Monday, February 14, 2011
OUR CALENDAR IS UP AND RUNNING!
We've been a bit stymied by the technology required to post a calendar directly on the blog BUT the link to our calendar is in small red print at the top of the blog. Click it and find yourself transported to a detailed calendar. Keep checking the calendar because new events will be added periodically.
Can't find what you are looking for? Leave us a message here and we will post an answer quickly!
If you have trouble with the link then just cut and paste this address into your browser!
http://www.northwestjewishartists.org/JAMcalendar2011.html
thanks for visiting our site!!!!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
PICTURE THIS!
A group of 6-8th graders will work with photographers Jo Grishman and Katy Weaver to create photo essays- about their jewish identity and how it is reflected in their daily and family lives.
This is very exciting stuff! If you know kids then you know how creative they can be!
When they have finished their coursework there will be a one night gallery show. It should be pretty exciting. We don't have a gallery date set yet...so stay tuned. This will be on of several pop up JAM events.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
David Biespiel reads @ Powells! Monday Feb 7 @ 7:30 pm
WOW.....David will share some of his writing at Broadway Books as part of JAM in April. Meanwhile, he'll be appearing this week at Powells
3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd. (800) 878-7323
Here's the announcement from Powells:
Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces
David Biespiel's Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces (Kelson) cracks open the creative process, inviting readers to take a fresh look at the mysterious pathways of the imagination. Beginning and experienced writers alike — as well as artists, musicians, dancers, and anyone else on a creative path — will benefit from this surprising and fresh perspective.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
JAM: FEBRUARY
Jewish Arts Month should only be a month right?
WRONG!!!!
it should be as long as it takes to cover all the amazing opportunities a little shtetl like Portland can offer.
Okay...so we didn't plan to include February....but give a look at this wonderful set of events. How could we not adopt them?! CHECK OUT THE EVENTS LISTED BELOW! We will soon post a link to a graphics calendar for those of you who want to check out the events in a more visual format.
FEBRUARY 2011
2/3-2/20 Charlotte Salomon: Life? Or Theatre? @ Disjecta
2/6 Ernest Bloch- Framing a Vision of the World, OJM 2pm
Congregation Ahavath Achim 3225 SW Barbur Blvd. Call for details call David at 503-892-6634.
February 8, 2011, 7:00 PM “THE IMPOSSIBLE SPY”
This riveting film tells the incredible but true story of Elie Cohen, an Egyptian born Jew and top Israeli intelligence recruit whose obsession with his mission as a double agent drove him to his death. This is the story of the most famous Israeli spy of all time.
(96 Minutes, 1987, in color, UK, Directed by Jim Goddard, English)
Guest Speaker: Adi Hoter, Major in IDF
2/12 "Human Resources" Ptld Intl. Film Fest (PIFF): Israeli film- http://www.nwfilm.org/festivals/piff/
2/13 2pm? Community Orchestra Concert @ mjcc call
503.244.0111 for more info
2/20 Burus @ PIFF: http://www.nwfilm.org/festivals/piff/
2/20 Dave Frishberg concert 7:30-9:30 at the Winningstad
Portland Jazz Festival
2/26 2pm Three Cohens and the AfroSemitic Experience
@ the Crystal Ballroom
@ the Crystal Ballroom
2/27 2pm Klezmer Brunch featuring Klezmocracy @CBI-Please contact Elana at Congregation Beth Israel at 503-222-1069 to purchase your tickets
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Charlotte Salomon Returns to PDX
This is must-see theater!
Charlotte Salomon's Life? or Theatre? opens Feb 3 at Disjecta Theater. A reception preceding the premiere will begin at 7 pm. Each performance will be followed by a "talk-back." OPB's Emily Harris will facilitate this first session.
http://www.jewishtheatrecollaborative.org/
is the site to go to to get ticket information!
JAM hasn't officially opened but we are proud to advertise this theatrical run and a fine theater company, Portland's own Jewish Theater Collaborative.
