Portrait of My Father

Caption "In the spring of 2006 the Jewish Federation of Rochester NY offered me a wonderful opportunity to create a public work of art in the city of Mod'im. The work was to be created in a public space and then to be permanently exhibited in the new Arts and Cultural Center which, at the time, was in the process of being built. Because my collage/paintings take me such a long time to create, I decided to begin the work in the fall in my studio in the US and then ship it over to be completed in Mod'im in January. The end of August my father died suddenly. I was to begin the work on the collage in September. I remember sitting in my studio wondering how I would ever be able to feel creative again. Then it came to me, this work of art would be about him, a celebration of my father. Since Modi'im is where the original story of Hanukkah took place, I thought that would be an appropriate theme. I would create a portrait of my father in the piece and I would use the fabrics from his clothes to create his portrait. From the moment that I began this work the I found the concept of it to be deeply healing. My father was a writer and the fact that his portrait would be exhibited in a beautiful public space in Israel that glorifies the arts was incredibly important to me and to my family." From the artist, via eMail, on 5/4/10