Shavuot 5786
When Penny Nisson is in synagogue, she prays with the words in the siddur and the melodies of the liturgy.
When she is in her art studio, she prays with her paintbrush.
Nisson is a spiritual person who loves and lives Judaism. She and her husband Perry incorporate Jewish ritual into their home and they are regulars at East Denver Orthodox Synagogue. Penny Nisson sits in the front at shul, reading, reciting and hearing the words of prayer.
Those prayerful thoughts stay with her as she puts paintbrush to canvas, where the words of prayer are transformed into carefully curated colorful and soothing images, which she hopes will evoke feelings of spirituality in those who view them.
The inspiration for Nisson’s most recent homage to Jewish liturgy came to her in shul last year during Passover when, per tradition, Shir Ha-Shirim — Song of Songs — was being read.
Song of Songs is one of the books in the Ketuvim, the Writings portion of the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible. Song of Songs is a romantic poempenned by King Solomon.
“For Whom My Heart Sings” is a 16” x 20” acrylic, metallic pen and watercolor pencil on paperboard work, bursting with color, evoking imagery of the Garden of Eden.
Nisson recalls when the inspiration hit her: “I’m reading the verses. I’m looking at the English, and I go, ‘oh my gosh, it’s about love!’ . . . I love that concept. Love can be related to anybody.”
She had a book about Song of Songs in her personal collection. “It was a rectangular book with rectangular pictures by artists from Israel, depicting the story of the Song of Songs with Hebrew and English — all the verses.”
Previously, Nisson was painting on canvas, but decided she wanted to paint on a different surface, so she reclaimed some paperboard she had had left over from the ‘90s. This enabled her to give the piece some dimension by painting on smaller cutout rectangles strategically glued to the larger painting.
Nisson took natural elements from Song of Songs, such as roses, lilies, honeycomb, myrrh, figs and an apple tree. The centerpiece of the painting is an apple tree, a nod to the Tree of Life.
Nisson challenged herself to paint things she had never done before, such as the honeycomb.
“It wasn’t easy, but I just kept feeling Hashem was, in a way, with me, as I was expressing my love for Hashem, my love for being a Jewish person.”
She also depicted the earth and the universe behind the apple tree, as well as the seven-branch menorah, “also very representational of Jews.”
Nisson knew she wanted a disk in the center of the piece, but was stumped on what do with it until the very end of the process.
“My husband Perry comes home on a random Shabbos and says, ‘You gotta go outside and look at the moon.’
“We go outside and it’s a new moon with a Cheshire cat smile right on the bottom of the moon. You don’t often see that, and that moment was so surreal. I said, ‘That’s gorgeous. The moon is smiling at us,’ and I didn’t think of it again.
“The next day at synagogue, I’m sitting up front with no one in front of me, looking at the wood paneling. That moon and that empty disk popped into my head, and I thought, ‘Rosh Chodesh and the new moon,’ and I knew that had to be the central focus of the painting.”
The name of the work, “For Whom My Heart Sings” is a nod to a line in the first chapter of Song of Songs: “For thou whom my soul loves.”
Nisson is a Denver native, daughter of the late Helen and Gene Eisen and granddaughter of the late Hil and Ida Templhof. Art was always a part of her life as her mother was a talented artist who took classes at Emily Griffith Opportunity School and at the JCC. Helen Eisen made jewelry, stained glass and painted with water colors and oils.
But Nisson herself never took an art class. Her technique is all self-taught.
In 1991, on a dare, she took a chance and applied to show her work at the first Cherry Creek Art Festival, and, much to her surprise, she was accepted.
An educator at heart, Nisson channeled her interest in art into a 27-year career as the director of education at the Mizel Museum.
There she was in contact with a closeknit group of artists who, when the Mizel Museum closed and Nisson retired, organized themselves as the Interactive Artists Group and set up shop at the Staenberg-Loup JCC.
That is when Nisson reinvented herself as a serious artist and joined the group.
The Interactive Artists Group members paint weekly in a shared workspace in the JCC, guided by art instructor Boris Shoshensky.
Their collaboration culminates in the annual show which ran April 23-May 6 in the JCC MACC’s Mizel Gallery.
“For Whom My Heart Sings” was the centerpiece of the display of Nisson’s work at the show.
Nisson’s corner of the exhibit hall included her “Heritage” series of six reproductions of 16” x 20” acrylic and mixed media on canvas depictions of Torah-inspired imagery and concepts.
She incorporates various Biblical elements such as the dove of peace holding the olive branch, grapevines, swallows, finches, hummingbirds, butterflies, musical notes, trees, flowers and fruits.
In the “Heritage” series, Nisson uses joyful colors and meaningful patters such as a tessellation pattern of hexagons that form stars of David to create ethereal depictions of the spiritual connections that came to her while sitting in shul.
“I really want my work to be joyful, because I’m a joyful person,” Nisson says.
This year’s show may be done, but Nisson is not: “Next up — Hallel. I was reading the psalms of Hallel on Passover and the imagery of the splitting of the sea spoke to me.”
© IJN 2026
