ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: Noam Sienna
Scholar/Artist-in-Residence, Centre for Jewish Studies
November 17-21, 2025
Dr. Noam Sienna is a scribe, calligrapher, print artist, and scholar of Jewish book culture.
He is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto, researching Jewish book cultures in the medieval and early modern Islamic worlds. His first monograph, Jewish Books in North Africa: Between the Early Modern and Modern Worlds, was published earlier this year. He is currently working on a socio-bibliographic study of the first Hebrew press in the Ottoman Empire. He is also a practicing book artist whose work brings together historical and contemporary expressions of Jewish visual and textual culture, focusing on reviving and preserving traditions of Hebrew calligraphy and Jewish letterpress printing.
Monday, Nov. 17
7:00 鈥� 8:30 pm
Hands-on workshop: Introduction to Hebrew Calligraphy
Shaar Shalom Congregation
1981 Oxford St, Halifax
Learn about the development of Hebrew letter forms and try your hand at Hebrew calligraphy with an expert guide. Materials will be provided. Please RSVP at jewish.studies@dal.ca.
Tuesday, Nov. 18
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Academic lecture: 鈥楶rinted in Ishmael鈥檚 Realm鈥�: The Theology of Jewish Printing in Ottoman Constantinople
Classics Library, Marion McCain Building 1184
6135 University Ave, Halifax
Lunch will be served
Within two years of the Expulsion from Spain, a family of Sephardi exiles in Ottoman Constantinople had established a printing press, which produced the first book known to have been printed with moveable type in the Islamic world: the Arba鈥檃 Turim (Istanbul, 1493). The Ibn Nahmias family and their collaborators continued to print books for the following four decades, creating an invaluable window into the experience of Sephardi Jewish life in the Ottoman Empire in the first half of the sixteenth century. In this presentation, Dr. Sienna explores the work of the Ibn Nahmias press in Constantinople, surveying not only the content of the books they produced, but also the significance of their physical and visual forms, as windows into the connections and transformations of Mediterranean Sephardi communities between the Iberian peninsula, Italy, North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire. Focusing on the role of printing in the religious and social transformations of the early modern world, this presentation will offer a glimpse into the unique atmosphere of an early modern Jewish print house in the Islamic world.
5:00-7:00 pm
Reception: The Third Century of Hebrew at King鈥檚 and 黄色直播
The HMCS King鈥檚 Wardroom
6350 Coburg Rd, Halifax
Join 黄色直播 faculty and special guest Dr. Noam Sienna for drinks, kosher appetizers, and door prizes to celebrate the third century of instruction in Classical Hebrew 鈥� and to envision its future. We will announce new scholarships, celebrate our students鈥� achievements with Dr. Christopher Grundke, hear from faculty experts about the importance and fascination of this language, and give away original Hebrew-themed art!
Please RSVP at jewish.studies@dal.ca.
Wednesday, Nov. 19
11:35 am -12:25 pm
Hands-on workshop: Introduction to Hebrew Calligraphy
Classics Library, Marion McCain Building 1184
6135 University Ave, Halifax
Learn about the development of Hebrew letter forms and try your hand at Hebrew calligraphy with an expert guide. Materials will be provided, but space is limited. Please RSVP at jewish.studies@dal.ca.
Friday, Nov. 21
10:00-11:30 am
Hands-on workshop: Hebrew letterpress printing demonstration
NSCAD, Former Art Bar, 1873 Granville Street, Halifax
Learn about historical Hebrew letterpress printing from one of the world鈥檚 only expert practitioners of this craft, and bring home your own poster printed in Hebrew and English movable type. Open to the public.
Categories
Community Interest, Concerts, Performances & Arts, Exhibits and Displays
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