There is no moment too small or too large in contemporary Jewish life for Jacqueline Kott-Wolle to portray. Her beautiful series of paintings, "Growing Up Jewish - Art and Storytelling," consists of vivid, modern-day images that capture a snapshot of North American Jewish life.
In this moving exhibit, Kott-Wolle explores who and what has shaped her own Jewish identity. While this body of work is indeed her family's story, it is also reflective of many others. The lively images include family reunions and Jewish summer camp, a bar mitzvah boy, and holiday dinners. At a recent exhibition, Kott-Wolle said that her goal is to shine a "fresh light on contemporary Jewish art and the fullness of Jewish life." Her hope has always been to start the conversation.
Kott-Wolle's parents survived the Holocaust, arriving in Canada in 1949. She grew up in Toronto, the youngest of five daughters. Kott-Wolle is deeply affected by her family's history, keenly aware of the responsibility she has to keep their story alive.
After she, her husband David, and her three children- now young adults- moved to Highland Park in 2004, Kott-Wolle began painting. She was fascinated with capturing family vacation beach and pool scenes. However, after a beloved Judaic teacher asked her, "Why don't you paint Jewish art?" Kott-Wolle looked inward.
She didn't relate to what she thought of as "Jewish" art-for example, an oil painting of a Hasidic rabbi that had hung on the family room wall of her childhood home. As part of a modern Conservative Jewish family, "that didn't connect to my day-to-day life. My rabbi wore a turtleneck," she said.
Kott-Wolle decided to challenge herself. She was inspired by the work of Winnetka-born artist Fairfield Porter: "I thought, what would Fairfield Porter's paintings look like if he were Jewish?"
Culling through decades of vintage family photos, Kott-Wolle began painting her own family's special moments, vibrant, colorful renditions: under the chuppah, around a seder table, lighting Shabbat candles, dressing up for Purim, vacationing, and lounging by a pool.
In 2019, when Kott-Wolle posted paintings from the "Growing Up Jewish" series on her Facebook page, the response was immediate. Friend after friend- as well as their friends- reached out to share their own Jewish stories with her. "These paintings tell the stories of how so many of us grew up," Kott-Wolle said. "The excitement I felt! Jewish identity is alive and well!"
Like the rest of the Jewish community, Kott-Wolle profoundly affected by the horror and tragedy of October 7 and its aftermath. She was invited to create a painting of the Bibas family in honor of Kfir's first birthday. When she traveled to Israel, she was able to present that painting to the sister of Shiri Bibas.
Kott-Wolle has exhibited and spoken across the United States and in Israel. Each painting in the series is accompanied by a detailed and vivid description; she has published a book of the whole series. And although there has been a great demand for her paintings, it has been difficult for her to part with any from this series: "They're all just so deeply personal."
Instead, Kott-Wolle has begun to create a spinoff series of similar paintings, but that will not feature her family members.
In line with the optimistic feel of her work, Kott-Wolle has extreme confidence in the Jewish future, despite the challenging times we are now facing. She saw her parents and relatives, who had experienced the worst time in Jewish history, emerge from that horror to build successful lives and families. That is why she plans to continue painting and celebrating Jewish joy.
To learn more about Jacqueline Kotte-Wolle's work, visit
here
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Rochelle Newman Rubinoff is a freelance writer living in the northern suburbs of Chicago.
