The Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Studio, LLC

The Grow Justice Mural - Detail - 1800 sq ft.total, acrylic paint/ceramic on

concrete walls/8 palm tree planters, 2013, Foster City, CA. A RAP project
commissioned by the Peninsula Jewish Community Center and The Taube Foundation
to re-vision an underutilized area which featured The Justice Garden growing food for
the hungry. The theme was based on 4 types of justice - environmental, human
dignity, food and economic. Community members helped create the mural through
my unique community-based public art process. At the design workshops, participants
were given texts that related to Judaisms imperative for justice. In 2 hour workshops
over several days, multi-ethnic groups ranging from 3 - 95 years old translated their
commentary on the justice texts into individual paintings and group collages. I then
reconstructed and reinterpreted their work into the final piece, painting with assistants
and hundreds of volunteers.There were over 750 international participants with roots
in Asia, Central America, Europe, and the USA. The impact of this work is still felt
today. Visitors come from all over the world view the work, guided by Bay Area
docents. Volunteers of all ages tend the garden which produces hundreds of pounds
of food per year.
Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, The Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Studio, LLC

Everyone Deserves to go Home - 3125 sq ft. acrylic paint on parachute cloth ( thin
cotton cloth), affixed to cinder block wall, 2010 Baltimore City.
Commissioned by Health Care for the Homeless, Marylands largest homeless agency.
Over 200 participants including clients, staff, corporate and community volunteers from
around the metro area. As part of HCHs new headquarters, the wall was specifically
designed for this community-based public art project, so commuters heading home from
downtown would be reminded on a daily basis of the need for housing for all. This year
outdoor lighting will be donated so the mural will become an iconic beacon of hope. Ms.
Joyce, poet and HCH homeless client is shown here with her self portrait cut out- the voice
of the community is in the final work. This was a partnership with Rebuilding thru Art
Project, Inc. (RAP).
Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, The Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Studio, LLC

Everyone Deserves to go Home - detail - 3125 sq ft.

acrylic paint on parachute cloth, affixed to cinder block
wall, 2010 Baltimore City. 200 participants. I have led over
50 installations since the 1990s, usually with a social
justice theme or sub-text. This work expresses both the
nightmare of homelessness and the hope for change.
All of my community-based public art begins with the
workshop process- exploring the themes through group
discussions/writings/texts, individual paintings based on
the writings, and then participants work in teams to create
cut-outs based on the theme. The cut-outs replicate my
studio work for a large format. Everyone Deserves to go
Home began with a series of poetry workshops with clients
about the anger and frustration of homelessness.
Community participation continues into the mural making
process, either on a wall, or in groups painting a series of
panels that will then be installed to form the completed
work ( ex- multi-generational volunteers from Lauraville.
The work is not paint by numbers, but always evolving ,
like my studio work. Most importantly, the voice of the
community is in the work.
Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, The Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Studio, LLC

The Performance Panels - 5 panels, each 16 ft h x 5 ft w , acrylic on parachute cloth,

2010, Owings Mills, MD. Part of two major works completed for the International Jewish
Community Center Maccabi Artsfest. As Visual Artist-in -Residence, I worked with 52
participants including 40 teen artists from around the world. In 2005, I was part of the team that
created the Maccabi Artsfest. Inspired by the decades old Maccabi Games, this celebrates Jewish
teens and the arts. We had 3.5 days to meet each other, learn to work as a team while remaining
individual artists, design, prime, mark-out and paint these panels. This was in addition to the
main work, which was 3 large exterior panels, 1000 sq ft., about protecting Earth and the
environment. The Performance Panels were a portrait of their new creative home - the safe and
nurturing haven that is Artsfest, where teen participants can share a spiritual and artistic
camaraderie in a week of master classes. These panels were originally a temporary installation,
and now permanently hang in the auditorium of the Park Heights JCC.
Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, The Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Studio, LLC

Under the Very Same Yellow Sun - Details - 2200 sq ft.total, acrylic paint on cinder
block and drywall, 2012, Baltimore City. Partnership with RAP. Commissioned for
Highlandtown Elementary Middle School by the Baltimore Symphonys OrchKids and Travelers
Insurance. 3 story stairwell mural as a vibrant entrance to the new music rooms. Participants
(from 12 countries) - 32 preschoolers /12 middle school students + 25 interns/ community
volunteers. Through poetry, music and art this mural celebrates culture from home, school as
home away from home, and the unique music of the 12 different home countries of the
participants. This stairwell is the main passageway to all classes. Sometimes soaring 24 ft high,
sometimes filled with tiny intimate details, sometimes surrounded on 3 sides, sometimes seen
through screens or doors, this installation was designed so the viewer is in the painting, part of
the music and words. In some workshops parents participated, as well as bringing fabulous
ethnic cuisine!

Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, The Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Studio, LLC

Jubilation - Temple Emanuel - 20 ft. h x 42 ft. w - acrylic on canvas cut-outs heat

fused on canvas mounted on 21 irregular foam board sections. 2007 Resisterstown, MD. A
celebratory portrait of Temple Emanuels 50 year narrative in relationship to Jewish history.
Workshops with 140 participants - 5 to 88 years old. This work is a celebration of a year in
the sacred home of a congregation. A year in the life of a congregation - all seasons, all
holidays, past present future events, relationships to the Jewish community and to Jewish
history. This project spanned over a year just to do all the workshops with the many groups
and themes. Then it took another 5 months to design, paint, cut out and install. The work
has become an icon and visual symbol for Temple Emanuel. This project was a catalyst for
art becoming part of the fabric of the congregation. Art is even part of their mission
statement - something almost unique in Judaism. There is even a co-op made up of all
kinds of talents using the arts to express their sacred passion through a progressive 21st
century Jewish lens.
Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, The Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Studio, LLC

Unity - The Struggle

Continues 2009 + 2015
Baltimore, MD mural: 8 panelseach16 ft h x 5 ft w, acrylic paint
on parachute cloth. Project with
RAP. Workshops/Paint Teams: 90
participants including over 50
ninth graders, staff, interns,
community volunteers. Themes
based on contemporary African American poetry and lyrics
including writings from Langston
Hughes, Amiri Baraka, and
President Obama . Partners:
Edmondson-Westside High, West
Hills Community, Morgan State
University. The texts were based
on forging home/school/
community into a better place,
protesting injustice in the
neighborhood, and visually
transforming their school through
the mural process. Images on this
page are 4 ft x 5 ft details from
several of the works, plus the
participants in the cut-out phase
of the workshop. Due to several
political issues, we werent able
to install the mural on the exterior
of the Westside Center off of
Edmondson Ave. We have found
new locations, possibly Morgan
State U, for installation Spring
2015.

Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, The Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Studio, LLC

The Wishes Mural - Details- 2002, Baltimore, Md. Indoor mural: 4,000 sq. ft., acrylic on
prepared cinderblock walls. Using art to promote building loving families/homes through adoption.
Commissioned by the Methodist Churchs Board of Child Care for their desolate gym.Workshop/Paint
Team: 150 participants including 100 foster kids, 10 17 years old, plus 50 staff and volunteers. Some
parts of the mural reach as high as 30 ft.
All my workshops begin with words/texts to inspire the creation of art. One of the questions was, What do you wish for? One 10 year old girl said, I just
want my mother to touch me, hold me, just once This ignited the spark for the theme - all kinds of loving families. And there she is in the detail on the
right (located in the other photo just right of the basket). This detail is about 8 ft. w x 10 ft. h. She is alone, on her bed, pink socks covering her dangling feet,
wishing for some kind of loving home. The entire mural was her wish come true.

Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, The Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Studio, LLC

Searching for New and Better Worlds -Details - 2006 Baltimore, MD. 2300 sq. ft., acrylic on
prepared cinder block walls and columns. Partnership with RAP. Reclaimed the library of LockermanBundy Elementary School. Workshops/Paint Team: 50 participants including thirty 3rd to 5th graders plus
school personnel and volunteers. This West Baltimore school was saved from closing, test scores went up,
became a parents choice school, and the library which had many empty shelves was reborn - all because
of art. The project was also supported by my Open Society Institute - Baltimore Fellowship. The
community association asked RAP to work in the school to help transform the home away from home.
And we did. As with all my community based public art projects, the workshop was the key to the
development of the theme, which in this case was outer space. I added the social justice subtext, searching
for new and better worlds - you can see in the detail on the left and above The Music Planet. Workshop
collages generate my jazz-like improv folk art style, embracing the varied forms of the participants. The
process is not about whether one can paint, but if one can think.
Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, The Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Studio, LLC

Look Again - See the Other

2011- Spring 2015 Baltimore, MD
In partnership with RAP
A series of free hanging panels to be installed
this spring in three locations. Acrylic paint on
parachute cloth heat fused to canvas.
A mural installation to bring together the youth of NW Baltimore, Orthodox Jewish, African American and Hispanic American middle school boys. Workshops/
Paint Teams: over 150 participants including 24 middle school students, plus parents, staff from community organizations, interns and volunteers. Partners:
Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore, Comprehensive Housing Assistance Inc., Cross Country Elementary Middle, Fallstaff Elementary Middle,
Morgan State U and poet Jill Solomon. Originally was to be installed as a large outdoor mural as a gateway to the North Park Heights community. No location
was found, or allowed. So after 3 years of searching for an outdoor location the project moved indoors - to the JCC and the two schools. The teens live in the
same neighborhood but feared/hated/misunderstood the other. During the workshop phase, these young people of different faiths, ethnicities and backgrounds
sat at the same table and produced art, together. Art about neighborhood as a home for all. More importantly, this process gave them the opportunity to engage
in valuable discussions about easing racial and ethnic tensions, and to start the process of knowing each other.
Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, The Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen Studio, LLC

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