Yona Verwer CV
Born in The Hague, The Netherlands. Lives and works in New York.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 Fluid Futures, The Interchurch Center, New York, USA
2026 Turning the Tide for a Living Sea, Hartford International University, Hartford, CT,
2019 Art Stations, Reinwardt Academy, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2018 Echoes: Then and Now, YU Museum Education Showcase, New York, USA
2016 ARt, Architecture & AR, AK Artists Residency, Governors Island, NY, USA
2013 City Charms, Tribeca Synagogue for the Arts, New York, USA
2012 Yona Verwer, Adas, Sag Harbor, NY, USA
2012 Temple Talismans, Center for Arts & Literacy, New York, USA
2002 Urim & Tumim, Russian American Cultural Center, New York, USA
1998 Yona Verwer, Gallerie De Lachende Koe, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 NOAH: A Future Hope, Dadian Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
2026 In-Security, Hudson Valley MOCA, Peekskill, NY, USA
2026 Women in the Heights: Shade, NOMAA Gallery, New York, USA
2026 NOAH: A Future Hope, Hartford International University, Hartford, CT, USA
2026 NOAH: A Future Hope, The Chase Family Gallery, Hartford, CT, USA
2026 Fluid Futures Melting Lands, Hyams Museum, Roslyn, NY, USA
2026 NOAH: A Future Hope, Treasure Gallery, Interchurch Center, New York, USA
2026 NOAH: A Future Hope, Westminster Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, USA
2025 G*tt. Über die grossen Fragen zwischen Himmel und Erde, Jüdisches Museum Wien, Vienna, Austria
2025 Fallout, Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2025 NOAH: A Future Hope, Margolis Gallery, Beth Israel, Houston, TX, USA
2025 Proverbs, Adages and Maxims, HUC Heller Museum, New York, USA
2025 Children of Ruth, HUC Heller Museum, New York, USA
2025 Artists on Antisemitism III, Osher Marin JCC, San Rafael, CA, and Peninsula JCC, Foster City, CA, USA
2025 Holy Sparks, The Braid Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
2024 Artists on Antisemitism II, Hyams Museum, Roslyn Heights, NY, USA
2024 Artists on Antisemitism, 81 Leonard Gallery, New York, USA
2024 ACTIVATE: A New York Women's Perspective, Jerusalem Biennale
2024 Holy Sparks, Hillel Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2023 ACTIVATE: A New York Women's Perspective, HUC Heller Museum, New York,
2023 Genesis: The Beginning of Creativity, Jewish Theological Seminary, New York,
2023 One Nation, HUC Heller Museum, New York, USA
2023 Holy Sparks, Goodman Family Museum, West Bloomfield, MI, USA
2023 Holy Sparks, Margolis Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
2023 Tzedek Boxes: Justice Shall You Pursue, HUC Heller Museum, New York, USA
2022 JADA Art Fair, Miami Beach JCC, Miami Beach, FL, USA
2022 Samaritans: A Biblical People, Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC, USA
2022 PAUSE: Ways of Being, 81 Leonard Gallery, New York, USA
2022 Artists Encounter Samaritan Culture, YU Museum, New York, USA
2022 Holy Sparks, HUC Heller Museum, New York, USA
2022 Holy Sparks, Skirball Museum, Cincinnati, OH, USA
2022 Mayim Chayim: A Watershed, Koslowe Gallery, Mamaroneck, NY, USA
2021 Relative Relations, HUC Heller Museum, New York, USA
2020 i am. an immigrant., Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, Germany
2019 JADA Art Fair, Miami, FL, USA
2019 Spinoza: Marrano of Reason, Amstelkerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2019 The Stanton 11, Stanton Street Project, New York, USA
2019 The NY Boring Company, Space X, New York, USA
2018 On the Consequences of Hate Speech, Manny Cantor Center, New York, USA
2018 The Invisible Jew, Detour Gallery, Red Bank, NJ, USA
2018 Jerusalem Between Heaven and Earth, Derfner Museum, Riverdale, NY, USA
2017 Jerusalem Between Heaven and Earth, Jerusalem Biennale, Jerusalem, Israel
