Heddy Breuer Abramowitz
(Photo: Muki Schwartz)
About Me An American-Israeli multidisciplinary artist and writer, I was born in Brooklyn, NY to Holocaust survivors, and raised in Oxon Hill, Maryland, near Washington, D.C. I moved to Israel in 1979.
I felt pulled to art early and attended a public high school where this talent was nurtured. My immigrant refugee parents had more practical considerations in mind. It took years before I could confidently follow my natural instincts.
My mother, Lee Feig Breuer, was a Hungarian-Romanian Jewish Auschwitz survivor. My father, Alexander Breuer, was an Austrian immigrant to America who was drafted into the US Army and was a liberator of Buchenwald.
I lived in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter in for 35 years, where my husband and I raised our family of five children. One of our daughters, unfortunately, died from illness as a young adult. (See my graphic medical memoir about that experience here.)
Having returned to my “first love” of observing life, my work has moved toward more personal subjects, often using allegory. As I look back, the subjects I return to over and over cluster around urban landscape, Jerusalem beyond the cliché, introspective self-portraits, the Jewish woman, the immigrant experience, loss and commemoration, and the Holocaust as legacy.
Materials I’ve used range from oils to various water-based paints, especially gouaches, whose matt surface has become a favorite. I often combine rapidograph pens of different thicknesses to record my world. They allow both looseness and specificity.
Combining materials keeps my work exciting. Whatever subject I am working on, I let the work speak to me to guide it. Media I’ve used include embroidery, gravestone-rubbing, Sumi ink, printmaking, street photography, and gleanings from my collection of vintage book parts to construct collages.
My work expresses that which goes beyond words or an easy summation. Just as the spaces between Torah letters have power, my goal is to preserve the empty spaces in between, leaving room for that which may mysteriously defy precision.
I live and work in southern Jerusalem’s Greek Colony.
SOLO EXHIBITS
2015 Cross Point, Artists’ House, Tel Aviv.
2014 Intersections, Artspace Gallery (part of the Manofim Art Festival).
2014 Dusks, Artspace Gallery, Jerusalem.
2005 Twilights, Artspace Gallery, Jerusalem.
2000 In Light of the Situation, The Artists’ House, Jerusalem.
1996 Clips Drawn From Life, The Jerusalem Theatre Gallery, Jerusalem.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITS
2026
Adolescence, Windmill Art Power Plant, La Vaccheria, Via Giovanni l’Eltore, 35, Rome, Italy (planned).
Pop-up: Selfie: Observation Through the Mirror of Time, inaugural exhibit at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel, on Museum Hill. See video/interview (in Hebrew).
This Path Starts Here, curator Gabi Yair, at the Artist’s House Modi’in Maccabim/Reut (pending reopening).
2025
Proverbs, Adages, and Maxims, The Bernard Heller Museum, Hebrew Union College, New York City, catalogue.
Wisdom of the Elders, Rahat Municipal Art Gallery, Rahat, Israel, catalogue.
A Reason to Get Up in the Morning, The Social Space Gallery at the former President’s Hotel, Jerusalem.
2024
Across the Sea, Studio of Her Own Gallery, Katamon, Jerusalem.
Threading, U. Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art, Jerusalem, 2024 Jerusalem Spring Biennale, catalogue.
The Nature of Things, Yad L’Banim Museum, Rehovot.
2022
Wonder Woman, Marie Gallery, Jerusalem.
Holy Sparks, Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, HUC-JIR, New York City, traveling exhibit catalogue.
2021
The 5th Jerusalem Biennale:
Artspace Story, Artspace Gallery, Jerusalem and
48: Creative Quarantine Exhibit, Kol HaOt Gallery, Hutzot Hayozer, Jerusalem.
Authenticity and Identity, Adas Israel Synagogue, Washington, D.C., catalogue.
2020
Salon (second biannual), HaCubia Gallery, Jerusalem, (Manofim Project).
The Story of Pesach, Koresh Gallery and Barbur Gallery, (Manofim Project) Jerusalem, catalogue.
I am. an Immigrant. Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, Germany, catalogue.
2019
Open House, Studio of Her Own, Women’s Art Center, Litvinovsky House, Jerusalem.
New Land, Bascha Mon and guests, Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, NJ.
Relative/Relations, Hebrew Union College Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, New York City, catalogue (traveling exhibition).
