Lynne Avadenka Visits the Cary Collection

In August 2021, the Cary Collection hosted artist/printmaker Lynne Avadenka to work with the rare Hebrew wood type as part of her creative project based on Jewish women's roles in early Hebrew printing. The prints she created at the Cary will be part of her 2022 solo exhibition The Female Forme at the JTS Library Gallery in NYC. In September 2021, she presented about the project and the prints she made on a Cary Online event.

Avadenka is known for her works that explore text and image, the physical and philosophical idea of the book, and the mystery and beauty of visual language. Her artist’s books and mixed media works have addressed the role of women from antiquity to contemporary times, classic and contemporary literary texts, as well as the shared origins of Jewish and Islamic cultures, and can be found in numerous international collections, including the Library of Congress, The Watson Library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Detroit Institute of Arts, The British Library and The Israel Museum.

She currently serves as the Director of Signal-Return, a traditional letterpress print shop and community arts center in Detroit, Michigan. Among her awards are individual artist fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs; a 2019 Research Award, Hadassah Brandeis Institute, a 2018 Residency, Beit Venezia, Venice Italy; a 2009 Kresge Artist Fellowship.