Artist Statement for "Aurora" Ketubah

Artist: Nishima Kaplan

Original media: Mixed media on paper

A full moon drifts serenely across a luminous arctic sky. Tongues of multi-hued fire dance in the heavens. A feeling of excitement grows as the moment of union draws near, the moment when you will join with your love in everlasting marriage.

The second in Nishima’s "Poetics" series, Aurora is inspired by the simplicity and beauty of Asian art fused with Nishima’s playful sense of form and color. Blending swirling watercolor abstraction with handmade paper, as carefully composed and balanced as a verse of Haiku poetry, Aurora is a timeless modern classic.

This mixed media "Poetics" collage is constructed from handmade paper that is torn, cut, applied and layered onto a large, colorful watercolor painting. The process is intensely meditative for the artist. She begins with only an idea in mind. No sketches of the artwork are done prior to beginning. Sudden inspirations, "accidents" and the natural beauty of the paper and the watercolor are allowed to "create" the artwork, using the artist as the vessel of expression. Spontaneous, creative, mystical: the words used to describe the process of creating this "Poetics" ketubah also describe the people who love it.