{"id":46435,"date":"2025-04-11T01:41:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T08:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=46435"},"modified":"2025-04-10T14:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T21:51:08","slug":"video-shares-spiers-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/video-shares-spiers-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Video shares Spiers\u2019 legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artist Naomi Spiers explains the first panel of her wood-framed paper-cut mechitzah (partition) at the Chabad of Vancouver Island location in Victoria. A new video by David Cooperstone highlights some of Spiers\u2019 creative path. (still from film)<\/i><\/p>\n

Salt Spring Island sculptor Naomi Spiers, who celebrated her 90th birthday in March, is the subject of a new film, Naomi Spiers: A Legacy<\/i>, released in January by Vancouver videographer David Cooperstone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Available on YouTube<\/a>, the film follows Spiers\u2019 path from her artistic beginnings and initial work in Ontario, through to her experiences abroad and her designs found on the mechitzah<\/i> (partition) at the Chabad of Vancouver Island location in Victoria.<\/p>\n

Born in Toronto in 1935, Spiers was allowed to have a penknife, and she carved her pencils into totem poles as a child. \u201cI carved anything I could find and, when I was 14, I got a summer job with a potter,\u201d she recalled. \u201cLater, I got my hands in clay and started making all kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
Naomi Spiers (still from film)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Spiers went to the Ontario College of Art (OCA), where she studied sculpture. At the end of the four-year degree, she won a scholarship to study at the University of Edinburgh College of Art. Afterward, she returned to the OCA to assist a former instructor teaching first-year sculpture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There, she met Reuven, a fellow artist who, along with his two brothers, had immigrated to Canada from the United Kingdom in 1952.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very impressed by his talent and very astonished when he asked me to marry him,\u201d Spiers said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The couple opened a studio in Collingwood, Ont., on the shores of Lake Huron, and had various shows during their time there, with Reuven, whom Spiers said \u201cwas born knowing how to draw,\u201d receiving several large commissions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She, meanwhile, created sculptures for the Catholic Church. Though not born into a Jewish home, Spiers came from a background steeped in biblical stories. She had to memorize many of them and, because of that, she was able to make works of a religious nature.<\/p>\n

After several trips to British Columbia, she and Reuven moved to Salt Spring Island. Reuven did house renovations, while Naomi taught at Cariboo College (now Thompson Rivers University) in Kamloops. The two would see each other on weekends in Vancouver, where, on one occasion, they met an Israeli doctor who invited them to stay at a kibbutz.<\/p>\n

The couple fell in love with Israel and moved there in 1987, eventually settling in Safed. They refurbished a centuries-old home \u2013 with no electricity, plumbing or windows \u2013 and set up a gallery: he painting, she sculpting.<\/p>\n

It was in Safed that Naomi began to develop an interest in paper cuts, after seeing an exhibition in Jerusalem. At this point, a light went on in her head, and Spiers thought to herself, \u201cI could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quicker and cheaper than sculpture and people used to ask me to do family trees and things like that. I sold quite a lot of them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Their time in Israel turned out to be very successful professionally. Naomi would have liked to have remained there, but Reuven\u2019s physical constraints necessitated coming back to Canada.<\/p>\n

Upon their return, the couple bought and renovated another property on Salt Spring Island. In 2009, Reuven, however, became ill and passed away. Within a short period, it was decided that a monument be established in his honour, and thus the Chabad mechitzah saw its beginnings.<\/p>\n

With the help of Reuven\u2019s brother, Martin, who assisted with the woodwork, the five paper-cut panels that form the partition got underway, each with its own theme.<\/p>\n

The first panel in the Victoria shul shows the seven fruits of Israel \u2013 the ones that could be offered at the Temple. The second features the 12 tribes of Israel, with the symbolism being taken from inscriptions in the Hebrew Bible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the middle of the partition is a Star of David panel, with hexagons that depict various Torah tales. This is followed by a panel based on the Jewish calendar \u2013 here, for example, the month of Adar takes the viewer to a scene from the Book of Esther.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The last of the panels represents the Jewish holidays: a shofar, apples and bees making honey for Rosh Hashanah; a tent for Sukkot; a menorah and oil for Hanukkah; noisemakers and masks for Purim; four cups of wine and matzah for Pesach; and the 10 Commandments for Shavuot.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dear brother-in-law Martin built all this lovely woodwork,\u201d Spiers said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t something he had ever done before, so we went around the house and looked at things that Reuven had made and tried to get the same style he would have done if he were doing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMartin went ahead and built them,\u201d she said. \u201cI think they\u2019re very nice and they matched the other furniture in the shul, and they were his monument to his brother \u2013 they were very close. Between the two of us, I think we did a good job of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chabad of Vancouver Island\u2019s Rabbi Meir Kaplan, who first met the Spierses in 2008, shortly before Reuven\u2019s death, lauded Naomi\u2019s work, calling it \u201ca stunning piece of art\u201d and \u201cthe nicest mechitzah ever created.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
Naomi Spiers\u2019 five-panel paper-cut mechitzah she created for Chabad of Vancouver Island in Victoria. (still from film)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Spiers had approached Kaplan with her ideas after her husband\u2019s death and, with his encouragement, she proceeded. After seeing the first panel, Kaplan said, \u201cI was blown away. How can you do this with paper?<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the project progressed, the works became more complex, with more wisdom and more meaning. This has become one of the masterpieces of our organization,\u201d he said. \u201cLocal community members are proud of it and always are looking at it, trying to find some additional details and meanings in this beautiful design.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kaplan, who advised Spiers on religious aspects during the years-long project \u2013 he traveled to Salt Spring Island on several occasions \u2013 noted that visitors to the Victoria Chabad have been deeply impressed by the artwork, as well. He hopes that the panels will be part of the synagogue\u2019s decor for centuries to come.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Spiers estimates that it took roughly a year to create each panel. At the time she started, Chabad of Vancouver Island had not yet moved into its present location at 2955 Glasgow St.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Acknowledging that she always likes to have a project in the works, Spiers said she would like to contribute more to the community, possibly to the new school that opened across the street from the Chabad Centre last fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an honour creating a video about Naomi Spiers, with the focus on the incredible mechitzah she created for Chabad of Vancouver Island,\u201d Cooperstone told the Independent. \u201cIn doing this video, I discovered her amazing talent as an artist. The intricate, detailed paper cutting which Naomi spent five years creating is a marvel to look at and appreciate. I hope this video will be an everlasting legacy to this remarkable woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooperstone has made several videos about community members, including The Naiman Family Concert with Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir<\/i> (2017), Yosef Wosk Book Launch<\/i> (2023) and L. Cohen, a JCC Interview with Michael Posner<\/i> (2024).<\/p>\n

The music for the Spiers film comes from Tzimmes, the Vancouver-based ensemble. Andrea Zeitz helped to put the film together and Cooperstone gave special thanks to Michael and Dvori Balshine for bringing the film to fruition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sam Margolis<\/b> has written for the <\/i>Globe and Mail, the <\/i>National Post, UPI and MSNBC.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist Naomi Spiers explains the first panel of her wood-framed paper-cut mechitzah (partition) at the Chabad of Vancouver Island location in Victoria. A new video by David Cooperstone highlights some of Spiers\u2019 creative path. (still from film) Salt Spring Island sculptor Naomi Spiers, who celebrated her 90th birthday in March, is the subject of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[23966,23964,4831,23963,23965],"class_list":["post-46435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-chabad-vancouver-island","tag-david-cooperstone","tag-meir-kaplan","tag-naomi-spiers","tag-paper-cutting"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}