Judaism has a long and fascinating scribal tradition, even touching on the mystic. This talk will focus on both the traditional and non-traditional practice of Hebrew lettering. Images from Izzy Pludwinski’s new book, The Beauty of the Hebrew Letter: from Sacred Scrolls to Graffiti, will also be discussed.
Izzy Pludwinski is a Jerusalem-based professional calligrapher and Sofer STaM. He is the author of Mastering Hebrew Calligraphy (Toby Press), which was chosen as a finalist for the National Jewish Book Awards in 2014, and the recently released The Beauty of the Hebrew Letter: from Sacred Scrolls to Graffiti, published by Brandeis University Press.
His works have been included in international exhibitions in England, the U.S., Japan, Germany and Russia, and he has had several one-man shows in Israel. His works have been featured many times in the prestigious Letter Arts Review journal.
Though firmly entrenched in the world of traditional Judaica, Izzy’s calligraphic passion lies in finding ever-new expressive forms for the Hebrew aleph-bet—a path that has led him anywhere from type design to Zen-influenced abstract Hebrew calligraphy.
