Hebrew letters and bush art
FOR the past 20 years, artist Nikki Green has been creating ornately illustrated manuscripts to celebrate life cycle events such as births and marriages.
In recent years she has expanded her interest in Hebrew letters into her artwork and her latest works are currently on display at the Jewish Museum of Australia’s (JMA) new exhibition: Letter, Land, Lore: A visual exploration of the convergence of Jewish Mysticism and Indigenous Culture, which was officially opened by well-known Melbourne artist Victor Majzner on Sunday, August 3.
Green worked on the exhibition while living in the remote Western Australian town of Denmark, about 400 kilometres south of Perth, which has been her home since 2007.
“Hebrew letters are quite profound and aesthetically beautiful,” says Green, who has presented the mystic value of each letter of the Hebrew alphabet in carved lino blocks in the exhibition.
“I have my own printing press and hand-print the works. The prints are on dyed paper with imprints of leaves and plants.”
The JMA exhibition includes a special one-off artist’s book where each page was printed from a carved lino block on hand-dyed paper.
“I used the healing qualities of Australian indigenous plants and flowers to match the qualities to the Hebrew letters,” she explains.
Green says that she drew on her experience of working with Aboriginal communities and their knowledge of the healing qualities of flora and fauna.
“In Indigenous culture, the bush is their pharmacy and their market. It’s where they get their food and medicine. That’s how they used to survive in the bush,” she says.
“I have been exploring it from an artist’s visual point of view.”
Green was born in Sydney in 1965 and has had a few career changes over the years. She started out as an interior designer after completing her diploma at Randwick Technical College in 1987, then completing her bachelor of fine art (printmaking) at the National Art School, Sydney in 2001. She specialised in custom-designed hand-crafted ketubot (marriage contract).
Her public commissions include glass panels of the 12 tribes at Central Synagogue, Sydney, and a wood carving of the Ten Commandments at Masada Synagogue, Sydney.
In 2005 she completed a graduate diploma in education at The University of Melbourne to pursue a teaching career, and it was during her teaching studies in Melbourne that she became more involved in Aboriginal culture.
“My placement was at Wowara Aboriginal College in Healesville, where I worked with Aboriginals in their curriculum. I have always wanted to connect more with Aboriginal Australia and would like to collaborate with an Indigenous artist,” she says
After completing her studies she visited friends living in Western Australia in Denmark, and while there asked if they knew any local Jewish boys.
“I came for a holiday in 2006 and met a Jewish man who cooked me a nice Shabbat dinner,” she recalls.
“After coming back to Melbourne for my job (head of visual art at Mentone Girls’ Secondary College) we kept in touch and then I decided to move to Denmark in 2007 – we are still good friends.
“We’ve celebrated Rosh Hashanah and Chanukah with up to 40 people and a rabbi from Perth,” she adds, explaining that some came from Albany to join the religious holidays.
“The local shop now sells matzah all year round and some of my non-Jewish friends bake a challah for me for Shabbat.
“I also do more cooking here, including hamantaschen for Purim and gefilte fish for Pesach – I would never have done that in Melbourne or Sydney,” Green says.
After the exhibition’s official opening on Sunday, Green will become the museum’s artist-in-residence and facilitate visual art workshops during August and September.
“I will stay in Melbourne for the High Holy Days to catch up with family and friends before returning to Western Australia.”
Denmark has a rugged coastline with beautiful beaches, ancient karri forests and bushland, as well as galleries and wineries.
Green says she found a calm serenity and inspiration in the town. “It is a really creative community for the environmentally aware,” she says. “It’s one of Australia’s best-kept secrets.”
Green taught art at Denmark High School for several years and was also involved in the Brave New Works community arts festival. Currently, she is director of Butter Factory Studios where she runs workshops and classes with seven other artists.
Green decided to make aliyah in 1995, but after living in Israel for less than a year returned to Melbourne to care for her sick mother.
“As fate happened, my best friend was getting married in India that year and asked me to create a ketubah. From that I started getting commissions for Jewish art, which started a whole new career for me,” she says.
“Now I’m very excited about my latest exhibition exploring Hebrew letters and the Australian landscape.”
The Letter, Land, Lore exhibition is currently at the Jewish Museum of Australia, 26 Alma Road, St Kilda until October 26, 2014. Enquiries: www.jewishmuseum.com.au.
REPORT by Danny Gocs
PHOTO of artist Nikki Green at work making a print.
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