Art Form(s)
Installation, Mixed Media, Painting, Public Art
Connect
interfaithartistcircle.com
[email protected]
Minneapolis
Artist Statement
My art journey began in theater, and roamed through set design, sculpture, architectural drafting, murals, drawing, painting, ketubot, batik, and teaching. After 25 years of teaching K-8th-grade art, I took a sabbatical this year to study prayer, create paintings on paper and fabric on the theme of Visual Prayer, and collaborate with clergy to teach adult Judaic Art workshops to inspire learning, connecting, healing and artmaking. My MFA is from Brandeis University, in Scenic Design. My artwork is in the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s permanent Judaic collection. I enjoy creating in a community, not in a vacuum. I am thrilled to be part of an Interfaith Artist Circle, and believe sharing, listening, learning, and exhibiting together are part of a process of healing our world.
Aimee Orkin is a Minneapolis-based Judaic artist, and art teacher at the Heilicher Jewish Day School since 1995. As a member of the Interfaith Artist Circle, Aimee has created collaborative art pieces with the whole group, including her Interfaith Prayer Wall currently on display at the University of St. Thomas’s Houdeman Gallery of Sacred Art. She conceived of the exhibit’s theme “Visual Prayer” to study and then express prayer through the lens of art. Aimee took a sabbatical last year and received grants for study, art materials and lodging from the Schochet Jewish Studies Scholarship, Heilicher Jewish Day School, and an artist residency in Jerusalem at Kol HaOt Art Center. Aimee earned an MFA in scenic design from Brandeis University and uses her skills in visual research, collaboration, scenic painting and design in her artwork. She continues to study Judaic prayer, Hebrew calligraphy, and connections to other faiths through the arts and workshops.
Currently I am offering ZOOM tours of our "Visual Prayer" exhibit with our Interfaith Artist Circle. The exhibit is at the University of MN in collaboration with the Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at Saint John's University and St. Thomas University.
I teach adult and children's Judaic Art workshops when not teaching at the Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School Kindergarten through 8th grade.
