Enya Keshet

Enya Keshet was born in Pardes Hanna, Israel. As a young woman she moved to Jerusalem, where she studied at the Hebrew University and at Bezalel Academy of Art. After the birth of her three children, she became increasingly interested in Judaic art. Her first experience in paper-cutting was an experimental one, when she created a papercut illustration for a school project her daughter was working on. Her acquaintance with a traditional scribe (sofer) led her to the idea of combining the art of paper cutting with the calligraphy of Megillot (scrolls). Her artwork has evolved extensively from this beginning. Later she moved back to her hometown of Pardes Hanna, where her studio is today.

A significant part of Enya's work is in the style of the Lisbon manuscript workshop, which flourished in Portugal at the end of the15th Century, a workshop which produced the famous Lisbon Bible and many other illuminated manuscripts currently in the collections of major museums in London, Paris, and New York. The art of this workshop was the culmination of the ornamental style that had been developing in Spain and Portugal in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and then, with the expulsion of the Jews from these lands, was abruptly stopped. Enya took on to preserve and continue their style, adding her own art into it, and interpreting it in her personal way. In keeping with this tradition, micrography, or miniature decorative writing, is used along with decorative calligraphy around the main text, sometimes creating shapes and borders. Delicate floral decoration covers areas and forms borders, with gold touches and cut-out, in typical, intricate combinations.

In her newly published illustrated collection of women's prayers, "HADARA, Beauty of Women's Prayer", a limited edition hand-bound book, Enya employs the Lisbon style in intricate and sophisticated levels. Many of her Ketubahs follow the same tradition, in parchment originals, prints and laser-cut designs.

Enya's artwork combines paper cutting with calligraphy and color illumination enhanced by gold leaf, all done by hand on parchment. In addition, Enya has developed a series of laser-cut reproductions of her work, done in paper. Other techniques, such as photo-chemical etching and sand blasting are used to create designs in glass, stone and metal.

Enya has exhibited her work at various shows and Judaica fairs in the United States. Her megillot, ketubahs, and other art pieces are valued by collectors.

Among her many clients are UJC (United Jewish Communities of USA), ADL (Anti Defamation League), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, KKL-JNF, the Jewish Agency, UIA, Intel Israel, Bar Ilan University, galleries in Jerusalem, Tzefat, Tel Aviv, Paris, and in several cities in the US.