Helene Aylon
Encyclopedia
Helène Aylon is an American
multimedia ecofeminist artist
. Her work can be divided into three phases: Process art
in the '70s; anti-nuclear art in the '80s; and The G-d Project, a feminist commentary on the Hebrew Bible
and other established traditions, in the '90s and 2000s.
Aylon was raised in Brooklyn
's Borough Park and became the wife of a rabbi
while still in her teens. She studied with Ad Reinhardt
at Brooklyn College
in the late 1950s, and was widowed in 1960. Her first large work was a 16-foot wall painting commissioned in 1965 for the now-extinct library in the chapel of New York’s JFK Airport, which was featured in ArtNews in December 1966.[fn]
In 1970 and 1972, Aylon showed at Max Hutchinson Gallery in SoHo, and in 1975 and 1979 she showed her Paintings that Change in Time at Betty Parsons
Gallery, Susan Caldwell Gallery, MIT, and the Oakland Museum. Her best-known Process art of the '70s includes Paintings that Change in Time and The Breakings, both relying on poured linseed oil, gravity, and chance.
In the '80s, Aylon's work focused on anti-nuclear activism. In her monumental kinetic performance saga The Earth Ambulance, she gathered soil from Strategic Air Command nuclear bases across the country into pillowcases and transported them to the United Nations Second Special Session on Disarmament on June 12, 1982. The Earth Ambulance was shown in the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage by Creative Time
in 1992, and was acquired and shown at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill, New York, from 2004 to 2008. Her ongoing Bridge of Knots installations, covering the facades of museums with knotted pillowcases scripted with dreams and nightmares about nuclear war, have been shown at the Knoxville Museum of Art
in 1993, the Berkeley Art Museum in 1995, and the American University Museum
, Washington, D.C. in 2006. In 1995, Aylon's video of two sacs en route on the waters of Japan to Hiroshima and Nagasaki was shown on the Sony Jumbotron in Times Square.
Aylon's two-decade body of work, The G-d Project: Nine Houses Without Women, is a series of installations confronting gender inequality and acknowledging forgotten foremothers. The first of the nine installations is The Liberation of G-d, a "reexamination of sacred texts from a feminist point of view [that] is very much in keeping with the Jewish tradition of midrash
, or biblical commentary, which has engaged Jewish scholars for millenia."[fn] The finale, All Rise, is an imagined feminist court, where women who have been forbidden to judge on a Beit Din, the Jewish court of law, can now judge.
Aylon’s work is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and The Jewish Museum. She is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation
, the New York State Council for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has taught at Hunter College
and San Francisco State University
, and is a frequent speaker on art, women’s spirituality, and Jewish studies. She lives in New York City.
Her memoir, Whatever Is Contained Must Be Released: My Jewish Orthodox Girlhood - My Life as a Feminist Artist, will be published by The Feminist Press
in 2012.
Aylon's daughter is the drama therapy
pioneer Renée Emunah, and her son is Nathaniel Fisch, director of the Program in Plasma Physics and professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
multimedia ecofeminist artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
. Her work can be divided into three phases: Process art
Process art
Process art is an artistic movement as well as a creative sentiment and world view where the end product of art and craft, the objet d’art, is not the principal focus. The 'process' in process art refers to the process of the formation of art: the gathering, sorting, collating, associating, and...
in the '70s; anti-nuclear art in the '80s; and The G-d Project, a feminist commentary on the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
and other established traditions, in the '90s and 2000s.
Aylon was raised in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
's Borough Park and became the wife of a rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
while still in her teens. She studied with Ad Reinhardt
Ad Reinhardt
Adolph Frederick Reinhardt was an Abstract painter active in New York beginning in the 1930s and continuing through the 1960s. He was a member of the American Abstract Artists and was a part of the movement centered around the Betty Parsons Gallery that became known as Abstract Expressionism...
at Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
in the late 1950s, and was widowed in 1960. Her first large work was a 16-foot wall painting commissioned in 1965 for the now-extinct library in the chapel of New York’s JFK Airport, which was featured in ArtNews in December 1966.[fn]
In 1970 and 1972, Aylon showed at Max Hutchinson Gallery in SoHo, and in 1975 and 1979 she showed her Paintings that Change in Time at Betty Parsons
Betty Parsons
Betty Parsons, born Betty Bierne Pierson, was an American artist and art dealer known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She was known as "the den mother of Abstract Expressionism"...
