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Alix Kramer
25 years old
Chicago, IL
Masters Student
Eli Kaplan Wildmann
37 years old
Jerusalem, Israel
Designer
Eugene Zeleny
31 years old
Newton, MA
Mechanical Engineer
Hadar Cohen
28 years old
Los Angeles, CA
Artist, Educator
Hillel Smith
36 years old
Washington, DC
Artist
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Kayla Ginsburg
28 years old
Chicago, IL
Artist
Mia Schon
33 years old
Tel Aviv, Israel
Artist
Noam Mason
22 years old
Worcester, MA
Textile Artist, Teacher
Rachel Jackson
28 years old
Somerville, MA
Artist
Yehoshua Hooper
37 years old
Denver, CO
Artist, Jewish Educator
Hey, I’m Macrame Meg – your one of a kind Krafty in the kitchen host for Expedition Maker!
I’ll be sharing with you the journey of 10 amazing Chosen Makers as they DIY their way to $5,000. Each week, starting Feb 21st, tune in to watch Jewish artists from around the globe compete in Jewish themed challenges in the practice of their choice. We’ve got glitter, we’ve got paints, we’ve got glue. Get ready for the spin of a lifetime because your favorite art elective from camp is coming home with you!
Age: 25 Location: Chicago, IL 
Instagram.com/irunthisknit
Knitting & Knitwear Design
Alix discovered her passion for knitting at age 7 when her Bubbe taught her how to knit a simple scarf. Her love bloomed from there and she’s come a long way from getting in trouble for knitting during class in 5th grade. In the last two years, she has become a knitwear designer with the goal of creating size-inclusive works of art and filling an important niche in the knitting community by becoming the foremost Jewish pattern designer. She is most proud of her Hanukkah Sweater design which has detachable flames for each night.
Age: 37 Location: Jerusalem, Israel unboundjerusalem.com and kaplanwildmann.com
Interactive Paper Objects, Light-based Installations, Urban Art and Interventions
Eli Kaplan Wildmann is a designer for theater, urban installations, and tactile visual books. His “unbound” creations have reached hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, reimagining books as one-on-one theatrical experiences. Everything began with the stage, where Eli spent so much time – as a director, designer, producer and writer. In New York, where he studied, he worked on slick Broadway and TV sets as well as weird s#!+ downtown. He is constantly inspired by the variety and passion that can be found in Jerusalem, his favorite city, where he lives with his daughter and leads egalitarian, queer and artistic communities.
Age: 31 Location: Newton, MA http://wouldworkshop.com/ and https://www.etsy.com/shop/WouldWorkShop
Woodworking, Woodburning, Leatherwork, 3D Printing, Costume/Prop Making, Sewing, Papercraft, Metal/Plastic Machining, Industrial Design Sketching, Casting
Over the past few years, Eugene has been a product designer, mechanical engineering contractor, artist, teacher, woodworker, and Moishe House Resident. Making things is just something he does every day, whether it’s for himself, his community, or clients. Eugene has amassed a wide range of maker skills such as carpentry, machining, casting, 3D printing, sewing, leatherworking, design sketching, and papercraft. From building a Russian Dry Sauna with his former MoHo roommates to 3D printing a pair of running shoes, Eugene always tackles a project head-on and never shies away from a design challenge.
Age: 28 Location: Los Angeles, CA hadarcohen.me and https://www.prostrations.com and https://www.patreon.com/hadarcohen
My artistic mediums include performance, movement, printmaking, writing, weaving, sound and ritual. I love creating film of my performance art and ritual practice.
Hadar is a Mizrahi feminist multi-media artist, healer and educator. She is the founder of Feminism All Night, a project that designs communal immersive learning experiences about feminism and spirituality. Hadar is a Jewish mystic who works to build decolonial frameworks for worshiping God. She teaches Jewish scripture and embodied practices through various platforms, including At The Well. Her artistic mediums include performance, movement, printmaking, writing, weaving, sound and ritual.
