UTW 57

Life & Death in the Ghetto

Art begun August 2005, completed summer 2006.
Media: Mosaic - drawing combo.
Size: Six feet high x 3 ft. wide

The drawing, in ink, gouache and colored pencils, is sealed-in under plexiglass. The mosaic is made from colored glass and ceramic plates, bowls and cups. The drawing is conservation protected with plexiglass.

I’m frequently asked “how long did this take to make?” I prepared the paper for the drawing in mid-December 2010 and began pencil drawing on  Dec 25th, 2010. The drawing was completed January 2011.

The frame for the mosaic was constructed in July 2011; the mosaic work began August 1, 2011 and completed December 2011.

The drawing changed from a planned black and white for the work to an unplanned color drawing after I knocked over a bottle of black India ink on the drawing. See this 2 min., 21 sec video about the accident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSyp9fz5uzg

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The two children were drawn from a photo I saw in the book Seis millones de veces, pub. by the Republica Argentina Ministerio del Interior; the photo is published in The 45th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, pub. by Interpress, Warsaw, 1988.  

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The painted sections with Hebrew writing (above and below the drawing of the children); and the Torah crown drawn at top inside the Star of David shaped wood frame section were inspired by black & white photos seen in the book Time of Stones, photography by Monika Krajewska, published by Interpress, Warsaw, 1983.

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The broken candlesticks and bird imagery depicted in lower right of the mosaic were inspired by a photo of a Polish Jewish gravestone in the town of Szydłowiec. The source photo of the gravestone is a photo taken by Polish photographer Monika Krajewska, also seen in the book Time of Stones.

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According to Wikipedia, “Szydłowiec also had a strong Jewish community until World War II. At one point it had a population that was of a Jewish majority. It was home to Grand Rabbi Nathan David Rabinowitz (d. 1865), the grandson of Grand Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak of Peshischa, and the father of the Biala Hasidic dynasty."

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Installation info for exhibits: At the exhibit of select (A.K. Segan) human rights & Holocaust art, Seattle Central College, 2013, the mosaic-drawing was installed on two cinder blocks.