Limington, Maine USA
Asherah Cinnamon was raised a Feminist, with Jewish values of Justice, Integrity, and Community. She came to the US as the immigrant child of Holocaust survivors. Much of her family were killed or lost, while others scattered worldwide.
Jewish communal celebrations going back six thousand years hold meaning for many who do not know on which spot their ancestors began or ended their journeys. Rarely having lived in one place for more than a few years, Cinnamon has found home and inspiration in the woods of Maine.
Before becoming an artist, Cinnamon was a coalition facilitator and conflict resolution specialist for NCBI, a Washington, DC based international organization. She was honored by the US Holocaust Museum and the New England United Methodist Conference for her social justice work, and has been given grant support from Jewish and secular arts organizations. Her artwork often invites public engagement. In the context of a Jewish community or congregation, encouraging connection and a sense of belonging.
Her sculpture has been selected for exhibition across the US, Vietnam, England, and China, and has been shown in Jewish museums, Synagogues, and galleries in Maine, Oregon, Los Angeles, and London, England. She notes that it was particularly sweet to travel with her co-designer (Scott Fuller) to China in 2008 to receive a Beijing Olympic Five Rings Award for Landscape Sculpture Design.
Sukkah
Offering
This interactive work began with a wood ‘frame’ (The frame for this piece can vary in size and shape for commissioned works). Visitors to the 2015 Maine Jewish Film Festival and to Art Kibbutz NY for the 2015 Shmita ARTFest in New York City, were shown the frame and invited to answer a question in writing on a strip of white paper (the question can also vary by commission). The question: “WHAT ACT OF HEALING WILL YOU COMMIT TO AND OFFER TO YOUR CREATOR/ TO YOUR PLANET/ TO YOUR UNIVERSE?” Their answers are woven into the sculpture.
Dimensions (variable by commission) of this piece 24″ W x 4″ D x 22″ High
Materials: sustainably harvested maple wood stripped of bark, and Red Osier Dogwood, dyes, inks, thread, archival paper
Huppah
Bet Ha’am:Of The People”, in the tradition of kissing sacred objects like a Torah or Tallit, members of Congregation Bet Ha’am in South Portland, Maine were each given a white triangle and asked to kiss it while thinking about what they love about being part of this congregation &/or about being Jewish. The triangles were then sewn together into Stars of David and into a long chain. They were colored with inks and placed in a woven wood container in the form of a Mir Tamid. This container hangs in the Social Hall of the Synagogue and new members are periodically invited to do the same ritual. Their triangles are then sewn, colored, and added to the chain in the container.
Dimensions can vary for commissioned work.
This particular 2015 piece measures: 52″L x 40″W x 22″D
and contains contributions from more than 200 members of the congregation, including children.
Materials: Sustainably harvested applewood, maple, red dogwood, reed, heavy archival paper, wood dyes, pigment inks, thread