DISJECTA
8371 N Interstate 97217
Tickets:
Adults $20
Seniors $18
Students $15
Friday, January 21, 2011
KLEZMOCRACY SIGNS ON TO JAM!!!!!
We are so pleased to welcome Klezmocracy to JAM. One of the finest Klezmer bands around, this group will rock the house!
Do you have a musical instrument you love to play? GOOD NEWS! Following the Klezmocracy Concert, there will be a jam session....yup....COME JAM AT JAM!!!!!!
More information will follow, but for now...mark your calendars : April 3rd at the MJCC 3pm.
It's time to rock the house!!!!!!
Do you have a musical instrument you love to play? GOOD NEWS! Following the Klezmocracy Concert, there will be a jam session....yup....COME JAM AT JAM!!!!!!
More information will follow, but for now...mark your calendars : April 3rd at the MJCC 3pm.
It's time to rock the house!!!!!!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
OREGON JEWISH MUSEUM PRESENTS
OK, it's not JAM season yet....but this is so important for everyone to see!
Oregon Jewish Museum once again has developed an astonishing exhibit about Ernest Bloch, composer and photographer...and more.
Many activities are coming: lectures and a concert!
go to http://www.ojm.org/
for more information!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Blessed Be Her Memory
Baruch Dayan Emet.
Debbie Friedman z"l , was legendary in her ability to create Jewish Music for our world. She had the unique ability to also spread her music around the world, as a healing salve to a people in need of physical and spiritual healing.
She struggled with personal illness for years and in the end the music that helped heal thousands of others failed to help her heal from pneumonia. She passed away yesterday, January 9th leaving us with a legacy of music and an important lesson: that music, and indeed all art can heal.
She wrote the song Mourning into Dancing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLsTk0YpE4A
play this in honor of her good works.
May her memory be a blessing to the world and may we be inspired to create healing art in an effort to support what she started .
Saturday, January 1, 2011
It Is...and It Isn't
While it isn't officially a part of Jewish Arts Month (JAM) here in Portland, the Portland Jazz Festival will be serving up some amazing music! And it comes in mid-February! JAM will launch our festival sometime in late February....but we're proud of this JAZZ Festival and encourage everyone to check it out!!!!!!
http://pdxjazz.com/portland-jazz-festival has the complete schedule...but this is the gist of the festival (below) .....
..........WOW!!!!!
--------------
BRIDGES AND BOUNDARIES:
JEWISH & AFRICAN AMERICANS PLAYING JAZZ TOGETHER
JEWISH & AFRICAN AMERICANS PLAYING JAZZ TOGETHER
The 2011 Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival presented by US Bank will be held Friday, February 18 through Sunday, February 27 at venues throughout Portland. The week-long festival will include jazz education and outreach along with a series of concerts all supporting the 2011 theme,Bridges and Boundaries: Jewish & African Americans Playing Jazz Together.
Among this year’s headliners are the SFJAZZ Collective, in the world premiere of new repertoire paying homage to African American pop icon Stevie Wonder; NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston, performing solo piano in support of his new release, The Storyteller, and autobiography, African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston; celebrated clarinetist Don Byron and his new project dedicated to the great Jewish entertainer, Mickey Katz – a reunion of the groundbreaking and virtuosic klezmer ensemble that recorded Byron’s eponymous Nonesuch album and spearheaded the klezmer revival in the 1990s; a special performance by The 3 Cohens, featuring siblings, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen, and pianist Yuval Cohen; famed African American violinist Regina Carter will return to Portland, presenting her newest project, Reverse Thread, which traces the musical history of African cultures, including tribes of Ugandan Jews; saxophonistJoshua Redman - son of African American saxophonist Dewey Redman and Jewish American dancer Renee Shedroff – leading his new project, James Farm, that includes both African American and Jewish American musicians; and the Portland Jazz Festival’s new Artistic & Community Ambassador, bassist Esperanza Spalding (who will lead her new Chamber Music Societyin an exclusive Portland area engagement).
