A few months back, as our jury was reviewing proposals for our 2025-2026 CJP x Vilna Community Creative Fellowship artist cohort, a few of us had a moment — a moment of envisioning a show about healing, modern ritual, and contemporary connection to Jewish practice through a shared vision of two of our applicants. In that moment, we said that if these applicants were both chosen, we’d have to curate a show.

Months later, I invite you to experience that show. “Interlaced/Interwoven” is a moment of beauty and healing at the Gallery at Mayyim Hayyim, created by two of our Community Creative Fellows, mosaic artist Mia Schon and weaver Josh Kurtz.

Schon and Kurtz will physically and metaphorically weave color and texture to create a show that speaks to spirituality, tradition, and Jewish connection. The show opens on April 29, and we hope you’ll come out and toast the artists with us.

I asked Schon and Kurtz to share a bit about the show.

This collaborative exhibit is called “Interlaced/Interwoven.” Where did this title come from? What does it mean to you?

We chose “Interlaced/Interwoven” as a title because it captures what both of our mediums do, and what they mean. We bring separate elements into a collaboration of materials so they become something whole. Both weaving and mosaic rely on connection, threads woven, broken pieces glued side by side. The title reflects that shared process while also pointing to larger ideas of community, layered stories, and our overlapping creative process. In the context of Mayyim Hayyim, an inclusive and innovative community mikveh, there are so many layers of connections between the art and the space.

It’s hard not to make the connection between weaving and mosaic as the slightly cliche “mending” the pieces. But both of you actually use these works to mend — tell us how. What’s some of your inspiration?

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Mia Schon: There is always a place to find beauty in the broken. Mosaic often begins with breakage. However, there’s an intention to the destruction, a trust that the broken pieces will find a new wholeness when placed beside each other. Working with pieces that once belonged to something else is how I mend. I’m not discarding what’s broken, I’m finding where it belongs. Incorporating different generations and influences within my family into my work is part of that. I’m piecing together our history.

Josh Kurtz: My pieces, and my artistic practice as a whole, are rooted in the idea that weaving attunes us to our fundamental interconnectedness — to the fragile, invisible threads stretched between us all. Weaving, that is, reminds us what we all know intuitively. Just as a scarf is held together by hundreds, if not thousands, of interlocking strands, so too our lives are intricately bound up with one another’s. My weaving practice is inspired by, and dedicated to, all those who have mentored and held me — ancestors, storytellers, artists, poets, activists. I am especially inspired by the role that weaving plays in diverse sacred traditions, including Jewish mysticism. The pieces in “Interlaced/Interwoven” are inspired by Kabbalistic color theory — specifically, the notion that color is both a reflection of and a conduit for the divine. 

What’s one of your favorite pieces in this show, and why?

Schon: My favorite piece in the show is a mosaic-ed wooden ring that incorporates pieces of my daughter’s paintings. I love how free and loose her paintings are. I transferred them to tile and incorporated them into my own mosaics.

Kurtz: All of the pieces in the show reflect my journey not only as a weaver, but also as a storyteller, community builder, ritual creator, and lifelong Jewish learner. One of my favorite pieces is an adaptation of Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s rainbow tallis, the design for which appeared to him in a dream. Reb Zalman was inspired by the midrash: “How did God create the world? He wrapped Himself in a robe of light, and it began to shine.” I am drawn to the idea that the world is a textile — and that light in all its manifestations, in all its colors, are shards of the sacred. That is why all my pieces in the show include gold yarn. It is my hope that as the sun rises and sets each day and bathes Mayyim Hayyim in light, those precious threads will shimmer. 

Tell us about one piece or concept you collaborated on.

We have taken inspiration from each other’s color palettes and process. We are both working in a purple and yellow color scheme for one of the pieces and looking forward to how they will look hanging side by side. 

“Interlaced/Interwoven” is co-produced by The Vilna and Mayyim Hayyim and will be on display at The Gallery at Mayyim Hayyim from April 26 to June 10. Join us for the opening event on April 29 from 7-9 p.m. 

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