RECEPTION for The Stars of David Project

By Jen Lewis

EXHIBIT DATES
March 13 - April 10, 2026

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT

The Stars of David Project is the artist’s attempt to give form to absence. It is a work born out of grief, memory, and responsibility: six million hand-drawn Stars of David, each one representing a Jewish life taken during the Holocaust.

The number six million is both overwhelming and abstract. It is recited in books, museums, and classrooms, but the human weight of that number is nearly impossible to hold. By drawing each star, artist Jen Lewis insists on slowing down to acknowledge every single life. Each star is imperfect, each one slightly different, and each one created with intention, because each person was singular, irreplaceable, and part of the Jewish story that continues to shape us.

This project began as a personal act of remembrance, but it quickly took on a broader urgency. In the aftermath of October 7, 2023, and with antisemitism resurging in the United States and around the world, the artist was compelled to respond. The act of drawing millions of stars is both devotional and defiant: it is a prayer, a witness, a protest, and a love.

The installation itself will eventually encompass 300 sheets of 11x17 Bristol board mounted on an aluminum board, each one densely covered with 20,000 stars. When assembled, the work surrounds the viewer with the enormity of loss. This exhibit offers not just a visual experience, but a space for reflection, mourning, and resilience.

Lewis creates this work not only for Jewish audiences but for anyone who seeks to confront history and consider its echoes in the present. The Stars of David Project is both a memorial and a warning. It serves as a reminder of what was lost and a call to vigilance in the face of hatred.

The artist’s hope is that this project transforms the incomprehensible into the personal; that the stars become more than marks on a page, and that each one restores, if only symbolically, the dignity of a life extinguished. Through this work, Lewis aims to ensure that the Holocaust is not forgotten and that the six million are remembered not as a statistic, but as six million human souls worthy of remembering.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jen Lewis is a mixed-media artist whose work bridges memory, identity, and meticulous craft. Based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Jen creates art that invites deep reflection and emotional engagement. She is currently focused on two distinct bodies of work: The Stars of David Project and her vibrant quilled paper compositions.

The Stars of David Project is a profoundly personal and expansive undertaking that addresses the human scale of the Holocaust. Inspired by learning that her second great-grandmother perished in the Łódź Ghetto, Jen began visualizing the enormity of loss through the repeated drawing of the Star of David, a universal symbol of Jewish identity, resilience, and remembrance. Each hand-drawn star represents a life taken, creating a visual tribute to the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah. This body of work not only honors individual stories but also fosters space for reflection, connection, and collective memory.

In contrast, Jen’s quilled paper works celebrate color, pattern, and meditative process. Using a centuries-old technique of tightly rolling and arranging strips of colored paper, she constructs lush scenes and abstract compositions that evoke dream-like landscapes and emotional resonance. The tactile nature of quilling reflects Jen’s devotion to both disciplined technique and imaginative expression.

Jen’s art is informed by both personal history and a broader commitment to community. She works from her home studio in Chattanooga with her husband, Rabbi Craig Lewis, their son, two English Bulldogs, and two cats. In addition to her studio practice, Jen directs a nonprofit arts organization; the Association of Visual Arts, serving local artists and leads a religious school program for the Jewish community.

Her work has been shown in regional exhibitions and continues to evolve as she explores the connective power of art to commemorate, heal, and inspire.