Stanton Street Shul, a historic and active synagogue on the Lower East Side, is hosting its latest art show: “The Pen and the Knife: Jewish Papercuts.” The show is running through this Sunday, November 24.

Papercutting has been a common Jewish art form since the Middle Ages, connected with various customs and ceremonies and associated with holidays and family life. Our artists practice traditional papercutting as well as more modern interpretations of this long-standing art form.

The Stanton Street show will feature 6 artists, each renowned in their field: Rachel Asarnow, recipient of a Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant and member of the Guild of American Papercutters; David Friedman, nominee for a Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant; Dena Levie, who has been commissioned to produce works for Matisyahu and the Jewish Children’s Museum in New York City; Dory Pry; Deborah Ugoretz, recognized by the NJSCA as a master papercut artist and teacher who has received commissions from The Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Jewish Theological Seminary, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research; and David Wander, whose work has been shown at Yad Vashem, and museums and religious spaces throughout America.

Admission is free. Please note, the gallery is ascended by a narrow set of stairs and is thus not easily accessible for persons using wheelchairs.