Heddy Breuer Abramowitz
(Photo: Muki Schwartz)
Heddy Breuer Abramowitz is an American-Israeli multidisciplinary artist. Born in Brooklyn, NY to Holocaust survivors, she was raised in Oxon Hill, Maryland, near Washington, D.C. Israel has been her home since 1979.
From early childhood, she was drawn to art and luckily attended a public high school where her art was nurtured. However, her immigrant parents had more practical considerations in mind for her. It took her many years to follow her natural inclinations.
Her mother was a Hungarian-Romanian Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, her father, who was Austrian, was drafted to the US Army and was a liberator of Buchenwald. Abramowitz was a long-term resident of Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter in the Old City, where she and her husband raised a family of five children, one of whom died from illness as a young adult.
Recurring themes include urban landscape, Jerusalem beyond the cliché, introspective self-portraits, the Jewish woman, the immigrant experience, loss and commemoration, and the Holocaust as legacy. She employs media ranging from oils to water-based paints to drawing media and sometimes may include embroidery, stone-rubbing, Sumi ink, printmaking, street photography, and vintage book collage, as appropriate.
Following academic degrees in international government and law, she returned to her first love of drawing and painting from observation. Her work has gravitated to personal subject matter and allegory is often used.
Over time, she senses that her work has evolved into expressing that which goes beyond words or a visual summation. Her goal is to enter the empty spaces in-between, with room for the enigmatic and that which defies precision.
SOLO EXHIBITS
2015 Cross Point, Artists’ House, Tel Aviv
2014 Intersections, Artspace Gallery (part of the Manofim Art Project)
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
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
A Reason to Get Up in the Morning, The Social Space Gallery at The 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, DC, catalogue
2020
Salon of The Cubia Gallery, Portrait, (Manofim Project) Jerusalem
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, Litinovsky 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/
Embroidered Scaffolds, Hansen House Center for Design, Media and Technology, Jerusalem, catalogue/
Shalom Bayit, The 4th Jerusalem Biennale (and Manofim Project), catalogue
2017-18
Home(less), Hebrew Union College Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, New York City (traveling exhibition)/
Salon (second biannual), HaCubia Gallery, (Manofim Art Project) Jerusalem/
Jerusalem: A City for the Ages, AACI Glassman Center, Jerusalem, catalogue
2016
Autumn at Artspace, Artspace Gallery, Jerusalem
2015
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/
Tubishvat: Trees in the Bible, Galleria Ramot Zion, 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
2006 Women at Work, Hadassah Berry Gallery, Jerusalem
2005 Walking on Eggs, The Corrine Mammon Ashdod Museum of Art, Ashdod, catalogue
2004
Traces II (Biennale in Drawing), The Artists’ House, Jerusalem, catalogue
Group Show, Artspace Gallery, Jerusalem
It’s Me, Yakar Gallery, Jerusalem
2003 Self Portrait, Gallery, Artist Colony, Ein Hod
2002 Art Fair, Park Avenue Synagogue, New York City
2001 Traces – Drawing in Israel Now (Biennale), 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, DC
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, my collage portrait of Rabbi Kinneret Shiryon for their permanent collection.
2024, The Jerusalem Post Magazine, commissioned cover artwork, January 5, 2024, collage, and text, “Toward a Rising Sun,” page 4.
2003Omanut 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, Toronto, Canada
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Has work 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
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, DC
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 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 Artist’s Home of the painter Litinowsky, 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
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, 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.
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
“Jerusalem’s State of the Arts” Hadassah Magazine, Renee Ghert-Zand, 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
“Along The ´Sexuality Spectrum´” The New York Jewish Week, Sandee Brawarsky, December 11, 2012
“An Unorthodox Guide to Sexuality- Hebrew Union College Show Explores Boundaries of Otherness” The Jewish Daily Forward, Debra Nussbaum Cohen, 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
“Grapevine: The Eyes Have It,” The Jerusalem Post, Greer Faye Cashman, 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 , July 16, 2008
“Zichroneinu,” Ministries of Defense and Immigrant Absorption, Rina Moskowitz, 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”