- Craft
- Papercut and calligraphy
Jennifer Kaplan is a papercutter and calligrapher in Cleveland, Ohio, who builds her work around Hebrew letter forms and sacred texts. She studied Art, Art History, and Jewish and Islamic Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, then did graduate work in Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at UCLA, focusing on ancient Semitic writing systems and language.
Her guiding idea is Hiddur Mitzvah, the beautification of the commandments. What draws her to papercutting is creating from negative space: cutting paper away to reveal something that was there the whole time. Alongside her ketubot, she makes a line of papercut and glass ritual pieces, handmade and assembled by her. Hand-cut papercuts in a special waterproof paper are paired with tempered glass and stainless steel, so the art can live on a real table.
At ModernTribe, that means papercut challah plates in several designs, a Shabbat candle blessing tray, and a seder plate ringed with spring flowers.
Good to know
- EducationWashington University in St. Louis; graduate work in Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, UCLA
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