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Nussbaum
FELIX NUSSBAUM 1904-1944
Once in a while it is worthy to focus on the art work of someone great.
The Jewish Museum in Paris currently features his work.
During JAM, Portland's Jewish Theater Collaborative will feature a production based on the life of Charlotte Salomon, a contemporary of Nussbaum. It will be interesting to compare HER work WITH NUSSBAUM'S! Be sure you get tickets to this wonderful production Feb 3-20, 2010
http://www.jewishtheatrecollaborative.org/
The ezine Jewish Daily features a lovely look at a wonderful artist, Felix Nussbaum, whose life and talent were cut short by Auschwitz.
Here is a quote from the article written by Eunice Lipton:
And what is so horribly painful considering Nussbaum’s life is that he was all there before the Holocaust, and everything he was and did was a sign of life. But after he was killed, these qualities were turned into the traits of a victim—signs of desperation and hopelessness, imminent loss, passivity. That is the interpretive injustice I referred to earlier. But he didn’t die, he wasn’t dead, until he was killed. It is his life that one experiences at the Jewish Museum in Paris and why the exhibit is not depressing.
Take a look at what else she has to say. It is a wonderful article. You'll want to fly to PARIS, just to see the exhibit!
http://www.jidaily.com/v6E/e
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Jewish Community Orchestra Joins JAM!
We are pleased to welcome the Jewish Community Orchestra to JAM. They bring one concert to our festival and are already thinking about what special programming they can provide for 2012!!!
April 10, 2011 3pm at the MJCC....we'll have more information about tickets and program as we approach the event.
WELCOME musicians! We are thrilled to have you on board!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Great News!....thank you OAC!!!
We received fantastic news yesterday!
The Oregon Arts Commission has awarded Jewish Arts Month 2011 a stunning grant of $5,250.
Their trust and support mean so much to us. We still need to raise additional funds, but with this award, hopefully others will pitch in to help us on our way.
Won't you consider making a tax deductible donation to JAM?
It's as simple as writing a check to the MJCC (Mittleman Jewish Community Center) and write JAM in the memo line. (6651 SW Capitol Hwy, PDX 97219)
MJCC's development director took our ideas and put them into a cohesive and persuasive grant. Thank you Helen Gundlach! The MJCC is a partner in our efforts and is also our fiscal manager.
A matching gift to the Oregon Cultural Trust should yield additional tax benefits. We aren't tax advisors but if you look at the OCT website you can get more info about how it all works.
YAHOOOOOO!!!!!! we are on our way!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
The Jewish Film Festival joins JAM!
JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL
The Portland Jewish Film Festival explores themes of spirituality and Jewish identity throughout all parts of the world, especially how American Jews perceive themselves in a larger social context. The films, in their abundance, touch on tragedy, embrace humor, and recount the emotional and tangible gains and losses of a people.
2011 dates: April 3-17, 2011 Stay tuned for a schedule.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Calendar is Building!
We're still in the process of shaping our calendar but the events are beginning to take shape.
Dates are still tentative for some of the events listed.....but we will have a full calendar accessible by the public, shortly!
••Thursday, March 3: THE ARTS THROUGH JEWISH EYES @ THE MJCC 7:30 PM
••Sundays thru Fridays in the month of March: A Rotating Art Exhibit in the lobby of the MJCC
with demonstrations!
••Thursday, March 17 ORA Northwest Jewish Artists are featured at the RACC sponsored ART SPARK
location TBA....music will also be provided by a local musician (TBA)!
•• SHELLEY JORDON, member of the pilot cohort of the JERUSALEM CULTURAL FELLOWSHIP
will talk about her experience this summer in Israel and Berlin as well as discuss her newest works.
date/time/venue TBA.
NEW THIS YEAR: Children's Programming
Student photography exhibit.....venue, dates and times tba
Children's film festival....stay tuned!
ALSO IN THE WORKS:
Folk Dancing, music concerts, theater, film........
Friday, November 19, 2010
Children's Programming for JAM!!!!!
We are so pleased to have a committee of young teens developing programming for JAM this year!
