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Making Art, Growing Food, Nourishing aaa
Community: New Video of the PUCC Mural
Coren
Celebrating 10 Years !
‘Taube Hillel House at
Stanford Celebrates
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Bay Area Museums and
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The Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture is proud to share
this new video on the creation of the beautiful community mural at eA
the Peninsula Jewish Community Center. Below the link, please find ‘Satay
a description of the remarkable process,
Warsaw Judaica
Design Team
Making Art, Growing Food, Nourishing Community: The PJCC Mural Discovers Pre-War
Mezuzah Scroll
"Art isthe expression of the humen soul. This mural and its etistic elements are an
expression of the Jewish soul, and that's what we celebrate." Tad Taube, Chairman, Taube
“All of @ sudden, everyone became an artist,” remarked cultural arts diractor Kimberly F Symphony san reancis
Gordon, speaking about the 745 members of the PJCC community, ages 3 to 90, who :
helped create the vibrant "Grow Justice" wall mural in the center’s Hamlin garden during Itzhak Periman
July-October 2013. The mural is part of a larger initiative, Grow Justice: Fight Hunger, pakeme ae
Symphony in honor of
Centred on delivering organic produce frm the PICC's Justice Gardon io horelass POU rend Opening
residents of San Mateo County. The Justice Garden has provided 627 pounds of food to
the InnVision Shelter Network since its inception in April 2019. Ithas also provided the
* year-round programming for children and families centered around Jewish values Da allAccording to the PJCC's Rabbi Lavey Derby, the garden sparked the idea for the mural
“We decided to build a garden in our courtyard out of a desire to grown organic produce
that would feed the hungry of our community. The ides of the mural came as a secondary
thought, as a way of beautifying the space, and not only beautifying the space, but
‘sanctfying the space. We wanted the mural to address the issue of justice, which was at
the very heart of our garden project.”
Before the mural, recalled Gordon, the enormous cement wall was blank and the potential
‘community use of the space was not yet realized, “We really wanted to add a new vitality
‘and to repurpose this space in an active way. For eight years the wall had nothing, and
people didn't spend time in this courtyard. With the Grow Justice Mural and Garden we've
revitalized a central point on our campus with an active, participatory mission driven
initiative. The garden and the mural go hand in hand as we develop curriculum for tours,
‘school groups and other programs.”
‘As their Arist in-Residence for the mural project, the PJCC engaged Baltimore-based Jay
Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen to bring to the project his 40 years of experience working with
cut-out images in layered glass, paper, and canvas. Schlossberg-Cohen, whose work has
touched the world from China to the White House, also collaborated with PJCC.
preschoolers to create a mural for the preschool. A valued addition to the team was E.
Blaise DePaolo, also of Baltimore, a respected university professor and artist for more than
30 years, who served as the project's lead ceramicist. Both Jay and Blaise are part of
Robuilding thru Art Project, Inc. (RAP) that ignites community engagement, empoworment,
‘and action through art.
“Part of what makes this project so special is working with Jay," said Gordon, nating the
artist's background in community-driven projects for Jewish day schools, synagogues, and
Jnner-city organizations in Baltimore. "He has the same ease and charisma with 3-year-
‘lds as he has with 90-year-lds.”
Last July, Schlossberg-Gohen spent 2 week in sessions with PIGC community members,
Including kids at summer camp, preschoolers, families, and staf. Working with Gordon and
Rabbi Lavey Derby, the artist guided the over 400 participants through a series of seven
text-centered workshops. They were asked to contribute words, stories, and images to
Which everyone, Jewish and non-Jewish, could feel personally connected.
\With an overall focus on “Justi, justice, shall you pursue from Deuteronomy, the
participants zerced in on four sub-themes: food justice, environmental stewardship, human
dignity, and economic justice. "We realized we had a real leering opportunity,” sald
‘Gordon. “So many d'varim Torah [Bible lessons] are informed and reflected inthis work of
an”
‘The workshops, noted Schiossberg-Cohen, “allowed the message to come from the
‘community itso.” He added, “If | held these workshops at a different place, or ata different
time, the message would be completely different. The project is unique, because team-
bbullding and promoting understanding are as important as the end-product. | have never
‘seen as diverse a JCC community as at the PJCC. The message of the mural is an
accessible social justice statement, examining how we treat the earth and how we treat
‘each other through a Jewish lens. We have made @ positive difference using the skills that
‘we've been given and strengthening them to strengthen others; there is nothing greater in
Judaism than that."
«@) PODCASTS
Dr. Samuel Kassow on
Emanuel Ringelblum
‘and the Oyneg
‘Shabbes Archives
{)Tad Taube on
Philanthropy and the
Rebirth of Jewish Life
in Poland
{§) Barbara Kirshenblatt-
Gimbiett on the
Museum of the History
of Polish Jews
{GJ Chief Rabbi Michael
‘Schudrich on Building
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in Poland
{)Konstanty Gebert on
Rebuilding Democracy
‘and Jewish Culture in
Poland‘The groups cut their concepts into collage piaces for Schlossberg-Cohen to use in
sketching and designing the mural back in Baltimore, while E. Blaise DePaclo worked on
complementary ceramic sections with a team of assistants at Morgan State University
Schlossberg-Cohen says he motivates people by encouraging them to reject the feeling
that they can't do it. “So many people have been told at some point that they can’t draw,
that they are not artists. Not everyone is an artist, but everyone has creativity and can
Contribute. | held a talk at the JCC for a group of elderly people, and before the talk, the
Staff told me that they wouldn't be doing any painting, After my talk, all of a sudden, they
said, ‘Let's go, we're ready to paint.
In October, the stunning work of art, 127 feet long and 12 feet tall and covering 1,560
square feet, was installed and painted over a two-week period by hundreds of amateur
muralists of all ages. Participants related the social justice topics to themes in their own
lives and produced vignettes depicting “what that memory was for them, or their hope for
the future.” The PJCC held approximately 20 scheduled painting sessions for 28 groups,
Including groups from the Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School, the PICC Treehouse
after-school program, two groups of older adults, and volunteers from Oracle. Several
drop-in painting sessions enabled community members to pick up a brush and add thelr
personal touches to the special creation.
More than 125 people celebrated the murals grand unveiling on October 20, 2013, at the
PJCC's Fall Harvest Festival and Community Mural Celebration. Among them were Tad
‘Taube and Shana Penn, Chairman and Executive Director respectively of the Taube
Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture, whose opening remarks praised the mural's
reflection of the power of Jewish peoplehood. According to Taube, “Art is the expression of
the human soul. This mural and its artistic elements are an expression of the Jewish soul,
and that's what we celebrate."
In January 2014, the PJCC received the JCC Association Zahav Award for excellence and
Jewish impact for the “Grow Justice” mural and garden project. The mural has received
widespread media attention in addition to an influx of visitors (Including Sen. Jerry vil). It
has been the subject of two articles in the JWeekly and was featured in the San Jose.
Mercury News. It will also be the focus of an upcoming feature in the JCC Circle this
spring.
HE
For images of the mural, from start to completion, please contact Vera Hannush at the
‘Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture, vhannush@taubephilanthroples org.