2017 Natural Instincts, Charter Oak Cultural Center, Hartford, CT, USA
2017 Far From the Front Lines, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL, USA
2017 Personal Renaissance, Belskie Museum of Art and Science, Closter, NJ, USA
2017 Women in the Heights: Disruption, Rio II Gallery, New York, USA
2016 Trees of Life and Evil Eyes, Clemente Cultural Center, New York, USA
2016 Dimensions of Spirituality, USC Hillel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2016 Meditations on Place, Koslowe Gallery, Mamaroneck, NY, USA
2016 Hidden Links: The Work of Yona Verwer and Cynthia Beth Rubin, Evergreen Arts Center, Evergreen, CO, USA, with the Mizel Museum, Denver, CO, USA
2016 New York / New Work: Contemporary Art From NYC, Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod, Israel
2015 New York / New Work: Contemporary Art From NYC, Jerusalem Biennale, Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, Israel
2015 Shmita ArtFest, AK Residency NY, Governors Island, NY, USA
2015 ALL | TOGETHER | DIFFERENT, Manny Cantor Center, New York, USA
2015 Women in the Heights: The Human Essence, NOMAA Gallery, New York, USA
2014 Sacred Voices, Canton Museum of Art, Canton, OH, USA
2014 Faith & Form: Addressing Intolerance, Anne Frank Center USA, New York, USA
2013 It's a Thin Line: The Eruv and Jewish Community in New York and Beyond, YU Museum, New York, USA
2013 Provocateur, Riverside Library, New York, USA
2012 Blessed Are the Artists: Spirituality and Religion in Contemporary Art, Caldwell College, Caldwell, NJ, USA
2012 Silent Witnesses: Synagogues Transformed, Rebuilt or Abandoned, Holocaust Memorial Center, Farmington Hills, MI, USA
2012 The Dura Europos Project II, UJA Federation, New York, USA
2011 Embodied Light: 9-11 in 2011, Ernest Rubinstein Gallery, New York, USA
2011 4000 Year Road Trip, Mizel Museum, Denver, CO, USA
2011 9-11 Memorial Exhibit, JCC, Reading, PA, USA
2011 Terror: Artists Respond, Industry City Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2011 Transcending History: Moving Beyond the Legacy of Slavery and Holocaust, Blank Rome, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2010 Generation D: Identity, Flomenhaft Gallery, New York, USA
2010 Seduced by the Sacred, Charter Oak Cultural Center, Hartford, CT, USA
2010 Transcending History: Moving Beyond the Legacy of Slavery and Holocaust, Stanback Museum, Orangeburg, SC, USA
2010 Transcending History: Moving Beyond the Legacy of Slavery and Holocaust, Reginald Lewis Museum, Baltimore, MD, USA
2010 Transcending History: Moving Beyond the Legacy of Slavery and Holocaust, Vivant Art Collection, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2009 Cultural Heritage Artists Project, John Slade Ely House for Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT, USA
2009 Arts on the Move, Bronfman Center Gallery, New York, USA
2009 Wall to Wall, CWOW Gallery, Newark, NJ, USA
2007 Made in the USA, Educational Alliance, New York, USA
2007 10 x 10, Makor Gallery, New York, USA
2007 words within, Kraft Center, Columbia University, New York, USA
2007 words within, Rubin Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
2006 Amendicons, Makor Gallery, New York, and Haven Arts, The Bronx, NY, USA
2006 Speed Limit, Redhead / Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, USA
2006 The Universal and the Particular, Skirball Center, New York, USA
2006 Nurturing the Edge, CUE Art Foundation, New York, USA
2005 Incognito, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA, USA
2005 Artists Aid Orleans, Ch'i Contemporary Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2005 Nurturing the New '05, Spike Gallery, New York, USA
2005 Wandering, Makor Gallery, New York, USA
2004 The After Light, Andy Warhol Factory Building, New York, USA
2004 Shared, Streit's Matzo Factory, New York, USA
