Ita Aber

Background

Ita Aber was born in Montreal, Canada in 1932. Her first exposure to feminism was by her grandmother, an early suffragette in Canada, and her mother, who founded the Milk Fund of Canada.

Education

For college, Aber attended Empire State College and obtained a Master of Arts in Jewish art.

Career

In 1964, Aber became politically active, specifically in the Reform Democratic movement. Through her early political involvement, she sought to abolish laws in New York restricting abortion. She'd help found Women Strike for Peace, and also became active in the environmental movement, speaking out against the pollution in the Hudson River.

At this time, she also became active in equal rights activism, minority and elder rights. Starting in 1972, she taught needlework at the Jewish Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum and other venues throughout the east coast. With her teaching and the founding of the Pomegranate Guild, Aber has sought to encourage women to show their womanhood through their artwork, and to learn how to respect themselves through their artistic efforts.

Aber's artistic-related archives are held at the Archives of American Art, with other archival collections being held by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Her family's papers are held at Yeshiva University. 2001 "55 Year Retrospective Exhibition", Broome Street Gallery2007 Yeshiva University museum.

Works

• Other Work

  • The art of Judaic needlework: traditional and contemporary designs, Scribner, 1979,

  • Art of Judaic Needlepoint, Simon & Schuster, 1982, Ita H. Aber, Frann S. Addison, Katya Apekina, Beverly Auerbach, Tradition today: modern Judaica and folk art, Jewish Arts Foundation, 1990.

Membership

Aber would go on to become a founding member of the New York Feminist Art Institute and would also found the Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework.