photo credit: M Fields, Albany, CA, 2023.
Image of Arielle leading 4-directions prayer surrounded by friends & art flags. Photo credit: M Fields, 2023.
Arielle Tonkin (they/Arielle/Arielle's) is an artist, educator, and a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA 2017) based in Berkeley, CA. Arielle's artwork, rooted in painting and social practice, centers intra-faith and interfaith healing through exhibitions, performances, and workshops.
Short bio (for read-aloud and publication)
Arielle Tonkin (they) is an artist, Spiritual Director, and scholar of art and Judaics (MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago) based on Ohlone land in so-called Berkeley, CA. Their artwork, rooted in painting, fibers and social practice, centers on ritual and healing. Recent exhibition highlights include: Morocco to the Bay: A Diasporic Prayerformance (2023) at Albany Bulb, CA; A Fence Around the Torah: Safety and Unsafety in Jewish Life (2021-2022) at the Jewish Museum of Maryland; Queering Jewish Diasporas (2019) at the Omni Commons, Oakland, CA; Orienting Action (2018) at the Rubin Frankel Gallery, Boston, MA; and Orienting Practice (2017) at the Sullivan Galleries, Chicago. As a Teaching Artist, Arielle facilitates classes and workshops at universities, museums, and organizations. As a Spiritual Director, Arielle facilitates life cycle ritual and Jewish and interfaith learning. A lay-hazzan and current SVARA Fellow in the Talmud Teaching Kollel, Arielle also received a yearlong Talmud fellowship from the Hadar Institute in NYC, and was the 2019 Senior Fellow at Atiq: Jewish Maker Institute in Berkeley, CA. Arielle’s arts and culture organizing centers around dismantling systems of oppression; Muslim-Jewish cross-textual arts exchange; and Mizrahi cultural flourishing in the diaspora. Arielle weaves relationships and materializes conversations: the Muslim-Jewish Arts Fellowship, the Arts Jam for Social Change, Tzedek Lab, Mitsui Collective, and Inside Out Wisdom in Action are among their networks of accountability, collective power, and care.
Narrative Bio
As a Teaching Artist, Arielle facilitates classes and workshops at universities, secondary schools, and organizations locally and nationally. Arielle is a Museum Educator at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Prior, Arielle was Public Programs Coordinator at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at UC Berkeley and an administrator at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard. Arielle also works as a Jewish educator and ritual facilitator, or a "para-rabbinic artist" primarily working with multi-faith and multiracial families, both independently and through various communities of practice. They are currently a Fellow in the Teaching Kollel at SVARA, they recently gave a workshop with Dr. Leyla Ozgur-Alhassen at UC Berkeley's Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and they teach on faculty at various organizations.
As a mixed Ashkenazi/Sephardi and Arab Jewish teen growing up in the Hudson Valley, NY, Arielle co-founded a Musim-Jewish dialogue project and learned that arts and cultural programming supported relationships grounded in dignity. Arielle continued to explore Muslim-Jewish arts organizing throughout the next 20 years, and has been collaborating through the Muslim Jewish Arts Fellowship (MJAF) since 2014. Arielle exhibits artwork nationally, with some recent highlights including the Jewish Museum of Maryland; Omni Commons, Oakland, CA; the Sullivan Galleries, Chicago; and the Rubin Frankel Gallery, Boston, MA. Arielle's activist organizing through arts and culture work is situated these day in the Mizrahi Collective, Tzedek Lab, and Jewish Youth for Community Action. Arielle weaves relationships and materializes conversations within specific networks of accountability, collective power, and care. Arielle's artwork form-alizes the belief that healing relationships can shift the fabric of social space and eventually, maybe, shift the physical world.
Short bio (for read-aloud and publication)
Arielle Tonkin (they) is an artist, Spiritual Director, and scholar of art and Judaics (MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago) based on Ohlone land in so-called Berkeley, CA. Their artwork, rooted in painting, fibers and social practice, centers on ritual and healing. Recent exhibition highlights include: Morocco to the Bay: A Diasporic Prayerformance (2023) at Albany Bulb, CA; A Fence Around the Torah: Safety and Unsafety in Jewish Life (2021-2022) at the Jewish Museum of Maryland; Queering Jewish Diasporas (2019) at the Omni Commons, Oakland, CA; Orienting Action (2018) at the Rubin Frankel Gallery, Boston, MA; and Orienting Practice (2017) at the Sullivan Galleries, Chicago. As a Teaching Artist, Arielle facilitates classes and workshops at universities, museums, and organizations. As a Spiritual Director, Arielle facilitates life cycle ritual and Jewish and interfaith learning. A lay-hazzan and current SVARA Fellow in the Talmud Teaching Kollel, Arielle also received a yearlong Talmud fellowship from the Hadar Institute in NYC, and was the 2019 Senior Fellow at Atiq: Jewish Maker Institute in Berkeley, CA. Arielle’s arts and culture organizing centers around dismantling systems of oppression; Muslim-Jewish cross-textual arts exchange; and Mizrahi cultural flourishing in the diaspora. Arielle weaves relationships and materializes conversations: the Muslim-Jewish Arts Fellowship, the Arts Jam for Social Change, Tzedek Lab, Mitsui Collective, and Inside Out Wisdom in Action are among their networks of accountability, collective power, and care.
Narrative Bio
As a Teaching Artist, Arielle facilitates classes and workshops at universities, secondary schools, and organizations locally and nationally. Arielle is a Museum Educator at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Prior, Arielle was Public Programs Coordinator at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at UC Berkeley and an administrator at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard. Arielle also works as a Jewish educator and ritual facilitator, or a "para-rabbinic artist" primarily working with multi-faith and multiracial families, both independently and through various communities of practice. They are currently a Fellow in the Teaching Kollel at SVARA, they recently gave a workshop with Dr. Leyla Ozgur-Alhassen at UC Berkeley's Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and they teach on faculty at various organizations.
As a mixed Ashkenazi/Sephardi and Arab Jewish teen growing up in the Hudson Valley, NY, Arielle co-founded a Musim-Jewish dialogue project and learned that arts and cultural programming supported relationships grounded in dignity. Arielle continued to explore Muslim-Jewish arts organizing throughout the next 20 years, and has been collaborating through the Muslim Jewish Arts Fellowship (MJAF) since 2014. Arielle exhibits artwork nationally, with some recent highlights including the Jewish Museum of Maryland; Omni Commons, Oakland, CA; the Sullivan Galleries, Chicago; and the Rubin Frankel Gallery, Boston, MA. Arielle's activist organizing through arts and culture work is situated these day in the Mizrahi Collective, Tzedek Lab, and Jewish Youth for Community Action. Arielle weaves relationships and materializes conversations within specific networks of accountability, collective power, and care. Arielle's artwork form-alizes the belief that healing relationships can shift the fabric of social space and eventually, maybe, shift the physical world.