2001 Dumbo Double Deuce, Russian American Cultural Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2001 Détente, Consulate General of the Russian Federation, New York, USA
2001 Spring, Bodi Modern Art, Newport, RI, USA
2000 Good Business Is the Best Art, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY, USA
2000 Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA, USA
SELECTED BOOKS & GROUP EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
2025 Heritage: Jewish Artists in America since 1900. Texts by Matthew Baigell. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, USA
2023 Genesis: The Beginning of Creativity. Edited by Joel Silverstein, Richard McBee, Goldie Gross, and Abigail Myer. Jewish Art Salon, New York, USA
2023 One Nation. Edited by Phyllis Freedman. Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, New York,
2023 Tzedek Boxes: Justice Shall You Pursue. Edited by Nancy Heller. Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, New York, USA
2022 The Samaritans: A Biblical People. Texts by Steven Fine, Brill, Netherlands
2022 Holy Sparks. Edited by Jean Rosensaft and Ronda Spinak. Dr. Bernard Heller Museum, New York, USA
2020 Jewish Identity in American Art: A Golden Age since the 1970s. Texts by Matthew Baigell
2019 Spinoza: Marrano of Reason. Texts by Ori Z. Soltes. Amsterdam, Netherlands
2016 Tradition and Transformation. Texts by Ori Z. Soltes. Canal Street Press
2015 New York / New Work. Texts by David Sperber and Dvora Liss
2015 The Jerusalem Biennale. Texts by Ram Ozeri. Jerusalem, Israel
2012 Cultural Heritage Artists Project II. Texts by Samuel Gruber, Ruth Gruber, Aaron Rosen, and others. Detroit, MI, USA
2011 We Remember: 9-11 10th Anniversary. Edited by Marilyn Fox. Penn State, USA
2010 The Dura Europos Project. Edited by Joel Silverstein and Richard McBee. New York, USA
2009 Cultural Heritage Artists Project I. Texts by Hasia Diner, Walter Cahn, Hana Iverson, Karen Shiff, and Cynthia Beth Rubin
2009 Tzelem. Edited by Joel Silverstein and Richard McBee. New York, USA
2007 Words Within. Edited by Laura Kruger. Hebrew Union College Museum, New York, USA
1993 Con-struc-tures. Texts by Fred Adelson. Port of History Museum, Philadelphia, PA, USA
1993 Imagination. Edited by Gail Levin. Peconic Gallery, Riverhead, NY, USA
1990 The Artist in the Marketplace X. Edited by Laura Hoptman. Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, USA
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2026 Hannah Rothbard. "An Age-Old Warning: Three Artists Look to the Biblical Flood." White Hot Magazine
2026 Simi Horwitz. "Amid blazing heat and rising tides, artists find beauty and desperation in these biblical times." The Forward
2025 Simi Horwitz. "One was born Catholic, another was a West Virginia Protestant — now they're all making Jewish art." The Forward
2025 Matthew Baigell. "Yona Verwer: Art Born of Waters, Leadership Rooted in Spirit — The Mikvah Series." Images: A Journal of Jewish Art and Visual Culture
2025 Andrew Guckes. "Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art to Open New Exhibit Focused on Oct. 7." Philadelphia Jewish Exponent
2025 Jean Bloch Rosensaft. "Children of Ruth." Reform Judaism
2024 Kelly. "NOAH: A Future Hope — A Confluence of Art, Spirituality and Environmental Action." MSN
2024 Van Wallach. "My Long 5th of July Cultural Crawl in NYC." Times of Israel
2024 Stav Ziv. "The distressing truth behind an exhibit about antisemitism — it's always timely." The Forward
2024 Joanne Palmer. "Artists on antisemitism." Jewish Standard
2024 Pietro Baragiola. "Artists on Antisemitism: la mostra collettiva sull'antisemitismo apre a New York." Bet Magazine Mosaico
2024 Julia Gergely. "A Tribeca Gallery is showcasing art about antisemitism, including a Hitler-Kanye West portrait." NY Jewish Week / JTA
