Last Sunday, SAR hosted the grand opening of its GRAND Gallery, welcoming and connecting families, students, parents and grandparents. The Gallery, positioned prominently at the school’s entrance, is placing the arts front and center for the community and beyond to experience arts and enrichment through hands-on family workshops, rotating exhibits, lectures, events and Grandparent and Me classes. הגלריה האדירה will help build connection—the communal currency of humanity, linking one person to another and one generation to the next—supporting the value of intergenerational learning and the transmission of values. Through utilizing various disciplines in the arts as a vehicle to deepen commitment to Jewish identity and to the collective and personal narrative, the project aims to foster fulfillment and meaning in people’s lives. In addition to rotating exhibits, the GRAND Gallery also houses a permanent collection of SAR history showcasing the school’s development over its many decades, and includes an interactive component.
At Sunday’s grand opening, artist Suly Bornstein Wolff showcased her work in an exhibit called, “Re-Play Re-Use,” in which families modeled her approach to art and used a variety of recycled and upcycled materials and family photographs to create representations of their families. Suly’s warm approach, acceptance of all attendees’ work and her clear expression of her own raison d’etre, created a hum in the room as children and adults alike designed unique and playful artworks.
Bornstein Wolff explained that her creative work grows out of being an immigrant born in Sao Paulo, Brazil and relocating to Israel where she now lives and works in Tel Aviv, for over 30 years. As she creates, she weaves together the history and impressions of her country of origin, Brazil, with those of Israel. Bornstein Wolff, a multidisciplinary artist, mainly creates paintings, objects and installations most often using recycled materials, such as plastic bags, tiny children’s plastic toys, old paintings, deflated balloons and materials that are no longer considered usable and would end up in the trash. These materials, which are no longer considered something of value, are transformed in Bornstein Wolff’s hands into objects of art. This is the core of the artist’s intentions. Through art and beauty, she brings to viewers the issues of consumerism and personal responsibility for the planet. Bornstein Wolff’s works have been exhibited in museums, municipal galleries and commercial venues in Israel, Italy, the United States and India among other countries. Currently, her works are on display at the Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod in the north of Israel, and her commissioned site-specific installation is on display at Hiriya Recycling Park in the center of Israel, where she demonstrates how art and beauty can be created even from simple things that usually escape the viewer’s eye.
It was a beautiful morning in a beautiful gallery space, conceived by Sharon Black and designed by architect Hila Stern. Please join SAR when artist Tobi Kahn leads a family workshop in the winter and artist David Moss joins in the spring.
