Hi, my name is Betsey Fiddler.
For close to thirty years, I have been creating Jewish art that tells stories. Many in the Chicago community may remember me as the “Mezuzah Lady”. For years, I visited schools, synagogues, and homes to host mezuzah-making workshops with children. My own work has been seen and sold in the Spurtas Museum, Blue Moon Gallery, and I have been a mainstay at the Great Chicago Jewish Festival for over 20 years. My mezuzos adorned all the doorways at Solomon Schechter Day School in Skokie. Custom commissions of mine can be found in many Jewish homes across the country.
My growth as a ceramic artist can be likened to my own journey with Judaism. Growing up in a small town in Indiana, I’d always felt something was lacking in my life. It was a dull ache that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. But when I was 19, I came to visit my sister in Chicago and moved there within the year. This was my first real exposure to Judaism. I was instantly curious, and as I learned more and more, I could feel my relationship with HaShem grow stronger. I studied for two years before I made an Orthodox conversion. That dull ache I’d felt growing up was soothed, and I’d felt like my life had really begun. Two years later, I married my husband Joe, and have since raised four kids. Now I am the proud grandmother of six kids (with more on the way!).
As my life blossoms with HaShem’s blessings, so too does my growth as an artist. I began with a modest polymer clay, but now I work with stoneware and porcelain, employing a wide range of wheel-throwing, hand-building, glazing, and firing techniques.