2023 Julia Gergely. "Jerusalem Biennale comes to NYC." Jewish Standard
2023 Jean Bloch Rosensaft. "Behold Feminine Power!" Lilith Magazine
2023 Julia Gergely. "With the Jerusalem Biennale postponed due to war, participating artists mount 3 exhibits in New York." NY Jewish Week
2023 Simi Horwitz. "What do Jewish, Christian and Muslim artists talk about when they talk about Genesis." The Forward
2023 Laura Hodes. "How a new Jewish holiday is inspiring a new Jewish ritual." The Forward
2022 Steven Fine and Richard McBee. "Artists Encounter The Samaritans." Images: A Journal of Jewish Art and Visual Culture
2022 Rachel Musleah. "Holy Sparks." Hadassah Magazine
2018 Ori Z. Soltes. Modern Jewish Art. Brill Press
2021 Arnoud Boerwinkel. "Als een pilgrim langs Amsterdam's Kruis Staties." Omnes Magazine
2020 Joanne Palmer. "Art as food for the soul." Jewish Standard
2019 Victoria Emily Jones. "Walking the Via Dolorosa through Amsterdam." Art & Theology
2019 Edo Dijksterhuis. "Om bij stil te zijn: lijden van deze tijd." Het Parool
2019 Joan Baum. "Hope Challenges Hate Speech." The Independent
2019 Shira Hanau. "Art At The Heart Of Stanton St. Revival." NY Jewish Week
2018 Sandee Brawarsky. "Echoes Then And Now." NY Jewish Week
2018 Abigail Klein-Leichman. "How to be a vegan Jewish artist." NJ Jewish Standard
2018 Leah Finkelshteyn. "New Art Exhibit Highlights Increasing Invisibility of Women in Jewish Media." NY Jewish Week
2018 Aaron Herman. "Jewish Comic Con Comes To Brooklyn." NY Jewish Week
2017 "The Book of Yona — The Art of Yona Verwer." Contact Magazine, Steinhardt Foundation
2017 Jessica Steinberg. "A watershed moment for artists at the Jerusalem Biennale." Times of Israel
2016 Joel Silverstein. "Layering History And Spontaneous Expression." NY Jewish Week
2016 Anca L. Szilagyi. "Art After Auschwitz." Jewish in Seattle
2015 Lindsey Smith. "LES Artists Still Looking Quirky and Funky at This New Exhibit." Bedford + Bowery
2014 S. Brent Plate. "Religion Is Alive and Well In Contemporary Art." Huffington Post
2014 Mirta Kupferminc. "Artist Q, Artist A: Yona Verwer Talks to Mirta Kupferminc." Zeek
2014 Basya Schechter, S. Bear Bergman, and Yona Verwer. "The Self and Creativity." Sh'ma Journal
2014 Ken Goldman. "Artist Q, Artist A: Yona Verwer Talks to Ken Goldman." Zeek
2014 Meredith Ganzman. "Faith & Form." The Jewish Channel TV
2014 Gloria Kestenbaum. "Anne Frank and her Disciples." NY Jewish Week
2013 Aaron Rosen. "United (Jewish) Artists." Hadassah Magazine
2013 Caroline Lagnado. "Two Artists Address Difficult Issues in Tribeca Exhibit." NY Jewish Week
2013 Julian Voloj. "Successful Artists Network." Tachles
2013 Gloria Kestenbaum. "The Eruv: Staying Within Bounds." NY Jewish Week
2013 Yael Roberts. "A Model for Change: The Eruv as Art." The Commentator
2013 Richard McBee. "It's a Thin Line — The Eruv and Jewish Community in New York and beyond." Jewish Press
2012 Matthew Baigell. "Social Concern and Tikkun Olam in Jewish American Art." Ars Judaica
2012 Deborah Hirsch. "Hillel Displays Slavery / Holocaust Art." Jewish Exponent
2011 Richard McBee. "Terror: Artists Respond." Jewish Press
2010 Ori Z. Soltes. "Slavery and the Holocaust." Zeek
2009 Matthew Baigell. "Contemporary Jewish Art: A Short Review." Art Criticism 24, no. 2
2009 Richard McBee. "The Prayer of the Orchard St Shul." Jewish Press
2009 Yona Verwer. "The Kabbalah of Bling." Sh'ma Magazine
2009 Julian Voloj. "Yona Verwer at C.H.A.P." 2Life Magazine
2009 Menachem Wecker. "The Amulet, the Temple, the Disfigured Book, and the Butterflies." Jewish Press
2007 Menachem Wecker. "Yona Verwer." Iconia
2007 Clem Richardson. "Charms of New York in her Art." NY Daily News
2005 Sarah Kricheff. "Modern Amulets." The Forward
2002 Boris Fishman. "Goings on about Town — Yona Verwer." The New Yorker