Her Dress, Her Symbol: Return to Antea, Agripas 12 Gallery, Jerusalem, catalogue.
Embroidered Scaffolds, Hansen House Center for Design, Media and Technology, Jerusalem, catalogue.
Shalom Bayit, The 4th Jerusalem Biennale (and Manofim Art Festival), catalogue.
2017-18
Home(less), Hebrew Union College Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, New York City (traveling exhibition).
Salon (second biannual), HaCubia Gallery, (Manofim Art Festival) Jerusalem.
The 3rd Jerusalem Biennale: A Fine Line, Achim Hasid Complex, Jerusalem, catalogue.
A Sense of Place, A Sense of Space, Biennale, Achim Hasid Complex, Jerusalem.
2014
The Seventh Day: Revisiting Shabbat, Hebrew Union College Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, New York City (traveling exhibition).
2013
Touched by the Holocaust, Synagogue for the Arts Gallery, New York City.
Salute to our Heroes, Yad L’Banim, Tel Aviv (traveling).
The Sexuality Spectrum, Hebrew Union College Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, New York City (2014 Sherwin Miller Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 2013 Philadelphia Jewish Museum), catalogue.
2011
Black and White, Red House Gallery, Tel Aviv.
Sixteen Israeli-American Artists, Skizze Gallery, Jerusalem, catalogue.
Signed Personally: Artists Creating after the Holocaust, Beit Gavriel, Tiberius.
The Jewish Quarter: Seeing Places and Creations, Jerusalem Municipal Gallery.
2010 Limmudarts, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, England.
2009 Housewives and Heroines, Antea Gallery, Jerusalem (Project Initiator and Manager), catalogue.
2008
Personal Space, Private Views, Yakar Gallery, Jerusalem, catalogue.
Man and Earth, Oman Gallery, The Jerusalem Foundation, Jerusalem, catalogue.
2007
International Jewish Artists of the Year Award, Christie’s, London, England, catalogue.
Woman’s Bag, Gallery on the Lake, Raanana, catalogue.
Journey to the World of American Culture, Skizze Gallery, Jerusalem, catalogue.
2005 Walking on Eggs, The Corrine Mammon Ashdod Museum of Art, Ashdod, catalogue.
2004
Traces II (Biennale of Drawing), The Artists’ House, Jerusalem, catalogue.
Group Show, Artspace Gallery, Jerusalem.
It’s Me, Yakar Gallery, Jerusalem.
2001 Traces I Biennale of Drawing in Israel, The Artists’ House, Jerusalem.
2000 33 X 33, The Artists’ House, Jerusalem, catalogue.
1999
Master Class, The Artists’ House, Jerusalem; The Noga Gallery, Tel Aviv.
Landscape Workshop with George Nick, The Artists Residence, Herzliya.
Faith in Art, The Popolos Gallery, Dizengoff Center, Tel Aviv; The Gerard Behar Center, Jerusalem, catalogue (curator: Amitai Mendelsohn).
1995 Global Focus, Beijing, China; during the Fourth International Congress of Women and in association with the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
1993 New Members, The Artists House, Jerusalem,
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS AND COMMISSIONS
2024, The Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, acquired Finding Her Home, 2021, a vintage book parts collage portrait of Rabbi Kinneret Shiryon for their permanent collection.
2024, The Jerusalem Post Magazine, commissioned cover artwork, January 5, 2024, vintage book parts and mixed media collage, and text, “Toward a Rising Sun,” page 4.
2003 Omanut L’Am (Art for the People), drawing.
2000 The Hebrew University, two oil paintings purchased for the Permanent Collection of the University, Office of the Rector.
1998 The Shomer Shabbat Synagogue, Ark Curtain and reader’s set, Toronto, Canada.
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Her work is in private collections in Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Mexico, and the United States.
HONORS/Residencies
2021 “48-Hour Creative Quarantine” artist resident, Kol HaOt Gallery, Artists Colony (Khutzot Hayotzer), Jerusalem.
2017 Kol HaOt Gallery, Artists Colony (Khutzot Hayotzer), Jerusalem, Artist-in-Residence, Jerusalem.
2007 International Jewish Artists of the Year Award, The London Jewish Museum of Art and The Ben Uri Gallery, Finalist.
2005 US Independence Day Reception, Exhibited Artist, Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer’s Official Residence, Herzliya.
2004 Vermont Studio Center, International Fellow, Full Grant Residency.
SELECTED ART EDUCATION
1998-1999 Jerusalem Studio School – First Master Class with Israel Hershberg, including two cultural exchange seminars at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland.
1996 Studies with Sasha Okun.
1993 Studied etching with Sharon Poliakine, Jerusalem Print Workshop
1993-94 Studies with Jan Rauchwarger
1973 Participated in fine arts classes: Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
1972 Studies at the Syracuse University School of Fine and Applied Arts, Syracuse, New York
ACADEMIC EDUCATION
1979 University of Maryland School of Law, JD (Juris Doctor)
1976 Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, BSFS (Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service) International Government
MANAGEMENT AND ADVISORY BOARDS/Special Projects
2026 Shvilli, Az Nashir HAGGADAH On the Path to Redemption (Matan Edition), Anthology of Women’s Torah Insights, Eruv Tavshilin Egg Cartons by Heddy Breuer Abramowitz, Private Collection, page 15.
2023 In Print Contemporary Art Book Fair, Hansen House, The Center for Design, Media and Technology, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, January 11-13, 2023,
2010-present Founding member of Advisory Board for “Studio of Her Own,” dedicated to promoting art by women, The Litvinovsky House, Katamon, Jerusalem
2009-13 Jerusalem Artists’ House, Management Committee
CURATING
2019 Hovering Over the Deep, Chana Cromer, Marie Gallery, Jerusalem.
2016 Women’s Work, Curator, American Center, Jerusalem.
2013 Jerusalem Design Week, Co-curator, a Studio of Her Own exhibit, December, Pavilion Old Train Station, Jerusalem.
2003 Merhavim, Ruth Nevo, Jerusalem Artists’ House.
TEACHING
2025 to present Teaches Beginning Drawing and Introduction to painting in monotone, Touro College Israel, Jerusalem.
2007 Taught advanced painting, Emunah College of Art – Emunah v’Omanut, Jerusalem.
PUBLISHED WORK
2026 Mother and Egg Review Motherhood Literature and Art. After Nursing, watercolor, published February 12, 2026.
2025
Life-Tumbled Shards, by Heddy Breuer Abramowitz, available on Amazon, print on demand.
Balagan, Issue number 3 – Food, drawing of Egg Cartons, page 59 and 73. Print version, October 3, 2025. and online.
Persimmon Tree, Pink-haired girl, pastel drawing, online magazine, Winter edition.
2024
“Inscribing the Oct. 7 collective memory, The National Library’s Bearing Witness project aims to preserve the ephemeral realities of war,” In Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Post, by Jenna Romano, October 25, 2024, online and print edition, pages 4-6, photographs.
2024
“Jerusalem Biennale showcases Israel’s resilience amid Gaza war” Baltimore Jewish Life by Sharon Altshul
March 14, 2024, textile.
2022
“‘Wonder Woman’ New group exhibition celebrates feminist diversity, legacy and present,” In Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Post, by Hagay Hacohen, May 20, 2022, online and print edition, painting.
“Lost in the Conversation: Finding Jewish Identity between the Lines,” AJS Perspectives edition THE ART ISSUE: Artists on their Art, by Heddy Abramowitz, Fall, 2021, online and print edition, page 30, vintage book parts collage.
2021
“Authenticity of Jewish Art to be Celebrated,” The Jerusalem Post, by Hagay Hacohen, April 4, 2021, online and print edition, page 16, collage.
2021
“A Year Late Jewish Art Exhibition Opens,” Baltimore Jewish Life, by Sharon Altshul, April 7, 2021 online collage.
2019
“Modern Shalom Bayit,” In Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Post, by Ben Bresky, October 25, 2019, online and print edition, page 8, painting.
2019
“Jerusalem galleries ‘dress’ for success” by Maayan Hoffman, Magazine, The Jerusalem Post, online and print edition, May 17, 2019, pp. 22-23, photograph.
2019
“For a group of Jerusalem artists, embroidery points the way forward” by Jessica Steinberg, Times of Israel, February 24, 2019, collage.
2016
Shabbat magazine, Makor Rishon, cover, July 29, 2016, painting,
2016
“The Israeli Talmud – The Scroll of Independence – the Third Paragraph” Bina Publishers, Tel Aviv, page 20, photograph,
2016
“Heddy Abramowitz: Full of Sparks in the Urban Jerusalem View” Nashim magazine, Makor Rishon, May 27, 2016, page 20, interview, painting.
