| I am currently expanding the areas of my Judaic art to include the creative reconceptualization of Jewish space. I have worked with synagogues, museums, camps, schools, and Hillel foundations, to imagine what exciting results we can achieve by exploring the nexus between community, programming, education, spirituality, art and space, rather than considering each of these as separate realms.
This is not a matter of simply making murals, sculpture or objects for decoration; it is not conventional interior design. As someone recently commented to me, "There is really no name for what you are doing!" I suspect the reason for this is that usually there is a fairly limited interaction between institutions and artists. Typically an artist is summoned to decorate a wall with a tapestry or mural, design a stained glass window, or install a sculpture in a vacant corner. The artist is chosen based on her style and tries to do "something on a Jewish theme".
In contrast, I consider the institution itself as a canvas. The building is but one aspect of this. I try to thoroughly understand the goals, the activities and the dreams of an institution. I want to know where it is successful and where it sees its deficiencies. I may spend up to a week speaking with everyone associated with the institution and carefully watching and participating in its daily life.
I then take all that have learned, experienced and felt, and create innovative, meaningful, sometimes challenging and beautiful solutions that express how the building’s total environment can truly further its objectives. Just as the building’s staff, programming, donors, boards, and advisors should actively and continually contribute directly to the actualization of the goals of the institution, so too should the building itself. I seek to imagine the building not as the quarters in which the institution goes about its business, but as an active participant and engaging partner in institutional life.
I have been stunned at how immediately and intuitively those who hear about my work understand it, appreciate it and want it. Time after time, in a meeting of a few hours, a committee, planner, or architect significantly rethinks how they are going about their project.
I'm pleased to take some credit for this, but I think a lot has to do with the realization that to turn a major building project from a beautiful structure to a meaningful one isn't about throwing money at it. My contribution typically adds but a tiny proportion to the overall budget (and often saves money), but this minute fraction can be a catalyst: a small drop of meaning, thoughtfully applied, can drastically change the entire tenor of the whole structure. I vividly remember that during one of my proposal presentations the major donor just kept shaking her head and saying, "He's giving us so much for so little cost."
For me, a project really works when each element in it resonates with what is meant to be happening there. Whether I am looking at a new construction project, something that has already been designed but not built, or an existing structure, I seek to infuse each one with a vibrant Jewish spirit that speaks to the particular organization's vision. As one of my clients recently commented to me: "You put the soul into the building!"
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