STATEMENT
My works are journals of personal and communal tellings. “I have come to my garden” is a series of scrolled nature journals of my garden, Song of Songs, plant life cycles, and my pregnant self. I make them with cyanotypes, an early photographic printing process used to record nature and make blueprints. To make the negatives for the prints, I digitally manipulate photographs of nature, personal writings, and Biblical and other communal texts. I arrange and layer the negatives onto chemically sensitized papers, expose them to sunlight, and process in water. The processed papers turn a brilliant Prussian blue. Sometimes, I layer multiple printings and collage actual plant materials into the prints. The layering of photos and text within the images, mirror the layering of my memories of nature, myself, and my community. The intentional fading of the texts alludes to the simultaneous absence and presence of the memories.
This collaboration with the essentials of nature (sun and water) reflect my inspiration for my work, which is nature itself. I honor this relationship in my installation work where I create Wunderkammern with the photographs of dried aloe and shofars; as well as the actual plants and taxidermy that were used to make the photographs, scrolls, and cyanotypes. I present the scrolls with their sources as a community; and they tell new stories.
Henry David Thoreau said, “The only people who ever get any place interesting are the people who get lost.” One summer I was a resident artist at Weir Farm in Wilton, CT, and I got lost. I wandered the woods, collected plants and other natural materials, and scanned the plants in various stages of life. Once, the scanner started before I was ready and it created an image of my hand arranging some flowers. This “accident” became a more intentional series of scans, Arrangements, where I introduced movement and my body. My wanderings (I did actually get lost in the woods) and accidents broadened my practice of documenting, and the materials I use. And they are all—materials, images, texts—accumulating in my wunderkammern.
This collaboration with the essentials of nature (sun and water) reflect my inspiration for my work, which is nature itself. I honor this relationship in my installation work where I create Wunderkammern with the photographs of dried aloe and shofars; as well as the actual plants and taxidermy that were used to make the photographs, scrolls, and cyanotypes. I present the scrolls with their sources as a community; and they tell new stories.
Henry David Thoreau said, “The only people who ever get any place interesting are the people who get lost.” One summer I was a resident artist at Weir Farm in Wilton, CT, and I got lost. I wandered the woods, collected plants and other natural materials, and scanned the plants in various stages of life. Once, the scanner started before I was ready and it created an image of my hand arranging some flowers. This “accident” became a more intentional series of scans, Arrangements, where I introduced movement and my body. My wanderings (I did actually get lost in the woods) and accidents broadened my practice of documenting, and the materials I use. And they are all—materials, images, texts—accumulating in my wunderkammern.
BIO
Leah Caroline was raised in the Chassidic community of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She received her BFA from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, Connecticut. Caroline works with cyanotype printing, digital media, and installation—documenting nature and Jewish texts. She makes large cyanotype scrolls, and creates installations with her work. Her exhibits include solo exhibitions and a commission by Artspace Inc. for site-responsive work for City Wide Open Studios in New Haven, CT. In 2017, she participated in Jerusalem Between Heaven and Earth for the Jerusalem Biennale. Caroline has been an artist in residence, including at Weir Farm in Wilton, CT and at Governors Island with Art Kibbutz. Most recently, she co-curated the new site “Art in Jewish Sacred Spaces” for the Jewish Art Salon. She has also written and illustrated for Chabad.org. Caroline currently lives and works in New Haven with her husband and five children.
RESUME
Born 1977, Brooklyn, New York
Lives and works in New Haven, CT
Lives and works in New Haven, CT
Education:
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2013
1996-1997 1995-1996 |
BFA, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
Beth Rivkah Schools; Division of Higher Learning Teacher Certificate, Beit Chana Tzfat, Israel |
Exhibitions:
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2024
2023 2022 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 |
Breadth and Depth, Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, VT award winner
From the Earth: Growth, Decay and Regeneration, Gallery Room of the Woodbridge Town Library, Woodbridge, CT two person show A Complexity of Joys, MAPSpace, Port Chester, NY 73rd Art of the Northeast, Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, C 2023 Annual National Open Juried Exhibition, CT Women Artists, Barnes-Franklin Gallery at Tunxis Community College, Farmington, CT Intimacies, MAPSpace, Port Chester, NY Our Bodies, Ourselves, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT I have come to my garden, the Bell Library Gallery, Simsbury, CT solo exhibition Silvermine Guild Summer Salon, Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan CT, juried by Paul Efstathiou The Invisible Jew, Detour Gallery, Red Bank, NJ Ark /\ Hive, The Gallery Upstairs at the Institute Library, New Haven, CT Jerusalem Between Heaven and Earth at the Derfner Judaica Museum, Riverdale, NY Leah Caroline and Julie Harrington, The Art Corridor at Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT two-person exhibition Jerusalem Between Heaven and Earth for the Jerusalem Biennale 