Social Curation As An Art Form

An artist looks around at the world and sees what needs to be healed.

She considers what needs to be said and who needs to be heard.

And then the artist creates a painting, a book, a video, or a song about that, to raise awareness, to help people feel they are not alone. So that people can experience the beauty that has gone unfelt, or so that they can be inspired towards envisioning and creating a better world.

You probably hear the words “epidemic of loneliness” everywhere. Everyone is complaining about the social fracturing and isolation of this world. They are creating videos about it, writing long, frightened articles about it. They are doom scrolling and trying to text our way out of this great pain. We are wilting from the incredible physical abundance and the unbelievable emotional destitution. And yet the only thing that can truly heal this enormous schism is just actually getting together, and getting together well. This takes a skilled eye and a large heart.

I am a watcher, a noticer. I watch people and see what they bring to the table. I take great pleasure in arranging people, conversation, and energy so that simple gatherings can allow friends new and old to step deeper into themselves and connect with others.

These gifts are not profitable.

I will not be making TikToks about my gatherings or my technique or applying for grants for them.

That is perhaps the point.

Community is by nature not profitable. Community cannot be monetized. Our networth has nothing to do with our belonging. We belong because we are loved and seen on a deeper, soul level. We are loved for the words we say and the actions we do, not the money we spend to access the event. So the social curation that I do- that is, by nature, extremely simple, because to connect with others cannot be fancy- is creations that I do from the heart, for the heart. I curate community experiences because that is what we need right now, because that is what I can give. And also because they are a helluva lot of fun. 

Deep connection, community, and fun is a contemporary, revolutionary act that is necessary for us to have in order to move forward and take the essential steps towards preserving our Earth and our people. 

My Journey

The Beginning 

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, I drew for fun but never considered myself “an artist”.  My artwork alway seemed too messy compared to my classmates. “Being good” at art felt frustratingly out of my reach.

Nevertheless, I signed up for an art class my junior year in high school. That class forever changed my life. 

Mr. Montgomery embraced my messier art style and the intense, provocative themes I wanted to dig into with my work. Art became a way for my deeper self to emerge, proclaim its ideas into the world, and gather likeminded souls. Encouraged, I continued to create, and ended up graduating with a painting degree from Rutgers University in 2006.  

The Spiritual Connection, From Israel to Brooklyn

My husband and I moved to Israel in 2010 to study ancient and contemporary Jewish texts. At the same time, I was diving into Julia Cameron’s brilliant The Artist’s Way. Making connections between Cameron’s spiritual ideas on creativity and the mystical Jewish texts I was studying, art became one of my ways of prayer and spiritual service. 

When my husband and I moved to Brooklyn in 2011 with our first daughter, we immediately went to work leading a community of like-minded Jewish creatives. This collective became known as Hevria Brooklyn. 

The Mama Artist

In 2016, we welcomed our third daughter into this world. I have found in my decade of motherhood that time alone to ponder and create allows me the release necessary to return to my life and take care of the all that that is required to raise human beings. Motherhood crystallized my belief in the psychological necessity for mother artists to invest in their own creative needs for the health of their families as well. 

Continued Exploration

Now living in California, art continues to be my vehicle for liberation. It is always evolving. It answers questions I never thought to ask, removes blocks I couldn’t see, and spurs me towards new horizons. It allows me to finally stop thinking and doing, and just experience life. It is my hope that it helps others as much as it helps me.