Pushing Buttons, Old and New: Prayer Shawls, Karaite Jews, and Subversive Rituals (with Artist Nicki Green)

From our series, “Zooming In: Weekly Curatorial Conversations from The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life.”

Each week, Curators Francesco Spagnolo and Shir Kochavi present insights and connections emerging from the holdings of UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection, one of the largest Jewish museum collections in the world. Throughout the series, guests will join them to explore Jewish art and life, one object at a time.

Register for this free online program here (free or licensed Zoom account required).

View the weekly schedule for the entire series.

Nicki Green is a transdisciplinary artist working primarily in clay. Originally from New England, she completed her BFA in sculpture at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2009 and her MFA in Art Practice at the University of California, Berkeley in 2018. Her sculptures, ritual objects and various flat works explore topics of history preservation, conceptual ornamentation and aesthetics of otherness. Green has exhibited her work internationally, notably at the New Museum, New York; The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco; Rockelmann & Partner Gallery, Berlin, Germany. She has contributed texts to numerous publications including a recent piece in Duke University Press’ Transgender Studies Quarterly and a piece in Fermenting Feminism, Copenhagen. In 2019, Green was a finalist for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s SECA Award, and a recipient of an Arts/Industry Residency from the John Michael Kohler Art Center, among other awards. Green lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. More at nickigreen.org

Image:
Nicki Green
Ritual Buttons
United States, 2018
Ceramic, metallic thread, cotton velvet, metal zipper and card stock
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley,
gift of the artist, 2018.12