2017, Jerusalem, Israel; curated by Ori Z. Soltes for the Jewish Art Salon Natural Instincts, Charter Oak Cultural Center, Hartford CT 2017 Alumni Exhibition, Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, Old Lyme, CT 67th Art of the Northeast, Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, CT; curated by David Kiehl Flora and Fauna, Nest Arts Factory, Bridgeport, CT Mono is Many , Crosby Gallery, Arts Council of Greater New Haven, New Haven, CT New Members Exhibition, Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, CT “I have come to my garden,” BEKI Art Gallery, New Haven, CT solo exhibition Rooted: The Ecological Duality of Nature and Jewish Identity, Manny Cantor Center, New York, NY Art of the Northeast, Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, CT; curated by Michelle Grabner & Brad Killam 2015 Alumni Exhibition, Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, Old Lyme, CT Shmita Arts Festival Exhibition, Art Kibbutz at Governors Island, NY Song of Songs, Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek, Chester, CT two-person exhibition "I have come to my garden," Hadas Gallery, Brooklyn, NY solo exhibition Spring Awaking, Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, New Haven, CT solo exhibition The New Scroll, New Jersey Arts Guild, Rahway, NJ Art of the Northeast, Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, CT; juried by Andrew Russeth Nature Transported/Sukkah, site-responsive work for City Wide Open Studios, New Haven Armory, New Haven, CT; commissioned by Artspace, Inc On the Spiritual in Art, Perspectives Gallery at the Whitney Center, Hamden, CT L-Inked, MAPSpace: miranda arts project space, Port chester, NY City Wide Open Studios, New Haven Armory, New Haven, CT Yo Brooklynites III, Hadas Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2013 Senior Studio Exhibition, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts 36th Annual Juried Student Exhibition, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts Summer Show of Selected Student Work, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts M’Dor L’Dor, Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven, Woodbridge, CT 35th Annual Juried Student Exhibition, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts Faculty Selected Student Work, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts Chassidim of Color, Brooklyn, NY 34th Annual Juried Student Exhibition, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, Merit Award Faculty Selected Student Work, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts L’Dovid Ori, Old City Jewish Art Center, Philadelphia, PA 33rd Annual Juried Student Exhibition, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts |
Residencies
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2019
2015 2014 |
ECOCA A.I.R., New Haven, CT
Art Kibbutz Governor’s Island Residency, NY Weir Farm Artist in Residence, Wilton, CT Art Kibbutz Governor’s Island Residency, NY |
Professional and Other Related Experience:
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2023
2022-2023 2021-2022 2020 2016 2015 2014 2010-2013 2012 1997 |
Artist in Residence, King School, Stamford CT
Co-curator, Art in Jewish Sacred Spaces, online Co-curator, The Art of Motherhood, Miriam’s Motherhood Center, Brooklyn, NY Presenter, Sunday Open Studios/ A tradition of Embellishment: Exploring the Aesthetics of Jewish Arts, online Featured artist and presenter, Coffee Break and Culture, Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, online Graphic design work Spring Gala and Concert, Orchard Street Shul, New Haven, CT Art workshop instructor and curator, Celebrating the Land of Israel, with students of Southern CT Hebrew Academy at the Anderson Mansion, New Haven, CT Evaluations Coordinator, Art Kibbutz Governors Island Residency Curator, Shmita Arts Festival Exhibition, Art Kibbutz at Governors Island Curator and art workshop instructor, Nature Transported/Sukkah, site-responsive collaborative work for City Wide Open Studios, New Haven, CT Artist talk, Wilton Library, Wilton, CT Founder and artist teacher, CT Artists' Beit Midrash, New Haven, CT Art workshop instructor, Taste of Honey, JCC of New Haven, Woodbridge, CT Art workshop instructor, Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, New Haven, CT Board Member and Design Committee Member, New Haven Lubavitch Women’s Mikvah, New Haven, CT Panelist for talk-back session on My Name is Asher Lev, Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, CT Artistic Manager, Lag B’Omer Parade Float, Beth Rivkah Schools, Brooklyn, NY Co-Manager, Scenic Backdrops, Beth Rivkah Schools Annual Production |
Publications:
Mindell, Cindy. "Where Judaism and Art Converge." www.jewishledger.com, July, 2014
Featured Artist Leah Caroline, www.thecreativesoul.org, January, 2014
Living Waters; Experiencing Mikvah, www.chabad.org, October, 2010
My Exchange; Experiencing Kapparot, www.chabad.org, September, 2010
A Divine Garden; An Art Journal, www.chabad.org, August, 2010
I am Asleep Yet My Heart is Awake; An Art Journal Part 1, www.chabad.org, February, 2010
On the Night the King’s Sleep Wandered; An Art Journal Part 2, www.chabad.org, February, 2010
Featured Artist Leah Caroline, www.thecreativesoul.org, January, 2014
Living Waters; Experiencing Mikvah, www.chabad.org, October, 2010
My Exchange; Experiencing Kapparot, www.chabad.org, September, 2010
A Divine Garden; An Art Journal, www.chabad.org, August, 2010
I am Asleep Yet My Heart is Awake; An Art Journal Part 1, www.chabad.org, February, 2010
On the Night the King’s Sleep Wandered; An Art Journal Part 2, www.chabad.org, February, 2010
Collections:
Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven, Woodbridge, CT
Chabad at Yale Student Center, New Haven, CT
ASAP Urgent Care Center, Madison, CT
Chabad at Yale Student Center, New Haven, CT
ASAP Urgent Care Center, Madison, CT