*University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery “Reflections of the Other”
Judaica by Arnold Schwarzbart
July 30 - August 16, 2008
null
“The Shtender” Pit Fired Clay, 2008
The UT Downtown Gallery is pleased to host “Reflections of the Other”. This exhibition, featuring the Judaic art of Arnold Schwarzbart, opens July 30th and remains on display through August 16th. There will be a First Friday reception for the artist on August 1st, from 5-9pm. The exhibit includes individual sculptures, as well as documentary photographs of Schwarzbart’s large-scale commissions that celebrate the beauty of the Jewish faith. Schwarzbart is a long-time Knoxville resident and trained architect from the 1969 graduating class of the then newly formed University of Tennessee School of Architecture. In 1999, Schwarzbart received the Myer & Selma Mellman Judaica Award for his work in the exhibit “Contemporary Works of Faith ‘99″. He has been commissioned to complete work for the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, Israel, and The United Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York, as well as many Synagogues and Temples across the United States.
In Schwarzbart’s words: “In Judaism we have the concept ‘The Beauty of Holiness’. The idea is to make physically beautiful the objects and spaces used in the performance of ritual. At one level, that is the essence of my work. At the simplest level, beauty enhances the emotional component of any act, and is especially beneficial in encouraging activities that are repeated often. One looks forward to using a treasured item, whether an antique handed down through generations, or an object acquired because it spoke to one’s aesthetic and emotional sensibility.”
View WBIR “Live at Five” on Arnold and the exhibit — http://www.wbir.com/life/programming/local/liveatfive/story.aspx?storyid=61481&catid=8
UT Downtown Gallery /106 South Gay Street / Wed-Fri 11-6 & Sat 10-3
Arnold Schwarzbart / www.schwarzbart.com