Artist Engel showcases work at the Venue

The Venue Fine Arts & Gifts is displaying an exhibit of paintings and sculptures by Kaaren Hirschowitz Engel entitled Spiritual Adventures.

The exhibit opened Sept. 6,, and the complete exhibit remain open until Sept. 19.
Engel, a native of Birmingham, Ala., now lives and works in Nashville, Tenn. According to a press release, she practiced law in San Francisco and Nashville for more than 12 years before retiring in 1999 to pursue a career in visual arts.

Gabriel Colman, curator of the Venue, said after working in law for so long, Engel’s spirituality was under attack, and she was looking for a way to reconnect with her Jewish heritage.

He said her works are inspired by prayers from the Old Testament, and she visually uses these prayers in her abstract paintings.

“I often incorporate into my paintings words or thoughts, records of a moment,” Engel said on her website. “My art evolves from these single moments, woven into paint and paper and canvas. At times the weaving is figurative, as in my two-dimensional work.

At times the weaving is literal. I physically deconstruct and reconstruct my paintings into three-dimensional sculptures.”

According to the press release, Engel also practices Kirtin Yoga and draws from those experiences in her art.

“You have a visual depiction of a relatively unexplored medium and subject matter,” Colman said of the exhibit. “This is a demonstration of culturalism and acceptance.”

Follow reporter Alyssa Schor on Twitter @SchorAlyssa.