The COJECO BluePrint Fellowship
2013-2014
100 Views of New Jerusalem
The mission of “100 Views of New Jerusalem” is to create a wider awareness of modern Jerusalem’s image. Michael’s drawings of Jerusalem’s aesthetic, lifestyle, and culture were all done on site, creating hundreds of initial sketches of the modern cityscape while exploring the terrain on foot. Meditating on the nature and spirit of this Biblical location, Michael refined and developed these initial sketches into a pictorial narrative that constitutes a published book and accompanying exhibition.
Michael Korosty was born in Kiev, Ukraine. He started his education as an artist at the age of seven, and upon moving to the U.S. in 1989, completed his formal art education at the Pratt Institute. Michael is works in the mediums of painting and drawing. He has been teaching art to adults and children at his studio, as well as at various private institutions since 1994. Having provided art services to the local South Brooklyn community for years, after the impact of Hurricane Sandy, the studio was relocated to Manhattan Beach.
About Face
About Face is a surreal drama about a Soviet Jewish immigrant family in America. After years of living in fear, the Berezovsky family fled the Soviet Union to start a new life in America. Nine years later, 16-year-old Lina struggles to stake her claim on an elusive American identity, while her grandmother remains tormented by […]
Banany Chronicles
For his COJECO BluePrint Fellowship community project, Pavel Sklyar created a short documentary film “Banany Chronicles” exploring experiences of immigrants who arrived to America between the ages of 5 and 16. The film explored adaptation experiences of these young people who found themselves in new schools, learning new customs, and a new language. The film […]
Pavel Sklyar was born in Kiev, Ukraine. He was initially introduced to Jewish history, culture and traditions at the Jewish school, which was established in Kiev by Rabbi Bleich in 1991. At the age of 13 he, together with his family, immigrated to New York City, where he continued his study and explore Judaism. His other interests include traveling, photography, film, and investing. Pavel graduated from Hunter College with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. Currently he works full time as a Business Planning Analyst at a Fortune 500 telecommunications company. He is also the President and co-founder of MMIC Investment club.
Fabula/Syuzhet: A Memoir Through Music
Music album inspired by songwriting legends like Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor, Zemfira and Bulat Okudzhava, Fabula/Syuzhet explores the storied tradition of Soviet author song re-imagined for the 21st century. Samantha Shokin is a singer/songwriter and first-generation American whose original music reflects the dual nature of growing up straddled between cultures. Her songs blend English and […]
Samantha Shokin graduated from NYU Gallatin with an individualized concentration in literary journalism. Though she was born in the US, Samantha’s parents were in the first wave of Soviet refugees coming to the US in the late 70’s. Samantha’s writing has been published in VICE magazine, The Forward, and the Village Voice, among others. Samantha’s hobby is to write music, and currently Samantha sings lead in a rock band. Learn more about Sam at www.samshokin.com.
In the Eighteenth Minute: A Short Story Collection
‘In The Eighteenth Minute’ is a short fiction collection — stories set in the Russian Jewish community, mostly amongst emigres, but also some set in the former Soviet Union. The collection celebrates not only Jewish culture in Russian translation, but also Jewish religion in Russian translation. Becoming observant is, in many ways, an immigration experience, always being an […]
Avital Chizhik is a journalist living in New York City. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Tablet, and the Forward, and she is a frequent contributor to Haaretz. Her fiction has received recognition from the Atlantic Monthly, Moment Magazine and the National Young Arts Foundation. She lives with her husband Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt in New York City.
