Designing Your Own Jewish Symbol Through Art and Identity
The hands-on activity at the “Practicing Jews: Art, Identity, and Culture” conference invited participants to move from discussing Jewish visual culture to making it. Held during a week-long programme in Madison, Wisconsin, the conference brought together academics, artists and community members for talks, keynote presentations, dance, gallery visits and conversations about identity, gender and artistic expression.
Designing a personal Jewish symbol gave those ideas a physical form. The activity was less about producing a perfect emblem than examining memory, belonging and interpretation. For Australian participants, it offers a useful way to think about how Jewish creativity can respond to local places, family histories and contemporary community life in cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
Understanding The Activity
A Jewish symbol can begin with familiar visual language: a menorah, pomegranate, chai, Torah scroll, Star of David or Hebrew letter. The workshop’s creative potential lies in taking one of these references and reshaping it through personal experience. A participant might combine a family recipe, a landscape, a song or a meaningful object with a traditional motif.
This approach recognises that Jewish identity is lived in many ways. Some people connect through religious practice, while others find belonging through language, culture, justice, family or artistic expression. The activity makes room for these differences without requiring one official definition of what Jewish art should look like.
The process also reflects the conference’s broader interest in visual culture. A symbol can communicate quickly, yet its meaning changes according to colour, scale, material and context. A hand-drawn mark on paper may feel intimate, while a large textile or installation can suggest community and shared memory.
From Mark To Meaning
Participants could begin by listing images, sounds, places and gestures associated with their Jewish lives. This might include Shabbat candles, a grandparent’s kitchen, a synagogue window, a favourite melody or the act of welcoming guests. The aim is to gather meaningful fragments before deciding how they should appear together.
The next stage is interpretation. A pomegranate could represent abundance, but its shape might also become a map of family relationships. Hebrew lettering could be treated as a pattern rather than read as text. A protective symbol might be softened, fragmented or enlarged to express uncertainty, resilience or change.
For an Australian audience, local references can become part of this visual vocabulary. The colours of a Melbourne tram route, the geometry of a Sydney apartment balcony, native gum leaves or the blue-green tones of the coast may sit alongside Jewish motifs. These combinations show how identity develops in a particular place rather than existing outside geography.
Materials And Symbolic Choices
Materials influence the emotional character of a finished symbol. Paper and pencil encourage quick experimentation; clay gives the design weight and texture; fabric connects naturally with domestic memory, clothing and intergenerational craft. Recycled packaging or found objects can also raise questions about consumption and adaptation in the local art market.
| Material | Possible effect | Symbolic direction |
|---|---|---|
| Paper and ink | Immediate, graphic and easy to revise | Language, maps or family stories |
| Fabric and thread | Tactile, domestic and connected to labour | Lineage, repair and continuity |
| Clay | Solid, sculptural and shaped by touch | Protection, grounding and permanence |
| Found objects | Layered with previous uses | Migration, memory and transformation |
| Digital collage | Flexible, shareable and contemporary | Multiple identities and public culture |
The choice does not need to be expensive. Australian participants might source materials from an op shop, a community art shop or a local market such as Sydney’s Glebe Markets or Melbourne’s Rose Street Artists’ Market. Reusing materials can make the exercise accessible while adding another layer of meaning to the work.
A short written note beside the design can explain the decisions without fixing the symbol’s meaning forever. This is particularly useful in a group setting, where viewers may recognise a Jewish reference but interpret its personal significance differently.
Making Space For Many Identities
A thoughtful workshop needs clear boundaries around cultural ownership and personal disclosure. Participants should be able to create from their own experience without being asked to represent every Jewish tradition or explain private family history. Facilitators can frame the activity as an invitation rather than a test of knowledge.
Useful practices include:
- Offer traditional and contemporary visual references without presenting one as definitive.
- Invite participants to work abstractly if figurative imagery feels too exposed.
- Provide Hebrew, English and transliteration options where relevant.
- Make room for religious, secular, progressive and culturally Jewish perspectives.
- Discuss respectful use of symbols from different Jewish communities.
- Allow people to share the story behind a design only if they choose.
- Display unfinished experiments alongside completed pieces.
This emphasis on care connects with the conference’s interest in dialogue between scholars, artists and community members. It also resembles the collaborative learning needed in Australian cultural organisations, where a synagogue, gallery, school or festival may have staff with different levels of experience. Practical networking insights can help small teams coordinate facilitation, collections care and inclusive public programming.
What Australian Participants Can Bring
Jewish communities in Australia are diverse, with strong cultural life in Melbourne and Sydney as well as growing and established communities in Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane and Perth. A symbol-making exercise can acknowledge local Jewish histories while avoiding the assumption that every participant shares the same migration story, denominational background or relationship with Israel.
The activity could also connect with Australian customs of gathering around food, music and seasonal events. A design inspired by a family’s Passover table might include a local native plant, while a symbol shaped by synagogue life in Melbourne could reflect winter light, laneway architecture or the rhythm of suburban travel. These details make the work specific rather than generic.
Accessibility and cost matter in the local market. Community organisations often work with modest arts budgets, volunteer committees and multipurpose venues. Low-cost materials, bilingual labels and a drop-in format can make the activity suitable for a gallery foyer, a university workshop or a Jewish community centre without requiring specialist equipment.
The finished designs could be photographed and displayed in a small digital gallery, shared through a community newsletter or presented during a public conversation. This extends the conference’s gallery element while keeping authorship with the people who made the work.
Taking The Symbol Beyond The Workshop
The most valuable outcome is often the conversation created by the design. A participant may discover that a familiar motif has become more personal, or that an apparently simple image carries different meanings for different generations. Viewing several designs together reveals Jewish identity as layered, evolving and shaped by place.
The activity also demonstrates how art can support serious cultural inquiry without becoming a lecture. Making, discussing and revising a symbol allows participants to explore belonging through their hands as well as through language. For Australian communities, that method can open respectful conversations across age groups, schools, galleries and congregations.
A practical next step is to gather paper, black markers and three locally meaningful objects, then spend twenty minutes sketching one Jewish symbol that connects a traditional motif with a place in Australia.