2015
“Songs from the Source: Songs and Verses” Diane Kaplan CD, cover art.
2013
Is ‘Sexuality Spectrum’ Good for the Jews?, Cultural Weekly, text, photographs, March 21, 2013, re-published.
2012
Art Reviews, personal blog at “Golden Ochre: Art and Jerusalem” and published on The Times of Israel.
From Aleph to Taf: Women’s Lexicon for Peace in Israel, by “Ahoti (My Sister) – For Women in Israel“ Matlon Publishers, drawing.
2011
Deot (Opinions) Journal Bar Ilan University, 3 photographs (Volume 53), page 46, painting
2010
The New York Jewish Week, “Text/Context,” painting, April 30, 2010, page 5
2010
“Francis Cunningham in Jerusalem,” text, guest blogger, Studio Matters of Maureen Mullarkey
2010
“Anish Kapoor in Jerusalem,” text, guest blogger, Studio Matters of Maureen Mullarkey
2010
“Sangram Majumdar in Jerusalem” text guest blogger, Studio Matters of Maureen Mullarkey
2010
“The Memory Project,” text, guest blogger, Studio Matters of Maureen Mullarkey
2010
“Private Thoughts on a Public Place,” In Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Post, text and photographs, April 2, 2010, page 24
2009
Deot (Opinions) Journal Bar Ilan University, painting (Volume 45, page 5)
2009
Deot (Opinions) Journal Bar Ilan University, photograph, (Volume 44, page 14)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Greer Faye Cashman, Grapevine, “Not Exactly Alone,” The Jerusalem Post, September 25. 2025.
Barry Davis, “Reasons to be cheerful: How some Israelis find relief for the soul and body during the war” The Jerusalem Post/MSN, Simchat Torah Supplement, October 17, 2025.
Ayala Or-El, LA Jewish Journal, “‘Holy Sparks’: Illuminating 50 Years of Women in the Rabbinate Through Art,” December 4, 2024.
Judy Lash Balint, JNS “Jerusalem Biennale showcases Israel’s resilience amid Gaza war,” March 17, 2024.
Jessica Steinberg, “Delayed by war, a rescheduled Jerusalem Biennale beats sheep into swords of iron,” Times of Israel, March 20, 2024.
Heddy Breuer Abramowitz, “Jerusalem Biennale stays on the map in the shadow of war,” The Jerusalem Post, In Jerusalem, March 29, print edition, pages 1o-11, and online. The Jerusalem Post International Edition, April 5, 2024, page 24.
Greer Faye Cashman, “Grapevine: Busy Heddy,” The Jerusalem Post, August 8, 2019, and print edition, In Jerusalem, August 9, 2019, page 12.
Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, “Jewish and Arab Women Come Together over Embroidery” Embroidered Scaffolds Exhibit, February 23, 2019, and print edition In Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Post, “Artful Connection” February 22, 2019, page 9.
Aviva Winter, “Torata Omanuta: Religious Women Artists in Israel” Tseno Ureno Exhibition, catalogue notes, Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod, page 158.
Sandee Brawarsky, “The Thin Line Between Home and Homelessness” The New York Jewish Week, January 30, 2018, print edition February 2, 2018, pp 30-31.
Renee Ghert-Zand, “Jerusalem’s State of the Arts” Hadassah Magazine, August 2016, pp 17-21.
Steve Klein, “Rank and File,” Haaretz, May 4, 2017; September 17, 2015.
Jessica Steinberg, “Contemporary Jewish Art Finds Respect in Jerusalem,” Times of Israel, September 25, 2015.
Rahel Musleah, “The Seventh Day: Shabbat Revisited,” Brief Reviews, Hadassah Magazine, April/May 2014.
Sandee Brawarsky, “Along The ´Sexuality Spectrum,´” The New York Jewish Week, December 11, 2012.
Debra Nussbaum Cohen, “An Unorthodox Guide to Sexuality: Hebrew Union College Show Explores Boundaries of Otherness” The Jewish Daily Forward, November 23, 2012.
Fringes: Jewish Art as an Israeli Periphery, by David Sperber, Bar Ilan University, Winter 2010.
“Voices: Heroines and Housewives” Lilith Journal, Fall, 2009.
