Jewish Artists on Jewish Art Profile #1
“Mizrach” Papercut, Mindy Shapiro
Mindy Shapiro is a Philadelphia-based artist and art educator. In addition to her work as a papercut artist and art educator, Mindy is also a certified Zentangle® teacher. She teaches papercutting and Zentangle® to students of all ages. She also enjoys creating papercut commissions, mostly Jewish-themed. You can see examples of her artistic skill and talent in the samples of her work pictured above and below.
During our conversation, Mindy explained that being a Jewish woman papercutter is unique to contemporary times, since Judaica papercutting was historically the domain of Jewish men, who used the technique in creating ritual documents. According to Mindy, Jewish papercutting was revived as a popular form of art in the 1960s, and has since inspired Jewish women to pursue this artform.
For this inaugural article in the “Jewish Artists on Jewish Art” series, one of my questions for Mindy was how she defines Jewish art. Mindy’s definition: “art that uplifts Jewish life through a variety of techniques and media. It’s our material culture, Jewish iconography. It may be words, but it’s also symbols.”
For Mindy, her creativity and her Jewish identity have been intertwined since she was a child. Mindy’s foundational art learning experiences took place at Camp Louise, a Jewish camp in Maryland that she attended as both a camper, counselor and staff member. She learned leather work as a camper and then went on to teach the craft as a trainee and counselor.
Mindy’s artistic awakening continued in another Jewish context, when she was introduced to papercutting at Klezcamp. Klezkamp was an annual festival for klezmer musicians and others to celebrate Yiddish music and Ashkenazi Jewish culture. After that formative experience at Klezcamp, Mindy’s papercutting skills evolved and she has become well known as a papercut artist. Today she continues to be a highly regarded Judaica papercut artist, who is sought after for commissions.
Papercut, Mindy Shapiro
Mindy’s exploration of unique forms of art didn’t stop with papercutting and leatherworking. About ten years ago, Mindy discovered Zentangle® and became certified to teach it. She continues to teach Zentangle® to students of all ages today.
Mindy’s life work has been about weaving together education, Judaism, and visual art. She is passionate about both learning through art and connecting people to Jewishness through hands-on experiences and creativity. Before becoming an art educator, Mindy was a Jewish communal professional and Jewish educator. The vast majority of her papercutting includes Jewish content, while most of her Zentangle® work and teaching does not. Nevertheless, she shared: “Jewish art is an important part of my creative process because my Jewish identity is front and central in my life.” In addition to teaching at synagogues and Jewish day schools, Mindy teaches at adult education centers and art schools.
About 25 years ago, Mindy’s exploration of art education led her to travel to Jerusalem to study calligraphy with renowned Hebrew calligrapher Izzy Pludwinski. Her goal was to use her papercutting skills to create ketubot that she would letter by hand. Mindy described herself as becoming “enthralled with Hebrew letters” at that point in her artistic journey. Mindy loves working with clients for papercut commissions and taking inspiration from their interests and vision.
Zentangle, Mindy Shapiro