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’ creative path. (still from film)
Salt Spring Island sculptor Naomi Spiers, who celebrated her 90th birthday in March, is the subject of a new film, Naomi Spiers: A Legacy, released in January by Vancouver videographer David Cooperstone.
Available on YouTube, the film follows Spiers’ path from her artistic beginnings and initial work in Ontario, through to her experiences abroad and her designs found on the mechitzah (partition) at the Chabad of Vancouver Island location in Victoria.
Born in Toronto in 1935, Spiers was allowed to have a penknife, and she carved her pencils into totem poles as a child. “I carved anything I could find and, when I was 14, I got a summer job with a potter,” she recalled. “Later, I got my hands in clay and started making all kinds of things.”
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.
There, she met Reuven, a fellow artist who, along with his two brothers, had immigrated to Canada from the United Kingdom in 1952.
“I was very impressed by his talent and very astonished when he asked me to marry him,” Spiers said.
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 “was born knowing how to draw,” receiving several large commissions.
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.
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.
The couple fell in love with Israel and moved there in 1987, eventually settling in Safed. They refurbished a centuries-old home – with no electricity, plumbing or windows – and set up a gallery: he painting, she sculpting.
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, “I could do that.”
“It 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,” she said.
Their time in Israel turned out to be very successful professionally. Naomi would have liked to have remained there, but Reuven’s physical constraints necessitated coming back to Canada.
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.
With the help of Reuven’s brother, Martin, who assisted with the woodwork, the five paper-cut panels that form the partition got underway, each with its own theme.
The first panel in the Victoria shul shows the seven fruits of Israel – 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.
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 – here, for example, the month of Adar takes the viewer to a scene from the Book of Esther.
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.
“My dear brother-in-law Martin built all this lovely woodwork,” Spiers said. “It wasn’t 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.
“Martin went ahead and built them,” she said. “I think they’re very nice and they matched the other furniture in the shul, and they were his monument to his brother – they were very close. Between the two of us, I think we did a good job of it.”
Chabad of Vancouver Island’s Rabbi Meir Kaplan, who first met the Spierses in 2008, shortly before Reuven’s death, lauded Naomi’s work, calling it “a stunning piece of art” and “the nicest mechitzah ever created.”
Spiers had approached Kaplan with her ideas after her husband’s death and, with his encouragement, she proceeded. After seeing the first panel, Kaplan said, “I was blown away. How can you do this with paper?
“As the project progressed, the works became more complex, with more wisdom and more meaning. This has become one of the masterpieces of our organization,” he said. “Local community members are proud of it and always are looking at it, trying to find some additional details and meanings in this beautiful design.”
Kaplan, who advised Spiers on religious aspects during the years-long project – he traveled to Salt Spring Island on several occasions – 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’s decor for centuries to come.
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.
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.
“It was an honour creating a video about Naomi Spiers, with the focus on the incredible mechitzah she created for Chabad of Vancouver Island,” Cooperstone told the Independent. “In 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.”
Cooperstone has made several videos about community members, including The Naiman Family Concert with Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir (2017), Yosef Wosk Book Launch (2023) and L. Cohen, a JCC Interview with Michael Posner (2024).
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.
Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.