Arnold Schwarzbart ז״ל

Arnold Schwarzbart at his drawing table, drawing with a pen — Arnold at work

Architect, then for thirty-five years a full time Judaic artist. Born March 10, 1942. Died March 16, 2015, at home in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Early life

Arnold was born in Russia during the Second World War and began school in Vienna. In 1951 his family came to Knoxville with the help of his grandfather's cousin, Max Friedman, and Arnold arrived knowing no English. The family joined Heska Amuna Synagogue, where he became bar mitzvah and was confirmed, and which he would later serve as president. He was the son of Frieda Gruenberg Schwarzbart and Isadore Schwarzbart, and a graduate of Knoxville's East High School.

In his 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.

Since 1980 I have designed and produced ceremonial objects, as well as donor recognition walls and decorative wall pieces. In the past ten years I have completed more than thirty commissions for synagogues.

From the 2008 exhibition "Reflections of the Other" at the University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery, and the studio's 2003 web site.

Studies

1966: Bachelor of Arts, The University of Tennessee
1969: Bachelor of Architecture, The University of Tennessee School of Architecture, in its first graduating class
1985, 1988, 1991: International Seminars on Jewish Art, Jerusalem
1992: The Synagogue Throughout the Ages: Art and Architecture, Hebrew University, Jerusalem
: Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and private study with area potters

Architecture

Before turning to Judaica full time, Arnold practiced architecture in Knoxville as a partner in the firm GSW and later in Wilcox and Schwarzbart. Selected projects include the Schwarzbart home (1971), the L. T. Ross Building for social and community services (1977 to 1979), Bicentennial Park, both Copper Cellar restaurants, the Knoxville Zoo including its reptile complex, and the Muse discovery center and planetarium. The zoo and the Ross Building were two of his favorites. He left architecture in the early 1980s to make art based on Jewish ritual objects and texts.

Awards and honors

1994: Honorable Mention, "Visions of Faith," The Parthenon, Nashville
1998: Second Prize in enameling, Mid Rockland Arts Festival
1999: Myer and Selma Mellman Judaica Award, "Contemporary Works of Faith '99"
1991, 1992: Invited to stay at Mishkenot Sha'ananim, the official guesthouse for visiting artists, Jerusalem
2012: Knoxville East High Alumni Association Hall of Fame
2016: The Schwarzbart Gallery opens at the Arnstein Jewish Community Center, Knoxville, January 31

Presentations

Work was presented to Vice President Albert Gore, Jr. at the 1995 Jewish Theological Seminary commencement, and by Seymour Reich, President of B'nai B'rith International, to the presidents of Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay in 1990.

Lectures and workshops

1991: Community Craft Center, Norris, Tennessee
1995: "The Art of Arnold Schwarzbart," Hadassah Southern Region Spring Conference
1997: Tolerance and Diversity Teen Program, JCC, Nashville
1999: "The World of Making Judaica," Knoxville Chapter of Hadassah; Visiting Artists and Scholars Program, University of Tennessee Department of Art
2001: Storyteller, "Degradation to Redemption," East Tennessee Holocaust Conference
2008: "Hiddur Mitzvah: Beautifying Holiness," Heska Amuna Synagogue, Knoxville
2013: "Art and Judaism," with Ernie Gross, Heska Amuna Synagogue, Knoxville

Selected collections

The Schwarzbart Gallery at the Arnstein Jewish Community Center, Knoxville
Knoxville Museum of Art
B'nai B'rith Klutznick Museum, Washington, DC
Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York
Mollie and Louis Kaplan Museum of Judaica, Houston
Rosenbaum Collection, Heichal Shlomo, Jerusalem
Beth El Temple of West Hartford; Beth Sholom Synagogue, Elkins Park; Temple Emanu-El, Palm Beach; The Jewish Home of Greater Harrisburg
Vice President Albert Gore, Jr.; Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz; Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; Rabbi David R. Blumenthal; Alan Dershowitz; Shoshana Cardin

Community

President of the Arnstein Jewish Community Center and of the Knoxville Jewish Federation, and chair of the committee that merged them into the Knoxville Jewish Alliance. President and board chair of Heska Amuna Synagogue, and past president of AEPi fraternity. Board member of the Dulin Museum and the Beck Cultural Center, and a member of the Knoxville Museum of Art exhibition committee. Board member of the American Craft Council, the Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville, the Southern Highland Craft Guild, and the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists; a member of the American Guild of Judaic Art and a Hadassah Associate.