Follow Avital on her website: www.avitalrachel.com and Twitter: @avitalrachel
Inseparable Borders
Art exhibit INSEPARABLE BORDERS: The Problem of Crossing the Line is Now You Find Yourself on the Other Side reception took place November 18, 2014. Event Facebook page. Paintings by Valentina Loseva Sculpture by Elisa Lendvay Curated by Nechama Winston THE 125 125 E 47th Street, New York, NY 10017
Valentina Loseva is a New York City based painter working primarily in the classical oil and water based mediums. Though her work grounded in Jewish values and Biblical narrative, she retells the classical stories using contemporary characters and representations of the modern world. She has exhibited in New York and Paris and received her BFA from Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College. Valentina has been teaching art and languages to children for over seven years and is currently working on her MA/MFA in art education at Brooklyn College.
Jewish and Connected
The Jewish and Connected networking group was formed to help local Jewish professionals grow their businesses through referral marketing. Only one person per occupation will be allowed in every group. Everyone in the group must initial interview with Jewish and Connected Team Members. There is no membership fee. J&C Mission: The mission of Jewish […]
Karina Akimenko was born in St. Petersburg Russia in 1991 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1995. Karina attended Franklin and Marshall College, majoring in Public Health in Biology, while taking the Pre-Med track. In the past year, Karina has been working at Montefiore Hospital for the Network Performance Group focusing on improving hospital outcomes.
Dmitry Zhernovsky considers himself to be an entrepreneur. Although he has advanced knowledge in the fields of insurance and risk management, he is always on the lookout for new ventures and business ideas – of areas where development or improvement is needed and would be of benefit to the community.
Kultur-lige Movement in Ukraine, 1918-1930s
An exploration of artistic output of the Kultur-lige movement in the context of Yiddish and Soviet culture in Ukraine in late 1910s – 1930s. Event took place November 3, 2014 at YIVO – Institute for Jewish Research
Oksana Rosenblum graduated from the Jewish Theological Seminary with a Master’s in Jewish Art and Visual Culture in 2005. She received a Diploma in Jewish Studies from Oxford University in 1999, and gained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Cultural Anthropology from Ukraine in 1998 and 2001. Since 2005, Oksana has been free-lancing as a visual researcher in the field of Jewish art and history, working for the newly created museums of Jewish History in Warsaw and Moscow, among others. Her field of expertise and interest is the history of Jews in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union and contemporary Ukraine. As a hobby, Oksana studies Persian and Indian music, and occasionally performs with ethnic group ensembles.
Lyagushki
Interactive multi-media concert for children, incorporating theatrical elements, based on updated versions of songs from classic Russian films and cartoons, as well as his original compositions.
Andrew Tuzhilin is a musician and educator who has been working with children for the past 5 years. At a young age Andrew attended Green Meadow Waldorf School where he began his musical journey, and was introduced to the world of theater. He received his education from the Berklee College of Music and worked on a multi-media project at Brown University. Andrew is currently working on the children’s project Rolie Polie Guacamole.
Re: Turn
Photographic Narratives of Russian-speaking Orthodox Jews
Anna Chana Demidova was born in Belarus and lived in Bulgaria, Netherlands, and Germany before moving to New York in 2010. She studied Business and Political Science and is currently studying Economics at Columbia University. Photography was something that she has always been curious about, and since receiving her first camera, it has become Anna’s true passion.
Resilience Garden
Laura Vladimirova set out to create a community garden in Bath Beach, a Russian-Jewish neighborhood in Southern Brooklyn, with several key goals: a) To create a space that can be used by local seniors, kids and others b) To promote sustainability to the local community; c) To create a space of environmental awareness post Hurricane Sandy by […]
Laura Vladimirova was born in Kiev, Ukraine. Her family, like many others, immigrated to the United States in the late 80’s. The transience of her youth created an insatiable wanderlust in Laura, which she has tried to fill by traveling and living abroad for most of her young adult life. Then, after her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and passed away, Laura realized that planting roots was the next phase of her growth. Thus, she now works with plants and people in community gardens, rooftops, and anywhere else community can be created around the more natural concepts of life.
