Round & Bound

12 clay rings. 2021. Collaboration with Jillian Hansen- Lewis

We created twelve interlocking clay rings to be an analogue to Tamar Paley's cycle counter. The circular shape evokes a challah, and the number 12 references a calendar year.  In the most common shape of challah, the braided strands form 12 “humps,” which are said to represent a whole range of specific, esoteric dozens in Jewish tradition: ceremonial loaves in the temple, the number of jewels on the ancient priest’ garments, the tribes of Israel, etc. On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, challah loaves are made in a circular or spiral shape. Depending on whom you ask, the round shape represents continuity, the wheel of the seasons, or a spiral of upward progress.