Age: 36 Location: Washington, DC hillelsmith.info and hillelsmith.storenvy.com
Graphic Design, Illustration, Lettering/Typography, Papercraft, Murals, Stenciling and Spray Paint Art
Hillel is an artist and designer from Los Angeles, now based in Washington, DC. He has painted dynamic Jewish murals around the world and is the founder of the Jewish Street Art Festival. He revitalizes ancient rituals with digital projects, including Parsha Posters and the Best Omer Ever: GIF the Omer counter, encouraging creative reconsideration of religious practice. Making fun and engaging content is similarly the crux of his work as a designer for clients including HIAS, PJ Library, and Patton Oswalt. He is fascinated by Hebrew typographic history and teaches about the interaction of technology, identity, and design.
Age: 28 Location: Chicago, IL www.kaylaginsburg.com
Illustration (digital and traditional), Painting (watercolor and gouache), Embroidery, Knitting, Rug Making, Quilting, Fabric Dying and Painting, Book Making, Woodworking (basics)
Kayla Ginsburg is an illustrator and comic artist who likes to make things. In 2016 Ginsburg started The Radical Stitchery, an online shop where everything was handmade, queer-made, and (mostly) functional. Through illustrative embroidery she found her way to drawing and comics. Her first zine, From Starfish To The Solidarity, went on to be part of Avodah’s social justice curriculum Tikkun Olam. Her first comic, Hot Jews, was published by Jewish Currents in 2019. Since then, she can’t stop making comics. For her next adventure, Ginsburg and her wife Kaitlin Webster are starting a business together — Incite Dance Center coming to Skokie Illinois in 2021. She is extremely excited. Ginsburg lives and draws in Chicago with her two cats and too many art supplies.
Age: 33 Location: Tel Aviv, Israel www.mosaicwithmia.com
Mosaics, Street Art, Portrait Painting, Collage, Woodworking
Mia Schon is an American-Israeli mosaic muralist. Born and raised in Boston, in 2014, Mia made the decision to visit Tel Aviv for three months. She quickly fell in love with the city for its vibrant art scene, heart, and soul — and made Aliyah in 2015.
With a strong affinity for public art, Mia has made it her mission to spread large colorful mosaics throughout Israel while incorporating social, political and cultural themes into her work.
She recently received a Transformative Public Art grant from the City of Boston to respond to Covid-19 and encourage public connectedness piece by piece.
Age: 22 Location: Worcester, MA www.KolAtzmotai.com
Linocut Printmaking [silk and paper], Botanical Dyeing [silk and paper].
Noam Mason [pronouns: they/them] is a genderqueer textile artist and educator. They create taleisim, Jewish prayer shawls, using linocut printmaking and botanical dyes on silk noil. Their work draws from a sense of doykeit, or hereness, reflecting the unique textures and designs of the land each person commissioning a tallis grew up in and holds relationship to. Noam is passionate about finding and creating space for trans and queer Jews to fully embody our tradition. In addition to their tallis work, they are a mikveh guide, massage therapist, singer of nigunim, and dedicated bookworm.
Age: 28 Location: Somerville, MA www.binahdesign.com and www.etsy.com/shop/binahdesign
Bookmaking, Calligraphy, Woodworking, Typography, Printing.
Rachel Jackson is a Boston based artist, feminist and fair weather rock climber. She has a BA in Visual Art and a certificate in Bookbinding, and considers herself a Jackson of all trades, master of none. From collecting and drying leaves in the fall, huddled inside in the winter obsessing over calligraphy, outside doing cyanotype prints in the spring, or indigo dyeing in the summer, crafting is a total life obsession.
Age: 37 Location: Denver, CO http://kavanah-arts.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/kavanahjewishart and https://www.linkedin.com/in/yehoshua-hooper-119aba11/ and https://www.instagram.com/kavanah_arts/ and https://www.pinterest.com/KavanahArts/_created/
Illustration & calligraphy would be my strongest – though I utilize and teach various mediums of the arts.
Yehoshua Hooper grew up being a third-culture kid, constantly exploring new places and creating art along the way. He received his MA in Jewish Education, Nonprofit Development, and Art Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York City. During his time at JTS, he was part of the artist residency program and worked at the Jewish Art Museum which fulled his passions for creating specialized programming on the Torah and the arts. While in Jerusalem, he studied at Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, where he received a certification in experiential education and co-ran community studio workshops in Nachlaot. Now in Denver, Yosh runs online art workshops and has been the art director at Ramah-in-the-Rockies.