Because they are minors, we don't want to print names or photos here.
What is impressive is their enthusiasm and desire to be involved in the community. They are doing "on the job" training...learning how to run meetings, brainstorm ideas, and the "art" of follow through!
They'll be writing their own posts HERE soon!
Stay tuned!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Oregon Arts Commission Grant Hearing
We went to Salem this morning to listen to the Art Builds Communities Grant Hearings. JAM submitted a grant and we wanted to see/hear the process.
We listened to numerous grant proposals. Each has its merits and flaws. The committee was remarkable in their ability to remain focused and to treat each proposal with absolute integrity.
I learned so much about the process and even more about what constitutes a solid grant. I don't envy the committee their task to make decisions. Following each grant I had to stifle the urge to jump up and shout...."That is such a cool idea!....fund this!"
We heard positive statements about our grant and it was a lovely thing to hear, but the same was true for many, many grants we listened to. We will wait patiently, work on additional fund raising efforts and try to build a fund that will see JAM into the future. The official word should come sometime in December.
Grant writing is hard work! Kudos to Helen Gundlach for her efforts to bring JAM grant dollars.... and now it's time for our community to step up and support this annual festival. Grassroot financial support will assure the future of JAM. Please consider supporting JAM!
Tax deductible donations can be made to the Mittleman Jewish Community Center (MJCC). Please write JAM in the memo line. Matching gifts to the OREGON CULTURAL TRUST will yield a tax credit!
Questions? send inquiries to jampdx@gmail.com
THANK YOU!
Monday, November 8, 2010
WORDS!
Annual Readings by Jewish Writers and Poets
Tuesday, November 16, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
At the Oregon Jewish Museum
Rosalyn and Solomon Menashe Auditorium
1953 NW Kearney Street, Portland
Suggested donation $5; free for OJM members.
Five prominent Jewish poets and writers will read from their personal collection for our annual poetry reading, established in 1999.
Alison Apotheker 's first book of poems, Slim Margin was released in 2008. Her poetry has been published in many literary magazines, including Alaska Quarterly Review, Mid-American Review, and Prairie Schooner. Her work has received the C. Hamilton Bailey fellowship from Oregon Literary Arts, twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and was recently featured on the Garrison Keillor’s NPR radio show, "The Writer's Almanac." She teaches writing and literature at Portland Community College.
Gigi Rosenberg is an author and presentation coach. She writes about motherhood, Jewish Italy, and the writing life. Her essays and articles have been published by Seal Press, The Oregonian, Oregon Humanities Magazine, Parenting, and Writer’s Digest. Her book, The Artist’s Guide to Grant Writing, will be hot off the press from Random House in December 2010. As a presentation coach, Gigi draws on her background in theater and communications to teach artist entrepreneurs and business people how to make stellar public presentations.
Willa Schneberg, recipient of the Oregon Book Award in Poetry, is the originator and organizer of O.J.M.'s annual Oregon Jewish Writers' Reading, now in its 11th season. Her work was included in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror Anthology, was heard on the Writer’s Almanac, and can be seen on busses and Max trains in Portland. In October, she taught poetry workshops at “Write on the Sound” in Edmonds, WA, and at Wordstock. She has just returned from a “Bearing Witness" Retreat at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Floyd Skloot has published 17 books, most recently Selected Poems: 1970-2005, which won his second Pacific NW Booksellers Award in poetry, a memoir entitled The Wink of The Zenith: The Shaping of a Writer's Life, and a collection of new poems, The Snow's Music. Skloot is the recipient of three Pushcart Prizes, the PEN USA Literary Award, and two Oregon Book Awards, and his work has been reprinted in The Best American Essays, Best Spiritual Writing, Best Food Writing and Best American Science Writing. He lives in Portland.
Jack Turteltaub is a Portland native and licensed clinical psychologist who currently maintains a private practice in the city. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and his graduate degrees from Wayne State University. He has been published in a number of literary journals, most recently in Drash, Hazmat and Cloudbank. He belongs to two writing groups in Portland and loves, among other things, hiking, moviesThursday, November 4, 2010
ANDY STATMAN TRIO In Concert!
