In this in-gallery talk, artists Lisa Kokin and Georgina Reskala, whose works are featured in the California Jewish Open, discuss their artwork and creative processes. Kokin, known for her fiber-based art and commentary on social justice, and Reskala, whose work deals with ideas of memory, history, and the power of narrative, will explore their artistic practice and how their Jewish heritage influences their art. Join us to explore how these two artists engage in storytelling through diverse materials and techniques, humor, and empathy.
About the Series:
This program is part of the series Connecting with Jewishness through Art, a monthly series of gallery programs with artists featured in the California Jewish Open, discussing how their artistic practice expresses their Judaism or Jewish identity. At each program, two artists will come together in conversation with each other, the artwork, and the audience to provide context and insights into the complexities of their artwork.
About the Artist:
Lisa Kokin lives and works in El Sobrante, California with her spouse, photographer Lia Roozendaal; Austin and Ollie, her canine studio assistants; and Bindi the cat. The daughter of upholsterers, she stitches everything she can get her hands on. Kokin brings a fiber sensibility and a conceptual approach to a diverse array of materials, including fabrics, paper, metal, and shredded money. Her work is often a commentary on the world around her, often incorporating the age-old Jewish response to adversity—humor—and an empathy for the underdog, which she attributes to growing up in a secular, liberal Jewish family in which issues of social justice were often discussed.
Kokin has been the recipient of multiple awards and commissions, including a Eureka Fellowship, a WESTAF/NEA Regional Fellowship, the Dorothy Saxe Invitational Award for Creativity in Contemporary Arts from The Contemporary Jewish Museum, the Alameda County Arts Commission (multiple venues), and the Richmond Civic Center Public Art Interior Acquisitions Project. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Boise Art Museum, the Buchenwald Memorial, the di Rosa Preserve, Mills College, Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, Yale University Art Museum, and Tiffany & Co.
Kokin is represented by Gail Severn Gallery in Ketchum, ID.