On January 9, the JCC of Mid-Westchester (JCCMW) held its first lunch and learn series of 2025. New Rochelle artist Fred Spinowitz presented “Spirituality Through Visual Arts.” The interactive event included a tour of his new JCCMW art exhibit, “Painted Tapestries,” followed by a discussion about his work.
At the start of the tour, Spinowitz defined painted tapestry. “I coined that word [in 2020]. I paint on a cloth and then I leave space. In those spaces I embroider. You can’t easily see the difference between the embroidery and the painting, but it does make a difference. When light hits it, the wool of the embroidery absorbs light, but the paint, which is either acrylic or oil or both, refracts the light. There’s a subtle difference. It’s these differences that I capitalize on in my art and in my painting. When I paint with oil and acrylic, which don’t mix, they pull each other apart. There’s a tension.
“I’m really familiar with abstraction from my training at Pratt,” Spinowitz added. “The … Hebrew calligraphy, in particular, is very precise. The thick and thin of the Hebrew letters are very controlled, because you have to create a letter in a precise line compared to where I’m actually throwing paint. It feels great. Try it, but you have to also know how to control it. That’s part of the painting process.”
Spinowitz asked guests to “look at the various works, and find something that speaks to you, something you like, no reason needed. … Then, think about why you like it. What does it remind you of? What does it tell you? What is it reminiscent of?”
Spinowitz described several of the tapestries on display. In “Peace,” he shared, “the idea is that this bird of peace is not just peace, but it’s protection. The rainbow is the idea that things will be OK. This is a promise.”
In another tapestry, “Sacrifice,” he pointed out 10 figures. “I don’t usually have figures in my paintings. I left figures way back in my high school days. I did enough figures to get into trouble for a lifetime. But these figures represent the minyan.” The tapestry features the Beit Hamikdash, the Temple, the altar, and the Hebrew word korban in two colors. “There’s beauty in the words. Unlike ‘sacrifice’ in English, with a Latin root derivation, the root of korban is karov (near). The root is in black but the last letter is red, because it’s really not so easy, not so pleasant, with all the blood. The idea is the korban and altar isn’t how and where we pray nowadays, but with a minyan. These are both included.”
Spinowitz said that “the most recent tapestry, called ‘Bountiful,’ is a little different than the others. I actually use gold leaf, which I also use on ketubot. Gold leaf is a bit of a challenge on paper, but more of a challenge on cloth. The gold is among things coming as a gift, from a place we may not understand, as are the wheat, the cherries, the fruit and the birds. We may not know where it’s coming from. It’s very, very cerebral, very abstract, coming magically and majestically from a place we really don’t understand, probably will never understand, but we can enjoy and get very personal with these things.”
In summing up the pieces, he said, “Reading words, reading a book, reading text, even praying may not be as dull if you now begin to think in terms of color.”
Spinowitz is a product of a yeshiva education, and he then attended the Pratt Institute. He has been influenced by the abstract expressionists but continues to add the overlay of his Judaic studies. The calligraphy of his early education provides a counterpoint to his wild mass of color and vivid imagination. Spinowitz is an art consultant to schools in New York City and Westchester, and a board member of the New Rochelle Art Association, as well as a founding member of Art League Defending Israel. His paintings and ketubot are in private collections throughout the U.S. He has been included in group shows at the YU Museum and had a one-man show at West Point. Beginning in the 1980s, Spinowitz began designing Judaica in silver, brass and porcelain. His work has been presented to heads of state.
