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Out of the Narrows: The Artists’ Haggadah
Over 500 Haggadah copies sold!
This collaboration was a year-long project designed and managed by Carol Neiger along with Berit Engen (Content Curator and Editor) and Susan Dickman (Editor and Writer). Our Haggadah features contemporary artwork by 11 talented artists—members of Jewish Artists Collective Chicago (JACC), a community of multidisciplinary artists connected through common heritage and committed to sharing ideas, enriching practices, and creating a dialogue with the community.
How to order the Haggadah: Out of the Narrows can be purchased at two price points:
Fine Art quality book (heavier, glossy paper) Blurb $67.92
Economy version (lighter paper) at Barnes & Noble for $32.00
Video: JACC artists talk about their art and ideas in Out of the Narrows: The Artists' Haggadah
REVIEWS:
Jewish Book Council, review by Jonathan Fass
Times of Israel feature about Out of the Narrows
JUF News feature about Out of the Narrrows
Guardians of Hope: A Bouquet of Blessings
In the wake of the Israeli-Hamas war, where lives hang in the balance and suffering abounds, I created this painting as an artistic offering of protection and solace to all innocent souls in peril. Submitted for the global art project #ArtistsStandWithIsrael created by KakdelArt platform for artists and SVIVA art space. Works were projected on building walls in Israel. Read Artists Statement. You can purchase a print in my Gallery Shop with proceeds going to Magen David Adom.
articles and interviews
Julie Cowan received an Evanston Arts Council Special Projects Grant for Evanston Printmakers in 2024.
Dr. Leon Schatzberg’s Violin that Jamie Hofman played on during the event. Artwork: Kulturbund Violin Concerto. Oil and collage elements on canvas by Carol Neiger Photo: Stephen Wielebski
Learning to See. A page from my sketchbook from Mr. Foster’s class at University of Cincinnati in 1977 as I looked for “the negative space” in my forest landscape.
Evanston Printmakers showcase best of the city with ‘Visit Evanston’ exhibit
Evanston Printmakers, a newly formed art group, hosted a social event at Lorraine H. Morton City Hall on Friday night to celebrate its first exhibit, titled “Visit Evanston.”
Nine artists, all of whom live or work in Evanston — Julie Cowan, Socorro Mucino, Leslie Riley, Joseph Taylor, Ben Blount, Beth Adler, Chris Froeter, Carol Neiger and Melissa Blount — each contributed one print to the exhibit, located on the walls of City Hall’s lobby.
Printmaking is an artistic process that involves taking images from a matrix and transferring them onto another surface, usually paper or fabric. There are several ways to make prints, and each artist at the exhibit used a different technique, Cowan, the founder of the group, said.
UWM Opens “Violins of Hope” Exhibit with Stories of Survival, Song and Hope
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee opened its “Violins of Hope: Call and Response” exhibit with a program of historical reflections and emotional live performances that spotlight Holocaust-era violins and the stories of the musicians who played them, underscoring resilience and hope through music. Jamie Hofman and Sherry Sinift, instructors from UWM’s String Academy, served as the evening’s performers at the event, and each got to select a violin from the exhibit to play musical pieces on during the program, which was a process they both described as emotionally overwhelming. “There are a lot of very strong feelings whenever you think about where this violin has been,” Hofman said in a somber tone. “All of these violins have stories. You just can’t help but identify with them and think about how their life was during these very hard times and how maybe music was a source of sustenance and hope.”
Presentation and Conversation with SHELLEY WERNER of Art and Scroll Studio on 11/02/2022 — Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, at 7:00 pm MDT / 9:00 pm Eastern 6:00 pm Pacific/ 8:00 pm Central
“Carol is a painter and printmaker focused on exploring the connection between memory and place. Each work is created with the hope of connecting to individuals through her art and evoking meaning in the viewer’s own memories. She has been led to wonder about how Judaism survived and how we, as Jews, relate to “place” and “home.” She explores these themes using a vibrant color palette and immersive images. View the video here
Alberta Jewish News by Shelley Werner 09/14/2022
“The beautiful image on the front cover of this month’s Edmonton edition of the Alberta Jewish News is entitled Mizrach by Carol Lezberg Neiger, a painter, and printmaker living near Chicago, Illinois. She will be featured on the November 2 show of Art and Scroll Studio at 7 pm MDT. Advance tickets are available at artandscrollstudio@gmail.com. Carol loves nature and being outdoors so she often works in her sketchbook as a catalyst for her paintings…”
Outdoor art competition under way this weekend by Jeff Hirsh, Evanston Now 07/17/2022
“The emotion tells you what you want to paint,” said Carol Neiger, who was looking out over Arrington Lagoon along Lake Michigan. Neiger said she was “not trying to be photographic” with her plein air paintings. Rather, she said her work is about “being in the moment,” with the hope that the pictures remind viewers of something, whatever that something may be.
Evanston hosts first ever Plein-air Fest By Gina Grillo, Chicago Tribune, Pioneer Press 07/18/2022
Artist, Carol Lezberg Neiger of Glenview participated in the festival. “If you love nature, if you get peace from nature, painting outside can be just pure meditation,” Neiger said.
Detroit Jewish News "Carrying On" by Suzanne Chessler 05/31/2018
“What We Carry” a themed group exhibit, reflecting both the themes that we carry as Jews and the individuality with which we live our lives, featured art from 11 JACC artists at the Janice Charach Gallery in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Today we’d like to introduce you to Carol Neiger. read more
Review By Jonathan Fass
The Jewish Artists Collective of Chicago, founded in 2016, is a community of multidisciplinary artists “joined by a common mission of creating contemporary, engaging, and thoughtful work that reflects Jewish themes and values.” Out of the Narrows was born out of the desire to connect the themes of Passover with the realities of celebrating the holiday during the COVID pandemic…read more
Accessing the Haggadah through art by Yvette Alt Miller
A beautiful new Haggadah is bringing work by artists at the Jewish Artists Collective Chicago (JACC) to local families just in time for Passover. Out of the Narrows: The Artist's Haggadah includes both text and artwork to depict the Passover story in a unique way. read more
Creating the artists’ haggadah by Shelley S. Herbert
When the COVID-19 shutdown made the 'narrow place' more reality than metaphor, weavers, sculptors, painters, and more came together with a new vision of the ancient text read more
Fresh-Told Tales by Steve Lipman
This Haggadah, now in its second printing, was born out of the forced isolation caused by Covid, and created by the Jewish Artists Collective Chicago (JACC). True to the book’s title, its focus is visual, with artistic images in place of the written commentaries of the Haggadah. read more
A new Haggada from Jewish artists in Chicago by Mordecai Specktor
This year marks the second printing of Out of the Narrows: The Artists’ Haggadah — A Visual Midrash, created by the JACC (Jewish Artists Collective Chicago), which features over 75 pages of original artwork.
The beautiful Haggada “emerged from the plague of our time, COVID-19,” according to the JACC creators, which necessitated socially distanced Passover seders.
JACC member artists Carol Neiger, project director, designer; Berit Engen, content curator, editor; and Susan Dickman, editor, writer, set out to envision the manuscript that eventually became Out of the Narrows:The Artists’ Haggadah. read more