I participated in a one-day-only exhibition and performance at the Magnes Collection in Berkeley. This event was the culmination of my year-long LABA Bay Area art fellowship. I featured new Burn Line charcoal photographs.
Press coverage
Forbes feature
- Forbes: California Wildfires Give Rise To New Artistic Process Forged By Flame
ByLeslie Katz (PDF) - J Weekly: Wildfires, tides, landlines: A Jewish artists’ laboratory grapples with change (PDF)
Schedule
- Sunday, Nov 16 (one day only!)
- 11am-12 or 3pm-4 if you just want to see the art
- The Magnes, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA (map)
Burn Line is a project that meditates on loss, resilience, and transformation in the face of California’s wildfires. It employs a unique “Pyrotype” process to engrave images into wood and transform them into black-on-black charcoal objects, reflecting on how trauma reshapes objects and memory.
INSPIRATION: “God spoke to Moses from within the bush, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.”
— Exodus 3:2
Full Schedule
- 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Open gallery hours to see the visual and site-specific art installations. Featuring the work of Hila Amram, Michelle Brenner, Samantha Grant, Ronit Shalem, and Ari Salomon. The artists will be present and leading short, casual discussions about their work. No ticket required. - 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Live performances and teaching featuring theater from Maya De La Rosa-Cohen, film from Chel Mandell, music from Chance Reiniesch, dance from Liv Schaffer, and learning with LABA scholar Sam Shonkoff. Paid ticket required.* - 2:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Interactive “theater midrash” text study with LABA scholar Tova Birnbaum. Dive into an ancient text through improvisation and creative storytelling. No ticket required. - 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Gallery show open to the public. No ticket required.
Created in collaboration with Chabad of Pacific Palisades, this Pyrotype photograph of a menorah honors their resilience after the January fires. It will be one of the images featured in the exhibition alongside a statement about their experience, with proceeds from sales supporting their rebuilding fund.
About CHANGE
Over the past year, the 2025 LABA Bay Area fellows engaged with ancient Jewish texts on the theme of “Change”, exploring them through LABA’s open-minded and free-spirited house of study. We encountered old stories and ideas, then created new art and culture in response.
We wrestled with change as both loss and transformation. We fear it, resist it, and long for what was—but life itself is change: of body, mind, and world. As culture-makers, we sought to shape change through words, images, and ideas, while warning against the illusion of easy transformation.
In Jewish tradition, change has always been both resisted and embraced—law and custom shifting through reason, imagination, and time. Maimonides saw Torah as fixed; the mystics saw truth as fluid, demanding renewal in every generation.
We invite you to experience this work and consider the role CHANGE plays in your life.
Curated by LABA BAY AREA artistic director Elissa Strauss. LABA BAY AREA is generously materially and creatively supported by Anne Germanacos.
About LABA Bay Area
LABA BAY AREA is a laboratory for Jewish culture and a program of the Firehouse.
It is part of an international collective of LABAs, all of which use ancient Jewish texts to inspire the creation of art, culture, conversation, and community. The program began in 2007 at the 14th Street Y in New York City, and now has hubs in Paris, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Berlin and the Bay Area.
LABA presents Judaism’s rich literary and intellectual tradition in a free and creative setting, so that these fertile stories and ideas spark new thought and creative work. The output from our laboratory hubs push the boundaries of what Jewish culture can be and what Jewish texts can teach.
More at LabaBay.org
Event promo video:
