Meet the Artist: Evelyn Goldman

We are excited to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month at the Wake County Public Libraries! We spoke with Jewish papercut artist Evelyn Goldman of Romance and Mishegoss as she gave a demonstration at the Eva Perry Regional Library.

Q: What brought you to Raleigh?

A: I’d been living in Connecticut and my husband was coming down here for work half the week. We decided it was best for the family to move down. We’ve lived here 10 years.

Q: How did you get into papercutting?

A: I think I had been rummaging through Pinterest looking for Jewish art and I saw it. I knew a bit of the history and loved it. I did research and saw a rich history that drew me in. The art form goes back hundreds of years and it’s made a bit of a comeback.

Q: What are some of your biggest inspirations for your designs?

A: Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) is one of my biggest inspirations. I also like the folklore of the Golem of Prague. When I see traditional art, I think about how to give it a modern twist. For example, I have one that’s a traditional mizrach (plaque indicating eastern wall of a room) of Jerusalem and the Western Wall, but there are so many stray cats in Jerusalem that I decided to add them to the scene!

Q: Are there other forms of creative expression that you do?

A: I write Jewish romance novels. I was in a few short story anthologies.

Q: Where can people learn more about Jewish papercuts?

A: I highly recommend a book by Joseph & Yehudit Shadur called Traditional Jewish Papercuts: An Inner World of Art and Symbol. They were the artists for papercut in Israel in the 1970’s and 1980’s. For a more beginner source, Papercutting: Reviving a Jewish folk art by Amy Goldenberg.

To get book recommendations for Jewish American Heritage Month, visit the Wake County Public Libraries catalogue.