Asherah Cinnamon

I create environments and objects to encourage healing through action and interaction, using everything from intimate narrative to complex psychodrama and communal ritual. In doing this work I am deeply influenced by the values and traditions of Judaism and by my heritage as a woman of strength.

Because oppression thrives on emotional numbing and deception, my intention in making sculpture is to reclaim both feelings and reality. I often use found objects and natural materials to evoke both. My public art invites the viewer to engage in dialog about justice, forgiveness, grief, anger, hope, beauty, generosity, and humor. Exploring these and other concepts, I am developing my own aesthetic of liberation and healing.

Friendship in Hard Times

Scheduled to open June 18, 2010 at the University of New England’s Art Gallery on Stevens Avenue in Portland, Maine, this installation will be on display outdoors at the Annual Sculpture Garden Show through September.

The project explores the concept of friendship in contemporary times. Using strips cut from hundreds of brightly colored recycled plastic bags, the installation was inspired in part by the friendship bracelets used in many communities today.

Friendship in Hard Times celebrates the traditional female practices of braiding, and of collaborating to develop a work of art larger than any one person might create. The project encourages creative recycling and invites groups of people to work together, exploring the role of friendship in contemporary life through handwork, discussion, and writing.

For more information and an opportunity to participate, please download the pdf.

2008 Olympics Landscape Sculpture Design

Dimensions: height: 8 meters (26 feet), width: variable by location
Materials: Architectural glass, steel infrastructure, internal lighting

This scale model of a design by Asherah Cinnamon and Scott Fuller is touring China during 2006 and 2007 in a traveling exhibition of Excellent Works. As finalists in the International 2008 Olympic Landscape Sculpture Design Contest, their work has already been shown in Beijing, Hong Kong, Paris, Barcelona, Lausanne, and Gisborne. The exhibition opened October 9, 2007 in Sacramento and moves from there to the United Nations, NYC in November.

The gates themselves are visual reminders of the Chinese calligraphic characters for “people” and “enter”. When constructed in full size, Chinese calligraphy will be subtly etched on the inner edge of each of the five gates as a reminder of the character of an Olympic athlete.

On a recent visit to China Asherah was inspired by its people and natural beauty. She has a deep respect and love for Chinese calligraphy and art history, and is especially inspired by Chinese contemporary art. Feeling that she owes her life and the life of her family to China, (biography), she is honored to be part of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. All design copyrights held by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG).

JUMP: War

JUMP: War is a collaborative effort of Asherah Cinnamon, Stefanie Loeb, Nina Petrochko, and Martha Piscuskas

“We wanted to utilize the collaborative process to contradict our own isolation and emotional numbing to the Iraq war, as we worked together to develop a temporary public art work which addresses war in general. Our intention is to inspire a discussion of war and related issues by creating a visual and aural expression that includes many points of view.”

The artists jump rope while addressing questions to each other in a traditional call and response format. These questions elicit feelings and memories related to war in general and the Iraq war in particular. The project began with collecting many lists of words associated with war, from a wide variety of individuals and group representing differing points of view. This ongoing list informs the questions that are verbalized during the act of jumping. The physiological act of jumping counteracts the lethargy of powerlessness that people often feel in the face of war and large social issues. The public is invited to turn the rope, jump rope, ask questions or watch.

An installation documenting their Public Art Performance was exhibited in the front window of 522 Congress Street, Portland in summer 2008.

The JUMP: War Collaborative staged another public performance outside 522 Congress Street on May 21.

For more questions about this project, to add to the list of “words on war”, or to arrange a performance of JUMP: War in your community, go to CONTACT

Teshuvah:Turn and Mend

Post Office Park, Portland, Maine
September 11 through 29, 2007
“Art in The Park”: Sponsored by Portland Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Maine College of Art

“I invite you, the Public, to mark a personal commitment to mend or make amends by gently tying a red ribbon onto this sculpture. Each ribbon represents a personal commitment to take positive initiative to strengthen a relationship in your life.”
—from the information sign at the site for Teshuvah

My inspiration for this installation has come from several sources in my heritage. I have interpreted the concept of Teshuvah in this work as an offer to everyone, of all beliefs, to symbolically take a moment of reflection, and an opportunity for action.

Teshuvah: A Jewish New Year tradition that means “turning”, changing direction, reaching for reconciliation and making or choosing new pathways in order to repair damaged relationships.