Rus Jews Views
Rus Jews Views aims to destigmatize psychotherapy in the Russian-speaking Jewish community and states the case for psychotherapy as an acceptable and often necessary component of general health and well-being. A manuscript of Victoria’s research is currently being finalized and submitted for publication in a top-tier psychology journal. At least two more publications are pending.
Victoria Drob is a National Board Certified Counselor, holding a master's degree and a license in clinical counseling. Providing psychotherapeutic counseling during her internships as part of her graduate studies has been a life-altering experience for her. For her COJECO Blueprint community project, Victoria conducted research that brought to light the stigmas surrounding the field of psychology in the ex-Soviet culture, in the hopes of dispelling the prevalent myths and misconceptions. Victoria hosted an educational lecture on the benefits of counseling for the Russian-speaking Jewish audience offering insights gained from her research results. Victoria continues advocacy work and research in this field. Her project, Rus Jews Views, can be followed on www.RusJewsViews.com as well as on Facebook.
Russian Pavilion – Migration
The Russian Pavilion is a juried exhibition showcasing emerging and established artists from Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Baltic regions during leading international contemporary art fairs in New York, Miami, and other cities.
Artem Mirolevich’s multimedia work gives him a unique voice: an urban mix of Surrealism, Impressionism, and Japanese printmaking. In 2000, Artem debuted his New York show at a foregone Neva Gallery in Greenwich Village, where he humorously proclaimed his relationship with the world as “Post-Apocalyptic Romanticism. America made me the artist that I am.” The scale of his work spans from small-scale objects to large oil canvases and installations, including “Babylon Tower”- the seashell-shaped multimedia project of galvanized wire at the Chelsea Art Museum in 2012.
Artem’s work paints the meticulous deconstruction of the physical earth into its figurative elements, turning to such media as oil, gouache, wire, and ink. He is also occasionally an engraver– like Durer or Piranesi, using a craft that the world has no immediate use for anymore, yet is peacefully nostalgic and ravishing to look at. For his COJECO BluePrint Fellowship community project, Artem will create a separate track of Russian Jewish art as part of his large initiative “Russian Pavilion.”
Songs of Our Grandmothers
Songs of our Grandmothers is a film exploring of the role that songs play in the immigrant experience and the history of these songs, through the eyes of elderly immigrants to the United States. 10 different interviews were conducted with elderly Russian-Jewish immigrants in New York and New Jersey. Of those interviews, 4 made it […]
Ilya Blokh, originally from Moscow, has found himself around the world—from Alabama and New York to Japan and Scotland. By day he works as a product manager for an educational software start-up, but by night he dabbles in film and is particularly interested in music from all corners of the world and the culture that forms around it.
The New Wave of Russian Jewish Cultural Production
Over the past 15 years, young Russian-speaking Jewish writers such as David Bezmozgis, Sana Krasikov, Gary Shteyngart, and Lara Vapnyar, have captured the attention of the American reading public. However, their work has not yet received the proper acknowledgement in the academic world and does not appear in college anthologies. For her community project, Anna […]
Anna Katsnelson immigrated to New York from Leningrad in 1989 when she was 10 year old. In 2011 Anna received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. Her dissertation “Ethnic Passing across the Jewish Literary Diaspora” is an interdisciplinary, transnational study that examines history, culture, and literature. The dissertation shows that sociological identification with the hegemonic group and nativist influences in the United States, Brazil, and the USSR, led a number of ethnically Jewish writers, to create a literature which was completely devoid of ethnic markers. In 2007-2008 Anna was a Fulbright IIE Scholar to Brazil. Anna teaches in the English Departments of the Lander College for Women and Medgar Evers College.
The Things We Carry
“The Things We Carry”: An evening of poetry and prose at Cornelia Street Cafe exploring the intangible baggage of immigration – superstitions, home remedies, and other peculiar beliefs – among Russian Jews. After the reading by BluePrint Fellow Olga Rukovets, the Yiddish Art Trio performed a special CD release preview for their upcoming album.