Gallery, Susan Caldwell Gallery, MIT, and the Oakland Museum. Her best-known Process art of the '70s includes Paintings that Change in Time and The Breakings, both relying on poured linseed oil, gravity, and chance.
In the '80s, Aylon's work focused on anti-nuclear activism. In her monumental kinetic performance saga The Earth Ambulance, she gathered soil from Strategic Air Command nuclear bases across the country into pillowcases and transported them to the United Nations Second Special Session on Disarmament on June 12, 1982. The Earth Ambulance was shown in the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage by Creative Time
Creative Time
Creative Time is a New York-based nonprofit arts organization. It was founded in 1973 to support the creation of innovative, site-specific, socially engaged works in the public realm, especially in vacant spaces of historical and architectural interest...
in 1992, and was acquired and shown at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill, New York, from 2004 to 2008. Her ongoing Bridge of Knots installations, covering the facades of museums with knotted pillowcases scripted with dreams and nightmares about nuclear war, have been shown at the Knoxville Museum of Art
Knoxville Museum of Art
The Knoxville Museum of Art is a contemporary art museum located at 1050 World's Fair Park in Knoxville, Tennessee. The KMA is committed to developing exhibitions by emerging artists of national and international reputation.- History :...
in 1993, the Berkeley Art Museum in 1995, and the American University Museum
American University Museum
The American University Museum is located in the Katzen Arts Center at the American University in Washington, DC. It is a three-story, museum and sculpture garden located within the university’s Katzen Arts Center. The region’s largest university facility for exhibiting art, the museum’s permanent...
, Washington, D.C. in 2006. In 1995, Aylon's video of two sacs en route on the waters of Japan to Hiroshima and Nagasaki was shown on the Sony Jumbotron in Times Square.
Aylon's two-decade body of work, The G-d Project: Nine Houses Without Women, is a series of installations confronting gender inequality and acknowledging forgotten foremothers. The first of the nine installations is The Liberation of G-d, a "reexamination of sacred texts from a feminist point of view [that] is very much in keeping with the Jewish tradition of midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
, or biblical commentary, which has engaged Jewish scholars for millenia."[fn] The finale, All Rise, is an imagined feminist court, where women who have been forbidden to judge on a Beit Din, the Jewish court of law, can now judge.
Aylon’s work is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and The Jewish Museum. She is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Pollock-Krasner Foundation
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation was established in 1985 for the purpose of providing financial assistance to individual working artists of established ability. It was established at the bequest of Lee Krasner, who was an American abstract expressionist painter and the widow of fellow painter Jackson...
, the New York State Council for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has taught at Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
and San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
, and is a frequent speaker on art, women’s spirituality, and Jewish studies. She lives in New York City.
Her memoir, Whatever Is Contained Must Be Released: My Jewish Orthodox Girlhood - My Life as a Feminist Artist, will be published by The Feminist Press
The Feminist Press
The Feminist Press is an independent nonprofit literary publisher that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. It publishes exciting writing by women and men who share an activist spirit and a belief in choice and equality...
in 2012.
Aylon's daughter is the drama therapy
Drama therapy
Drama Therapy is the use of theatre techniques to facilitate personal growth and promote mental health. Dramatherapy is used in a wide variety of settings, including hospitals, schools, mental health centers, prisons, and businesses...
pioneer Renée Emunah, and her son is Nathaniel Fisch, director of the Program in Plasma Physics and professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University.
External links
- Official website of Helene Aylon
- National Museum of American Jewish History - Helene Aylon
- Helene Aylon at the University Art Museum - Berkeley, California
- Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution from the Jewish Women's Archive
- Earth Ambulance at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art
- Helene Aylon at Art at the Katzen