Jane Trigere on Switching Gears
Jane Trigere, 64
South Deerfield, Mass.
Job: Textile artist and community volunteer
Previously: Director of the Hatikvah Holocaust Education and Resource Center in Springfield, Mass., now closed.
After leading the Hatikvah Center from 1997 to 2000, Trigere earned a master’s degree but was unable to find another job in the museum/arts administration field. She has been making art and doing volunteer work instead, including establishing the Jewish Historical Society of Western Massachusetts.
Why change? “It had to do with a sense of doing the right thing, which tripped me up. It was a mistake to leave the Hatikvah Center. I told the people who hired me, I’m really not trained in Holocaust education. But I had a wonderful time doing it and it was very successful. I was not clever enough about how to negotiate better circumstances for myself. Instead I thought, ‘somebody else who has the proper training should do this.’”
Proper training: “After leaving my job at Hatikvah, I entered the master’s program in Jewish art and visual culture at the Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan. It was exhilarating. At the end, I thought, ‘I’m going to find a job and repay the loan in no time flat.’ I applied for a bunch of jobs. I only got two interviews.”
Financial effects: “We live a very simple, happy life. We live off the income of my husband, a Jewish book dealer, in an old firehouse. We live upstairs and the books are downstairs.”
Seeking an outlet: “It’s hard to swallow that nobody wants the skill sets that I have. My husband says, ‘You’re one of the most creative people I’ve ever known. I’m so sorry you don’t have a place to put it.’ I have to make a decision about whether to be happy with my lot. I am. But there is a wistfulness. It used to be a resentment. Now it’s just like, I wish I could have done a little more.”
Becoming an artist: “During all of this, I started making art. Suddenly people asked to borrow my art for exhibitions. There was one at Hebrew Union College that got a lot of press. Recently I had a show at a synagogue in Amherst. All without, frankly, too much effort. It was like, whoa, suddenly I’m an artist. But it hasn’t resulted in any income yet.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!