Olga Rukovets was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, but immigrated to the US when crying was still her primary form of communication (and her fellow passengers were not happy about it). She is a first-year MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Florida. Her poetry and non-fiction have appeared in Jelly Bucket, Brink Magazine, 5X5, Punchnel's,Mixed Fruit, Opium Magazine, The Fiddleback, and others.
Unknown Woman in Three-Quarter View: Letters to an Imaginary Lover
UNTITLED; Woman; 3/4 view is an installation composed of a 16mm film loop, a 12 minute video loop projection and a text piece. The project opened on December 23, 2013 at Hadas Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. The installation proposes several views and attempts at narrating the history and life stories of seven Russian-Jewish artists and one […]
Masha (Mariya) Vlasova is a Russian born artist who lives and works in New York City. She is the recipient of a Robert Breer Film and Video Award, an IIE Fulbright grant in filmmaking (Kyrgyz Republic), a CASI Foreign Research Fellowship, an ACANSRS Film Grant and COJECO BluePrint Fellowship. Masha Vlasova's photographs and videos have recently been exhibited at La MaMa La Galleria, Leeds College of Art, UK and Hadas Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. She is currently an MFA candidate in the Department of Sculpture at Yale.
Zing Along Shabes
The Zing-Along Shabes project, a BluePrint Alumni project (2013-2014), aims to foster family traditions around celebrating Shabbat. The project consists of a website and printable booklet that include artwork by Irina Sheynfeld, a toolkit of materials for educators and parents, and musical recordings of songs, prayers and nigns for Shabbat (featuring the voices of Cantors […]
Dmitry Slepovich is a Jewish educator, musician, and music scholar focusing on Ashkenazi Jewish musical tradition. As the founder of the bands Minsker Kapelye and Litvakus, Slepovitch has scored and performed music and acted for film and theater productions in Europe and the US. He has been continuously collaborating on many levels with the National Yiddish Theatre–Folksbiene in New York. Slepovitch earned his Ph.D. at Belarus State Academy of Music where he taught in the position of Assistant Professor prior to his emigration to the US in 2008. He has collaboratively initiated and taught at a number of educational music seminars for Jewish musicians in Belarus and co-produced a festival KlezmerShock in Minsk. He taught at seminars and presented at conferences held by the SEFER Moscow Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization, Intercollegiate Center for Jewish Education, New Jewish School Center in St.Peterstburg, Eshkolot project in Moscow, and other educational, scholarly, and performing events in the FSU, Europe, Israel, Canada, and the US.
Irina Sheynfeld is an artist, illustrator and designer born in Odessa, Ukraine, where she studied painting at the Odessa College of Art. Upon arriving to New York, Irina earned her BFA from Parsons School of Design and MFA from School of Visual Arts. She worked as a designer and illustrator for The Wall Street Journal, Time Warner and Oxygen Media. For several years Irina illustrated a weekly column for Editor and Publisher magazine. Irina just had her first solo show at Tagine Gallery in NYC and her work could be currently seen at Amsterdam Art Gallery and at Iridium Jazz Club. She was one of the winners of the Printmaking Completion and recipient of the New Media Award for the best web design.
Inna Barmash immigrated to the United States from Vilnius, Lithuania, where she first started singing in Yiddish in a children’s song and dance collective. While a student at Princeton University, she co-founded the Klez Dispensers, the University’s first klezmer band and has since performed with numerous other East Coast groups. Her explorations of the repertoire of Russian and Romanian gypsies led to her co-founding of Romashka, a gypsy band based in New York. While roaming through clubs, cafe, and underground parties with the band, Barmash encountered the composer/violist Ljova Zhurbin, now her husband and collaborator, with whom she started Ljova & the Kontraband, an original chamber folk ensemble and a duo lovingly dubbed BarmaLjova. When not singing or tending to their adorable toddlers, Benjy and Yossik, Inna works as an attorney at an education technology company in New York.
