Rachel Kanter grew up in Syracuse, NY surrounded by women who were always making things: knitting a sweater, sewing a quilt, beading, weaving. She followed in their path and is now a fiber artist using quilting and embroidery techniques while incorporating vintage textiles, sewing patterns, furniture and found objects into her work.  Rachel’s interests lie in the combination of history and tradition with modern ideas about Judaism. Not only does she look to traditional Jewish rituals and texts to inform her work but is equally inspired by traditional women’s hand work and crafts. There is a deep connection between how she works with fabric, the methods she uses to sew, quilt and embroider and what her mother, grandmothers and great-grandmothers did. Rachel’s work is a means of connecting her story as a woman with her story as a Jew.

Education

School for American Crafts, Rochester Institute of Technology – MFA, 1995
School of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse University – BFA, 1992

Solo Exhibits

Fiber Works by Rachel Kanter, BEKI, New Haven, CT 11/18
The Art of Rachel Kanter, Appel Art Gallery, Katz JCC, Cherry Hill, NJ, 3/16
Ritual Cloth: The Art of Rachel Kanter, Charter Oak Cultural Center, Hartford, CT, 1/14
The New Sacred: Ritual Textiles by Rachel Kanter, Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art, Philadelphia, PA,3/12
The Art of Rachel Kanter, Gordon Jewish Community Center, Nashville, TN, 3/12
Tallit Art, Temple Adas Israel, Sag Harbor, NY 7/12
Tallit: Midrash, Congregation Shomrei Emunah, Montclair, NJ 3/11

Group Exhibitions

Well Behaved Women: Celebrating 100 Years of Woman’s Suffrage, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN 7/20
Inspired By Quilts, Studio Montclair Gallery, Montclair, NJ 9/19
Viewpoints 2019, Studio Montclair Gallery, Montclair, NJ 5/19
Refreshing Feminism, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL 2/19
On The Consequences of Hate Speech, Manny Cantor Center, New York, NY 12/18
The Artist Beit Midrash, Temple Emanuel, New York, NY, 3/18
Handmade Observance, Koslowe Gallery, Mamaroneck, NY 1/18
Jerusalem Between Heaven and Earth, 2017 Jerusalem Biennale, Israel, 10/17
Viewpoints 2017, Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, Newark NJ, 6/17
The Female Side of God, Jewish Museum Hohenems, Austria, 4/17
The Artist Beit Midrash, Temple Emanuel, New York, NY, 4/17
New Work/New York: The Jerusalem Biennale, Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, Israel, 9/15
Earth/Air/Fire/Water: Elements/Sacraments, Nails in the Wall Gallery, Metuchen, NJ, 9/15
Art We Use, The Dairy Barn Arts Center, Athens, OH, 6/14
The Art of Healing, Congregation Shomrei Emunah, Montclair, NJ, 5/14
Judaism: A Visual Conversation, Gaelen Gallery, West Orange, NJ, 1/14
…When Jewish Food Was The Family Business, The Temple Judea Museum, Elkins Park, PA, 8/13
Reading the Visual/Visualizing the Text, Jewish Theological Museum, New York, NY, 1/13
Uncommon Threads: Historic Textiles, Contemporary Conversations, Elkins Park, PA, 3/12
Silent Witness: Synagogues Transformed, Farmington Hills, MI, 2/12
The Dura Europos Project, The Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art, Philadelphia, PA, 2/10
A Stitch In Jewish Time: Provocative Textiles, Hebrew Union College, New York, NY, 9/10
Seduced By The Sacred: Forging a New Jewish Art, Mandell JCC of West Hartford, West Hartford, CT, 9/10
Reinventing Ritual, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY, 9/09
Telling The Tale: A Tallit Exhibit, Jewish Cultural Center, Chattanooga, TN, 5/07

In Print   

Oguss, Elizabeth, Art is Inspired by quilts at Studio Montclair Exhibit, Montclair Local, Sept 14, 2019
Dunne, Susan Fabric Artists Rachel Kanter, Jennifer Wroblewski On Display At Charter Oak, Hartford Courant, Jan 13, 2014
Greenspoon, Leonard Jay, Fashioning Jews: Clothing, Culture, and Commerce, Purdue University Press, 2013  p. 168
CCAR Journal:The Reform Jewish Quarterly, CCAR Press, 2013
The Forward, March 13, 2013
Brawarksy, Sandee, Giving the Familiar a New Look, JTS’ ‘Visualizing the Text’ show brings artwork into the building ‘in a way it hasn’t been before.’, NY Jewish Week March 19, 2013
Ginsburg, Johanna. Artists Prayer Shawls Tell Stories of their Own:Rachel Kanter weaves ‘midrash’ on the lives of Jewish women, New Jersey Jewish News, March 16, 2011
500 Judaica- Innovative Contemporary Ritual Art, Lark Books, 2010
American Craft, February/March 2010 Vol. 70, No. 1
Hadassah Magazine, December 2009, Vol. 91, No. 3
McBee, Richard, Reinventing Ritual – Contemporary Art and Design for Jewish Life, Yale University Press, 2009

Invited Presentations/Guest Lecturer

 

Collections

work is found in numerous private collections, in the US and Abroad. Selected Public Collections include:
The Jewish Museum New York, NY
Jewish Museum Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

Assocations

Jewish Art Salon, in NY, Executive Committee
Shomrei Emunah, Montclair, NJ co-chair: Art On The Walls