The Jewish Street Art Festival gathers together for the first time Jewish street artists from around the Diaspora and Israel who make street art with Jewish themes. These artists come from diverse backgrounds: Ashkenazi and Mizrachi, secular, religious, and in between. This array of perspectives exemplifies the richness of the Jewish world and creates the stage for a broader conversation about Jewish art and identity.
Following the first ever Jewish Street Art Festival in Jerusalem in October 2019, we retooled the 2020 Festival to bring light to our communities in eight cities over Chanukah. For 2021, we are bringing the same decentralized model to Passover, bringing awareness to crucial issues in three cities in North America.
The 2019 Jewish Street Art Festival is taking place as part of the 2019 Jerusalem Biennale in October and November. We are partnering with First Station (Tachana Rishona), the Artists’ Colony (Hutzot Hayotzer), and the Schechter Institute in the heart of Jerusalem to create site-specific pieces at all three locations!
We reimagined the 2020 Festival as a way to bring art to our local communities. Our artists will each be painting related murals in their own cities this Chanukah. Click here for the full schedule of events.
The Jewish Street Art Festival is thrilled to present a series of murals as a part of Dwelling in a Time of Plagues, a coast-to-coast Jewish artistic response to contemporary plagues.
Watch along throughout the Festival as our artists paint their masterpieces!
Adam’s mural was painted at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. He teamed up over Chanukah with other local organizations including The Blue Dove Foundation (addressing the issues of mental illness and addiction in the Jewish community and beyond), the Breman Museum, and OneTable.
Rachel Gluski’s mural is now live at the Downtown Synagogue at Griswold and Clifford Streets. Big thanks to the Downtown Synagogue for being such an amazing partner!
Rabbi Yitzchok Moully’s huge (76 ft x 20+ ft) mural, #ShareYourLight, is now up at 569 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn, NY (the corner of Myrtle and Classon). Everyone is invited to visit the mural and share your light: there is a basket of bright markers for everyone to come and share a positive message on the wall.
A few of our murals will be “lit” each night by members of the community. Here are photos of events from the first night.
Shlome J. Hayun and Sheina Dorn painted on the side of the Mamilla restaurant in the heart of the “kosher corridor” in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood on Wednesday, December 9, in a day-long celebration with the community. More photos coming soon!
Hillel finished his mural at the Edlavitch JCC today after a few days of painting, including in unexpected snow! The fallen leaves were painted by the JCC’s preschoolers, faculty, and staff. Daily candle lightings by local VIP guests will be at 2pm daily, weather permitting (except Saturday).
Mike Wirth’s #RBGMenorah mural is ready for lighting at Queens University of Charlotte! They have a full schedule of candle lightings each night. Click to read more and see the whole line-up.
Anshie Kagan’s mural was completed today opposite the Division subway station. Chabad will be organizing daily candle lightings during Chanukah. Join them for night 1 at 5:30pm on Thursday, December 10 at 1200 N Ashland Ave. Photos from the first night’s lighting below. There was a brief mention of the celebrations in the Chicago Sun […]
Bareket is the first of our artists to finish her mural! She worked over the weekend to add her signature bright colors to the Miles Nadal JCC in Downtown Toronto, completed on December 6. The kids coming into school are in for a surprise this morning!
It’s been such a blast seeing people enjoying our new work at the First Station. We’ve put together an album of all the art we’ve painted there so far. Check it out!
We partnered with Kol HaOt and Hutzot Hayotzer, the Artists’ Colony to create this series of seven murals for the seven days of creation. We were honored to add some color to this hub of Jewish creativity just across the street from the walls of the Old City. Here’s the full series of completed murals.
Our collaborative mural for the Schechter Institute incorporates text and quotes from a variety Jewish sources, ancient and modern, centering on the concept of creation and learning. Each artist picked a source that they personally found meaningful and painted it on the wall in their own chosen style.
Click on their names to learn more about them and connect with them online.
CURATOR | Hillel Smith is an artist and designer focused re-imagining the potential of Judaica by utilizing contemporary media to create new manifestations of traditional forms. Seeing Hebrew as the visual glue that binds Jews together across time and space, he explores Jewish typographic history, using print as a lens for Jewish life and culture.
2020 CO-CURATOR | Yitzchok Moully is a conceptual artist whose work explores the intersection of spirituality and the material world we live in. Moully brings together the disparate colorful worlds of his hippie upbringing and Hasidic culture, resulting in a unique palette of colors and ideas.
Mike Wirth is a street artist, graphic designer, and an associate professor of art based in Charlotte, NC. His work reflects his blended Jewish upbringing and his experience of adulthood in the American South through pop art inspired Jewish iconography and typography.
Bareket Kezwer is a Toronto-based visual artist, muralist, curator, community organizer and eternal optimist. Her work is motivated by a desire to spread joy, cultivate gratitude, and foster new social interactions.
As a Los Angeles native and self-taught artist, Shlome has developed an unmistakable signature that bridges beautiful colored abstract design with elements of street and pop art. With strong ties to his Israeli heritage, he draws from his spirituality and cultural roots to develop his own pieces infused with love and light.
Adam Podber is a full time artist and muralist operating out of Southwest Atlanta, concentrating on modern, clean, and bold murals as well as signage and logo work. With a product design background, he enjoys the design process and makes sure all of his work not only fits the space but is executed cleanly with an attention to detail.
Chicago-based Anshie Kagan’s ironic and often dark artwork covers a variety of motifs and themes and is influenced by the Pop Art movement of the 1950s.
Sheina Dorn is a self taught variety artist. She started off as the only female Orthodox caricature artist, to become one of the very few female Orthodox muralists.
Rachel Gluski is a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her main focus is in painting and drawing with an interest in philosophy.
Email us at info@jewishstreetart.com.