In the last part of the textile course, we learned about textile sculptures, textile installations, and garments. We had to choose between those three types of textile arts to see how we would like to use textiles and, specifically, how we might create pants, a hat, a scarf, a hospital gown, a scarf, or mittens. I learned how to trace, cut, and make a kippah. It was a great experience designing the kippah and seeing what it looked like after all the hard work. What I proudest of is the process of making the kippah, putting in so much time, and showing the finished product to the class.
Here is my artist statement about the history behind the kippah.
This story is about the symbolism of Jewish history. It’s important to understand Jewish history alongside all other religious, but this is important to me since I am currently learning Jewish religion, history and folklore. The story does not have to be told in a pattern, but I created a pattern of symbols I thought was important and represent my story well. Long, long ago in Egypt and Israel, the Jewish religion was born. The stories and practices were written in the Torah and guided by the 10 commandments. In today’s world, we celebrate our religion with lighting the Shabbat candles and drinking wine and grape juice. I value the family part of my religion the most and, even though I am not very religious, these symbols are important to me. The white on my fabric represents the Torah scroll parchment paper; the brown represents the polls of the parchment paper is attached to; the gold represents the richness of the religion. I made the wine cup blue because that is the color that represent the Jewish religion and wine brings enjoyment in every Shabbat. Black is the outline of the Shabbat Candles. The colors that represent my symbols are blue harmony, gold elegant, green eternity, white spiritual, brown stability, and black power. The pattern design I drew my symbols that face different directions.In the jewish religion we wear a kippah because it is one of the most identifiable marks of a jew. It is often worn by a conservative and orthodox Jewish man as a requirement that their head is covered at all time especially during prayer. The kippah is a sign of respect for g-d, who is the Higher Authority “above us”, so by covering one’s head, it shows us that something is above us and reinforces the idea that g-d is always watching. Many think that, by wearing it, it proclaims “I am a proud jew”. In today’s world, sometimes even reform women will cover their head in respect for g-d in temple.
Picture of Kippah’s
