of our lives can be sad and, sometimes, inscrutable. Kott-Wolle’s subjects— their celluloid mortality translated into paint—seem to rise above hard truth. Many of her pictures project an unmistakable echo of good times together. But when they touch on something other than joy, she doesn’t change a sour face to a smile or straighten a back to its youthful uprightness or ignore, in the text accompanying these images, tough times and unrealized expectations. She accepts life in every aspect, in sunlight and in shade".
Thomas Connors, Editor at Playbill
Sheridan Road Magazine
jwcdaily.com/sheridanroadmagazine/2022/12/01/say-cheeeese/
"Kott-Wolle is an inspirational storyteller who documents powerful heritage and history through art"
Diana Mashia, Founder, Invest in Her Art
"This year we were charmed by Jacqueline Kott-Wolle’s painting series Growing Up Jewish – Art & Storytelling, tracing the story of her North American Jewish family through five generations."
Jewish Arts & Culture Highlights of 2021, Canvas Compendium
www.facebook.com/jkwpaintings or www.instagram.com/jkwpaintings
"Growing Up Jewish - Art & Storytelling" as seen in New American Paintings Issue 161