2002 Zack Berger. "Yona Verwer and her paintings of the Urim & Tumim." The Forward
2002 Richard McBee. "Yona Verwer's Urim & Tumim." Jewish Press
1990 William Zimmer. "Sculpture Dominates in Annual Show of Emerging Artists." The New York Times
1990 Reineke Hollander. "The Real and the Faux Work of Yona Verwer." NRC Handelsblad (July
SELECTED PUBLIC PROJECTS
2022 MC Hotel, Montclair, NJ
2014 Draftsmen's Congress Mural, The New Museum, New York
2007 7 Days Mural, S.A.R. High School, Bronx, NY
SELECTED AWARDS & HONORS
2024 Fellowship Grant, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, New York, USA
2014 Artist Residency, The New Museum with A.K. International Residency, New York, USA
2007 Artist Residency, Makor / Steinhardt Center, New York, USA
2006–07 Artist Residency, S.A.R., Bronx, NY, USA
2005 Artist Residency, Skirball Center, New York, USA
2005 Artist Residency, Makor / Steinhardt Center, New York, USA
1990 Artist Residency, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY, USA
1989–91 Studio Program Residency, PS 122, New York, USA
SELECTED ARTIST TALKS
2026 "Heritage" with Matthew Baigell, Heller Museum, New York, USA
2026 "Global Faith Forum" presentation, Washington Hilton, Washington, DC, USA
2025 Panel Discussion, Fallout Exhibition, Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2024 "Art & Activism," Osher Marin JCC, San Rafael, CA, USA
2023 "The Role of the Feminine in the Secular and the Sacred" (moderator), The Interchurch Center, New York, USA
2022 "Holy Sparks - 50 Years of Women in the Rabbinate," Jewish Art Salon, New York, USA
2021 "Museum Moment -Tu B'Shevat,", Jewish Museum Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI,
2021 "Blood, Fire and Pillars of Smoke," with Mark Podwal and Cynthia Beth Rubin, Jewish Art Salon, New York, USA
2019 "Spinoza in our Time", 92nd Street Y, New York, USA
2019 "Today's Jewish Art: How Contemporary Artists are Revolutionizing the Art World," Suffolk Y JCC, Commack, NY, USA
2016 Artist Talk with Cynthia Beth Rubin, Koslowe Gallery, Mamaroneck, NY, USA
2015 "Blue Like Me" (moderator), The American Sephardi Federation, New York, USA
2015 "New York / New Work," Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, Israel
2014 Artist in Residence, The Equity Project Charter School, New York, USA
2013 Curator's Talk with Zachary Paul Levine, YU Museum, New York, USA
2013 "It's a Thin Line" panel, YU Museum, New York, USA
2012 "Narrative Art" panel, Columbia / Barnard Kraft Center, New York, USA
2012 "Radical Art and Community," Limmud NY, USA
2011 "Dutch Jewish Art Today," The Jewish Museum, New York, USA
2011 "Jewish Diversity in Art" (moderator), JCC Manhattan, New York, USA
2011 "Dura Europos: Then and Now," YU Museum, New York, USA
2011 "A new creative spirit" Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art / CAJM Conference, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2009 Lower Manhattan Arts Academy, New York, USA
2009 "Tzelem," with Tobi Kahn, Joel Silverstein, and Richard McBee, 14th Street Y, New York, USA
2009 Jewish Art Salon, 14th Street Y, New York, USA
2009 "Tzelem: Likeness and Presence in Jewish Art," Stanton Street Projects, New York, USA
2007 "Made in the USA," Educational Alliance, New York, USA
2005 "Wandering," Makor / Steinhardt Center, New York, USA
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Mizel Museum, Denver, CO, USA
Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
EDUCATION
MFA, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, The Netherlands
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Executive Board Chair, Jewish Art Salon
Member, New York Artists Circle
Member, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance
Affiliated Program Advisor, Day Eight
Advisory Board, Global Jewry
Advisory Board, Havurah
Advisory Board, Observant Artists Community Circle