MIRIAM'S CUP
THE STORIES OF WOMEN OFTEN UNTOLD

An Arts Education Project supported by the
FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPING, Inc., New York and CAMP KADIMAH, Halifax

Artists-in-Residence:
Suzanne Caines, B.F.A., B.Ed.
Tracey Kornblum, B.A.
Belarie Zatzman, Ph.D.

The Miriam's Cup Project began with the question "who was Miriam?" "Moses' sister" was the most common answer. We anticipated this reply and responded "But did you know that Miriam had her own unique story?" "Did you know that Miriam was a woman who played a significant role in the Exodus from Egypt, in her own right?"

We discussed some of the highlights of Miriam's often untold story. After sharing Miriam stories, the participants were asked to write about a woman who was important to them in some way. The campers were given the option to write about a grandmother, or a sister, mother, aunt, teacher, cousin or friend, for example, --someone who has nourished them, as Miriam nourished the people throughout the desert.

We used the text that each camper had written as the basis for creating their paintings or drawings. We drew images out of their stories, and did sketches based upon those images. Campers created acrylic paintings on wood canvases. All the canvases are double-sided. One side presents a self-portrait of the participant. The other side of the painting extends the story of the campers' relationship to the special woman whom they had selected. All the paintings include fragments of text from their original writing!

Other campers have created charcoal and watercolour drawings, based on the woman they had selected to write about. Their drawings frame the window in the Moadon. Fragments from their texts appear on the silver Miriam's Cups and are now mounted in front of the window on one of the few very oldest benches still remaining from Camp Kadimah. In addition, fragments of the kids' narratives appear on a sheer curtain suspended from old Kadimah iron bed frames. Each line in the curtain comes from a different
camper's text about the woman who had nurtured them as Miriam nourished the Jewish People.

This Fine Arts project is sponsored by a Foundation for Jewish Camping grant, the first Programmatic Excellence Grant they have awarded to a Canadian camp. The grant allowed Kadimah to bring artists Tracey Kornblum and Suzanne Caines to camp to help make the project Belarie Zatzman designed find such beautiful form! The artwork was created by volunteers from the Kochot, Machar, and CIT sections as well as by our Kadimah staff. The project explores artistic experiences that can help young people make connections to identity, history and memory and their awareness of and responsiveness to the cultural life around them.

Watch out for our Miriam's Cup website, where we will post a complete record of photos of the paintings, texts and stories!

This is very special work created by amazing participants, some who have painted before, many who have never painted before. Their dedication has produced extraordinary results!

Enjoy!