About the Artist

Sarah grew up around women who made beautiful things with their hands. One of her favorite treasures is a large quilt that her grandmother and other women made using scraps from old dresses.

Before coming to New York, Sarah lived in Israel, where she immersed herself in Jewish life. While in New York, she received her graduate degrees in Jewish history, as well as a degree in library science.

She is married, with two daughters. As her daughters have grown up, she has developed new ways to teach them--and the rest of the world—about the beauty of the Jewish calendar and life cycle, particularly when they are looked at from a fresh perspective. One of her first projects was a prayer shawl collar, or atarah, for her husband, which uses the Noah’s Ark motif (because he and her daughters love animals).

Subsequent projects have taken familiar American patchwork motifs, and adapted them to celebrate Jewish themes and special occasions, using Hebrew lettering as an essential part of the design. For example, when Sarah created a matzah cover for her family, she used the popular Dresden plate motif from the patchwork tradition as the centerpiece. She then surrounded it on all four sides with handstitched Passover themes and motifs, added a red-white-and-blue sawtooth border and ruffles, and tabs for the Cohen, Levi and Israel matzot. More recently, Sarah created a parokhet (or curtain to cover the Ark that holds the Torah scrolls), which used the traditional “High Holiday” color scheme and a patchwork design evoking the theme of the Days of Awe, and included the text for a beautiful medieval prayer poem, which she handstitched around the entire outside border.

Sarah also has a cat, a guinea pig, and two rats (Hodu and Kush). Her hobbies include inline skating, weightlifting and classical music.

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