Elee Koplow, 61, a ceramicist who brought a whimsical touch to ceremonial chalices, menorahs, and other forms of Judaica, died of cancer Tuesday in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Ms. Koplow's art was both respectful and fun. She created bold-colored goblets for ceremonial occasions, apple and honey sets for Rosh Hashana, even a ceramic chorus line of potato pancakes -- the traditional Hanukkah food -- that she called "The Latke-ettes."

"To be a contemporary artist, bringing Judaica into the times is a responsibility," she told the Jewish Advocate, a local paper, in 1997. "To create a new ceremonial object is an honor."

Ms. Koplow, who was born in Brookline, knew she wanted to be an artist from the age of 5. "She was always drawing and doodling," said her brother, James of Brookline.

Her homes were filled with scraps of paper. "She'd see something, doodle it, and sometimes, maybe five years later, she'd use it to produce a work of art," he said. "Now we have a lot of scraps of paper that will never be art. "

Ms. Koplow first became interested in sculpting while attending Syracuse University. She created a couple of large-scale steel works there after getting a job in a muffler shop to learn how to handle welding equipment, but she soon turned to painting and ceramics.

After earning a bachelor's degree she traveled to Mexico, where she lived and studied for three years and earned a master's degree from the Institute Allende. She also did post-graduate work at Radcliffe College and the School of the Museum of Fine Art.

She lived for several years in Jerusalem, where she created a series of paintings of the Wailing Wall, and in Los Angeles, where she made a series of paintings of waitresses and patrons at Canter's Deli in the predominantly Jewish section of the city.

"Wherever she went, she lived in the city's poorest neighborhood and mixed right in," said her brother. "She didn't like crowds, but she would talk to anybody one on one.

"She was sensitive to everything and everybody," he said, "and always saw life in a humorous way."

Ms. Koplow liked to work at night, "because it was quiet and people didn't bother her," said her brother. "When she was involved in a project, she sometimes wouldn't come home for days."

Ms. Koplow had a studio at Mudflat and also taught at the facility. "She didn't like to teach," said her brother. "She wanted to be an artist, not a teacher, but then she came up with the idea of teaching parent/child classes . . . and she loved it."

The classes usually consisted of a 5- or 6-year-old teamed with a parent or other adult. "She was an imaginative teacher, who got kids to do some fabulous things," said Gervens. "She had a classroom where anything goes. If a child wanted to put glitter on a piece, that was fine."

Ms. Koplow's home in Brookline and her summer place in Hull were impromptu art galleries, where visitors often bought pieces off the walls and shelves. In Hull, she and her family kept a vegetable garden. "Every vegetable that came into the house, she'd say, `Don't eat it; I'll draw it," said her brother. "Whatever life was in front of her, she ingested and turned it into art."

In addition to her brother, she leaves her mother, Julia Koplow, and another brother, Edward, both of Brookline.

A funeral will be held at 1:30 p.m. today in Levine Chapels in Brookline. Burial will be in Adath Jeshurun Cemetery in West Roxbury.