The CJM Blog

Installation photo of  You Know I'm No Good  by Johnna Arnold. The title of this exhibition is taken from a track by the same name on Amy Winehouse’s award-winning album, Back to Black (2006). In response to the intimate look at Winehouse allowed in A Family Portrait , The Museum invited three contemporary artists to display work about the singer. San Francisco artists Jason Jägel and Jennie Ottinger created new works for the exhibition and a selection of drawings by New York artist Rachel Harrison are also on view. Installation photo of  You Know I'm No Good  by Johnna Arnold. Jägel is known for his paintings that combine text and cartoon-like figures to create dreamlike narratives that pull the viewer across the image and back again. He has also created album art for many rap and R&B musicians. For You Know I’m No Good , he created a mural-sized painting for the gallery wall visible from Yerba Buena Lane inspired by Winehouse and her m...

  All images courtesy of artist (via Instagram: @victoriathorne). Last week we got an Insta-crush on illustrator Victoria Thorne. As she made her way through Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait , she sketched and tagged — filling her moleskin with drawings and sharing with us on Instagram . Drawing  everything from photos of young Amy to iconic dresses, we're blown away by her expressive, direct drawings.   Victoria caught our eye — and we had to reach out !  Make sure to follow her on IG as @victoriathorne for her sketching travels.  Here's an interview — via drawings — with the talented artist. The interview came creatively (could you have guessed it?), in a lovely envelope with the q&a beautifully illustrated. A GIF of opening the envelope. _________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Describe yourself in six words. I watch for Grace (4) Mom sister  nana daughter wife frien...

Terry Berlier, Variation on Soma Cube: Empty Center , 2015.  Wood: walnut, maple, cherry, ash, red oak, ipe, basswood,  7 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. Photo by Johnna Arnold. In conjunction with The 2015 Dorothy Saxe Invitational: Tzedakah  Box , The CJM invites participating artists to give insightful chats in the gallery. Artists will discuss their work in the larger context o f craft, design, and how the invitation to create work on the theme of tzedakah  affected their process. Get to know artist Terry Berlier, who will be speaking at The CJM on Friday, April 24 from  12:30–1pm . _________________________________________________________________________________ 1. What inspired you about taking this traditional Jewish object and creating a new work of art? H onestly, I had a very challenging time with it at first. I don't usually like making functional objects so it took me some time to come up with something that felt relevant t...

Bay Area artists Gil Gershoni and Ken Goldberg present a contemporary take on the inquisitive impulse with an installation opening at the CJM on March 31. Are We There Yet?: 5,000 Years of Answering Questions with Questions combines the latest in intelligent cameras and acoustics to create a reactive sound environment that encourages visitors to reconsider the history and future of curiosity. In preparation for the installation’s opening, Gershoni and Goldberg recently sat answered a few questions about their project. How did you come up with the idea? It started with a phone call from [Contemporary Jewish Museum Director and CEO] Connie Wolf who began the conversation with a question: Any interest in creating a new installation in the CJM’s Yud Gallery that would engage the broader community?