Featured Article #1
Sara Harwin and Illuminated Letters were featured in December 2022 in the Portland Jewish Review in an article titled Artist explores universal connections with Hebrew .
Excerpt from article:
"Creating Illuminated Letters required time for study, involvement and enlightenment of my own understanding of how we are all connected, and how that connection is both individual and universal," writes Sara. "We are now starting a series of Illuminated Salons at Harwin Studios (see box). We are inviting small groups of sponsors, supporters, and local and regional speakers to help foster the individual and universal understanding of this work."
All of these different shapes that Sara has created and fabricated are universal shapes that anyone can relate to," said Natan M. Meir, Academic Director of The Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at Portland State University. "And also, there are translations that she provides that are custom-made translations of all these Bible verses, and so it (Illuminated Letters) invites people to come in and explore it at whatever level they are on. At whatever access point they can reach it on, that gives it its universality."
Link to full article:
Artist explores universal connections with Hebrew
Featured Article #2
Sara Harwin and Illuminated Letters were featured as the cover story in the February 2014 edition of the magazine, Oregon Jewish Life.
Excerpt from article:
Sara created the exhibit “to be a visual entry point to Judaism.” The project presents 18 core concepts of Judaism through an artistic lens. A Judaic artist whose ceremonial and ritual artwork is used in synagogues and homes across Oregon and around the country, Sara knows the impact art can have on understanding and emotions.
“This project is something I am presenting to the Jewish world at large in the hope people will find it useful and inspirational and a way of connecting,” she says. “I want to bring people to a deeper understanding and engagement in Judaism.”
Link to full article:
Oregon-Jewish-Life-February-2014-Sara-Harwin-Illuminated-Letters-Article.pdf
Additional Press
Illuminated Letters: Threads of Connection was highlighted in a recent issue of "Emergence" magazine, a regular publication from the University of Michigan's Stamps School of Art & Design
Text from the magazine:
When Sara Harwin's exhibit, Illuminated Letters: Threads of Connection opened at the Oregon Jewish Museum on February 5, 2014, it was the culmination of the nearly seven-year project, built on the foundation of Jewish experience. Sara created the exhibit "to be a visual entry point to Judaism." The project presents 18 core concepts in Judaism through an artistic lens. A Judaic artist whose ceremonial and ritual artwork is used in synagogues and homes across the country and around the world, Sara knows the impact art can have on understanding and emotions.
"This project is something I am presenting to the Jewish world at large in hope that people will find it useful and inspirational and a way of connection," she says "I want to bring people to a deeper understanding and engagement in Judaism."
See the article on page 35 of Emergence magazine.
Additional coverage for Illuminated Letters is available on the Philadelphia Jewish Voice in an article titled
The New Jewish Voice.