“Housewives and Heroines,” Nomi Tannhauser, 2009 catalogue.
Greer Faye Cashman, “Grapevine: The Eyes Have It,” The Jerusalem Post, May 12, 2009.
“Man and Earth,” Elizabeth Dor and Noa Cohn, 2008, catalogue.
“Man and Earth,” Makor Rishon Nrg אמן חרדי – אין דבר כזה שאין דבר כזה (An Ultra-Orthodox Artist – No Such Thing That There is No Such Thing), July 16, 2008.
Rina Moskowitz, “Zichroneinu,” Ministries of Defense and Immigrant Absorption, 2008 catalogue.
The London Jewish Museum of Art, Ben Uri Gallery, International Jewish Artists Of the Year Award, 2007 catalogue.
Nitsan, Anat, Woman’s Bag, Gallery on the Lake, Ranana, 2007 catalogue.
Weisel, Yael, Walking on Eggshells, Corinne Mammon Ashdod Museum, 2005 catalogue.
Amir, Yonatan, “The Eggs Turned Glowing” Voice of the City (Kol HaIr), April 1, 2005.
Sheffi, Semadar, “Doors to a World of Black and Grey,” Haaretz, January 7, 2005.
Borstein, Dror, Traces: Drawing/Poetry, Artists’ House, Jerusalem, 2004 catalogue.
Amir, Yonatan, “I am the Line, the Paper is the World” Voice of the City (Kol HaIr), December 24, 2004.
Wizgan, Ilan, Drawing in Israel Now, Artists’ House, Jerusalem, 2001 catalogue.
Sheffi, Semadar, “A Broad Picture Done in a Narrow Line,” Haaretz, November 29, 2001.
Monitz, Anat, “Creations: Exhibit ‘Traces’ Thrilling” All the Time, Maariv, December 14, 2001.
Ronnen, Meir, “The Quickness of the Hand Deceives the Eye” The Jerusalem Post, 11.23.2001, The International Jerusalem Post, November 30, 2001.
Borstein, Dror, “Urban Heddy,” Voice of the City (Kol HaIr), January 5, 2001.
Suissa, Albert, “The Cities Hidden from the Eye,” Voice of the City (Kol HaIr), January 5, 2001.
Tolkovsky, Tzvi, 33 X 33: Situation Picture, Artists House, Jerusalem 2000 catalogue.
Ronnen, Meir, “Size Does Matter,” The Jerusalem Post, January 14, 2000.
McNatt, Glenn, “Licensed Reproduction,” The Sun, July 12, 1998
Mendelsohn, Amitai, Faith in Art, Dialogue (Du-Siach, The Movement for Coexistence Between Religious and Secular) 1999 catalogue.
Alon, Ketziah, “Art-Faith,” Deot (Opinions) Journal, Bar-Ilan University, 1999.
Nachshon, Ilan, “Without Ovadia and Deeri,” Yediot Ahronot, April 2, 1999.
Ronnen, Meir, The Jerusalem Post, May 23, 1996.
BLOGS AND OTHER MEDIA
Walking tour in Wiener-Neustadt, Austria, “Follow the Codes – Greta, Herb und Heddy.“
Radio interview, “Judy in Jerusalem Show – People of the Old City: Heddy Abramowitz, Artist” by Judy Lash Balint, recorded live in Jerusalem, September 9, 2015, internet radio.
Radio Interview, “Seeing Art in the Crosswalks” with Ilene Prusher, TLV1 Radio, March 13, 2015, internet radio.
Radio Interview, “Jerusalem Diaries – The Jerusalem Arts Scene Through the Eyes of an Insider” by Judy Lash Balint, Voice of Israel, October 22, 2014, international audience.
Radio Interview, “That´s Life with Miriam L. Wallach,” January 16, 2014, “JM in the AM” Nachum Segal Network, international audience, internet radio.
Radio interview, “Rabbi Wechsler Teaches,” Sirius radio, broadcast to a US national audience, recorded live in Jerusalem October 16, 2013.
“.מארב”23.7.2008 דוד שפרבר, “צאנה וציירנה”
“Maarav” July 23, 2008, David Sperber, “Tzeena v’Reena.”
“.עירומות טכסטורה” דוד שפרבר, “נשות חיל”
“Textures” David Sperber, “Women of Valor Exposed.”