Renowned klezmer clarinet and mandolin player, Andy Statman is coming to Portland! Purchase tickets in the Neveh Shalom office, or reserve will-call tickets by phone (with Visa/MC, minimum $25 charge, 3% credit-offset donation requested. Tickets $18 per person, $50 per family (parents and all children living at home age 21 and under).| View this dotCal Event here: http://dotcal.me/mk
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
AVISHAI COHEN- comes to pdx!
Although it isn't part of JEWISH ARTS MONTH , this blog will attempt to post highlights of the Jewish Arts in the Portland community.
HERE'S THE SCOOP:
PDX Jazz, the presenting organization of the Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival presented by U.S. Bank, announces the October 23rd appearance by Avishai Cohen. The Israeli-born and Paris-based EMI-France recording artist is set to perform at the Winningstad Theater, an intimate 300 seat venue located within the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. This rare Portland area performance by the celebrated bassist will begin at 7:30 PM.
Cohen is a musician who has been called a jazz visionary of global proportions by DownBeat, and was declared one of the 100 Most Influential Bass Players of the 20th Century by Bass Player Magazine. Cohen is not only renowned around the world as an influential double bassist and profound composer, but also as a visionary bandleader that is following in the footsteps of Charles Mingus, Dave Holland, Jaco Pastorius, Ray Brown, Charlie Haden, Stanley Clarke, and even Sting.
*Note: Limited seating is available for this event.
Tickets may be purchased online at http://www.ticketmaster.com
or in person at the PCPA box office.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
JAM 2011 Update
Last year JAM became a reality thanks to the generosity of The Oregon Arts Commison, National Endowment for the Arts and some individual donors.
We had numerous sponsors who will be identified in the next blog posting. Special thanks needs to go to The Mittleman Jewish Community Center (MJCC) who not only took on fiscal management responsibility but also donated space and staff time to make this possible.
A new grant has been written to the OAC and we hope that they might be willing to offer us funding one more time. This financial assistance will allow to concentrate on fine tuning our festival while looking for other financial resources.
Last year we developed a template for hosting a Portland area Jewish arts festival. Our planning team reviewed, studied and evaluated everything we did. We learned so much and we're determined to make year two more exciting - a festival that will reach more broadly across age groups and spread across the broader community.
Above all, we will need to find ways to financially support JAM. We can't become dependent on grants for our future.
Do you want to be involved as a planner? Write to us! jampdx@gmail.com or to eddy shuldman at sparksofspirit@gmail.com.
Would you consider a tax deductible donation? Donations large and small are needed. Send your check to the MJCC but write in JAM donation on the memo line. Your contribution will be a statement of your support to building networks throughout our community through the arts.
Stay tuned for info re: JAM events. I think you will be pleasantly surprised!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
JAM returns ...spring 2011
We're busily writing grants and dreaming our schedule.
Would you like to help? Post a note here or send an email to jampdx@gmail.com
We need dreamers and we need do-ers!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Israeli Aritst in PDX- Pamela Silver

This lovely invitation appeared in the ORA artist email box...thought we would post it here!
I just wanted to invite you to the exhibition at the Littman gallery portland university where I will be exhibiting at the
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN ARTISTS’ EXHIBITION AND CONFERENCE - USA 2010: Her Presence in Colours IX
Littman Gallery
Exhibition: Littman Gallery PSU Smith Building, 1825 SW Broadway
Exhibition Dates: August 5-27
Conference: August 1-8
Exhibition Opening Reception: August 5, 5-7 p.m.
Littman Gallery
Exhibition: Littman Gallery PSU Smith Building, 1825 SW Broadway
Exhibition Dates: August 5-27
Conference: August 1-8
Exhibition Opening Reception: August 5, 5-7 p.m.
I am from Jerusalem Israel and would love to meet up.
Best wishes,
Pamela Silver
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