Rosh Hashannah: The New Year, or birthday of the world. It begins at sundown, usually in September. This day is the start of ten days of prayer and reconciliation, which end with Yom Kippur. During these ten days people are encouraged and even required to take positive initiative to mend relationships. According to tradition, if a person genuinely attempts three times to apologize and make amends in a relationship during these ten days, the person they hurt is required to listen and to seriously consider accepting the attempt at reconciliation. I worked on site for ten days prior to Yom Kippur of 2007, installing this work and providing ribbons for viewers, then for one week after Yom Kippur visited the site twice daily replenishing ribbons for the public and talking with people, when they wanted to do so.

Note: The Jewish calendar differs from the one most people use in the western world. It is a moon based system, so Jewish holidays do not seem to fall on the “same day” each year.

 

More photographs and history of the process and installation of this project.

Kaddish for the Dispossessed

Objects found near railroad tracks, wood, steel, roofing tar
6.5' high; approx. 15' wide x 17' long

Public Art Project located at Back Cove Green, Preble Street Extension, Portland, Maine

December 3, 2006 through March 25, 2007
Hosted by “Art In The Park”, City of Portland, Parks and Recreation, phone 207-756-8275

Public Forum and Dialogue to Connect the Arts and Social Justice Communities in the Active Pursuit of Economic Justice to end Homelessness: February 1, 2007 from 6 to 8 PM at the Institute for Contemporary Art, Maine College of Art, 522 Congress Street, Portland, Maine. Panel moderator: Mary Ann Gleason, former Executive Director, National Coalition for the Homeless. Additional panelists: Christina Bechstein, Maine College of Art Faculty; Dee Clarke, Preble Street Homeless Voices; and Asherah Cinnamon, Artist. Free and open to the public. Contact Jessica Tomlinson at Maine College of Art, (207) 775-5098, ext. 23 or Asherah Cinnamon.

When people become homeless they are forced to live outdoors, often in the worst of weather. Even if they sleep in a shelter some nights, their days are spent outside. They make friends, argue, live, sometimes die, and often grieve in public places. This project is inspired by the community of people who have experienced homelessness, and by the tragedy of two friends, one killed in 2006, the other accused of causing his death. Most of the violence experienced by homeless people does not come from other homeless people. But if one person, driven to such circumstances, kills another, who will grieve for them both? Who among us, with warm private places to live, will ask how others have been brought to that situation in this country of such wealth? No one with real options would choose it.

On any given night in Maine at least 3,000 women, men, and children are without a safe place to sleep. I want to call attention to the harsh reality of the lives of the people society discards and then blames for developing coping strategies of which we do not approve. I use the materials I found near the railroad tracks to honor the situation of two friends, who on their best days were part of a community that had pleasure in life and in each other.

The title of this project refers to the Jewish tradition of mourning, which requires the presence of a community of at least ten people to assist the grieving to say a special prayer when the death of a loved one occurs and to remember that life is still worth living. This prayer is called Kaddish. I have intentionally not placed the required ten figures in the circle. I want to invite everyone who sees this work to feel that they have the opportunity and the invitation to get involved to complete the circle, so that together we can grieve and then take action to stop the economic injustice that leads to cycles of homelessness, addiction, and violence.

More photographs and history of the process and installation of this project.

For more information about homelessness and what you can do to help you can be in contact with Preble Street.

Flow: Jewell Island Explorations

In fall of 2006 I spent a day on Jewell Island in Casco Bay, near Portland, Maine. The island was used as a military outpost during WWII and has been in disuse for decades. Many artifacts of the military occupation of the island have been succumbing to the elements in interesting and beautiful ways. My family was torn apart and many were murdered in Europe during that war. I am drawn to the idea of how humans can heal from war and other deep hurts, and to the images and metaphor of the Earth healing at the same time.

Using materials found on the island, and aware of wanting to leave no permanent mark on the place, I was drawn to brilliant wild red berries. They seemed to shout about life and vigor even as they were reminders of spilled blood. Two white birch trees had been pulled over and split decades ago, possibly by an ice storm. They lay next to a military observation tower, which was sturdy but very worn. I placed brilliant Sumac leaves, like a bleeding/healing poultice, into the long wounds around which the tree has miraculously healed and continues to grow vigorously. I was intrigued with the flow of berries and blood, of life and death, and with the inside/outside, figure/ground images of trees, buildings, and windows.

Photographs available for purchase, please contact the artist.

Flow 1

Flow 2

Flow 4

Flow 6

Flow 8