RECENT Work From OMOS Studios
Tower of babel (2026)
MATERIALS: Wood; metal brackets; steel sculpture
DIMENSIONS: 36” W x 36” L x 16.7’ H
DIMENSIONS: 36” W x 36” L x 16.7’ H
The biblical tale about the Tower of Babel reveals God’s displeasure with the people building a tower tall enough (estimated at 300 feet) to reach the heavens and offering humans a place close to the ‘throne of God.’ What precisely so displeased God that humanity would be punished by being unable to communicate with one another? On the face of it, what’s so wrong with the people cooperating on a public works project?
The Tower of Babel is my reflection on these imponderable questions. Did God object to the pride and arrogance of humanity (even their challenge to God’s authority) that they might occupy a prominent place in God’s realm? A friend of mine suggested that the people built the Tower to escape the next flood! My view is that the people built the Tower not to become like God, but to ‘cleave to God’ (devekut in Hebrew), in essence, to merge their souls with the Infinite. God reproached the people for doing this and said (these are my words), “Each person must achieve devekut on their own; it cannot be done by the community.” My sculpture explores these aspects of the story including a staircase (Stairway to Heaven?) and a ladder that is too short to reach the heavens. My Tower of Babel is a scale model for a full-sized 300-foot version which will be 18 times larger than this scale model.
The Tower of Babel is part of a series of three sculptures called The Garden of Heavenly Delights. Each considers a different spiritual question- how does our soul remain tethered to the material and ethereal worlds; how do we make meaning of our life journey; how do the biblical stories make sense to us in our time? The central motif in each is a cone shaped structure. The other two sculptures in the series are ‘Soul Construction’ and ‘We Are All Waging An Epic Battle.’
You can read about these two sculptures below.
soul construction
A Riff on The painting, the Annunciation, by Fra Angelico (2026)
MATERIALS: Wood; steel plate, tubing and rod; wood balusters; heads
DIMENSIONS: 5.5’ L x 5.5’ W x 13’ H
DIMENSIONS: 5.5’ L x 5.5’ W x 13’ H
The Annunciation Fra Angelico (1440-1445)
Listen to Allen Discussing His New Sculpture, Soul Construction (Click on the Tab Above)
Our soul-what is it really? The vessel that holds the illuminating ‘Light’ that animates and energizes us? An infinite thread of protoplasm that connects us to our atomic universe and the majesty of God’s Light?
Fra Angelico’s masterpiece, The Annunciation (1440-45), grapples with these same questions. An angelic presence, under a portico in the garden, prepares to tell Mary her future. Grounded as she is in the material world of her garden, Mary connects to that other, ethereal world through her twin and mirror image, the winged angel, her soul on full display. Their crossed hands express unconditional love and reverence, ready as they are to give and receive.
Soul Construction grapples with this same issue-what is our soul? Our soul hovers and hums-between our ‘material’ world and that ‘domain’ beyond our awareness, existing in the ether of perception, thought and spirit. And what about our hands, the window into our soul. At times, hands sooth, caress, create, expressing our love and hope. At other times, our hand are violent, cruel, destructive, coercive, combative.
When we sleep, our soul departs each night, traveling to some ‘other’ dimension to be refreshed and restored. Returned before we awake, our soul tethers us to this world and to some ‘other’ experience beyond our knowing. Will these tethers hold or snap? Will our soul return after its nightly sojourn?
I know this description of my sculpture is full of questions. Let’s be honest-I’m trying to explore something that evokes nothing but questions. The truth is, what do I know about any of this?
Narrative of the Recording for Soul Construction: A Riff on Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation
With my sculpture, Soul Construction, I wanted to explore how our soul exists in the material world, that world we inhabit, and also remains tethered to some ethereal world beyond our perception. For the last year, I’ve been engaging in the study of Jewish mysticism and the Kabballah, and this sculpture is no doubt the result of immersing myself in this esoteric and elusive material. I didn’t have a clear vision of how this piece would evolve. It happened gradually as ideas and moments of insight presented themselves. Little did I know that many of the components of this sculpture would have a relationship to concepts I studied in Jewish mysticism.
As I made this sculpture, I discovered a magnificent mural, The Annunciation, painted by Fra Angelico between 1440 and 1445. His mural grapples with the same questions that have captivated me. In the mural, an angelic presence, under a portico in the ordinariness of the garden, prepares to tell Mary Magdeline her future. Grounded as Mary is in the material world of her garden, Mary’s soul connects to the ethereal world through her twin, the winged angel, her soul on full display. Their hands are crossed across their hearts revealing that truly the hands are the window into our souls.
In my sculpture, the balusters around the sculpture represent our material world, just like the material world of Mary Magdeline’s garden. Then we move to the upper triangle supported by three zigzaggy pillars, festooned with many hands. I had a dream about using zigzaggy pillars for this piece. Months later, I discovered that the cover of the first printed edition of The Zohar, the seminal text of Jewish mysticism, featured zigzaggy columns on its cover! Who can explain this?
And why all the hands on this sculpture? For me, our hands are the window into our soul. They reveal everything about us. At times, hands sooth, caress, create, expressing our love and hope. At other times, our hands can be violent, cruel, destructive, coercive.
The hanging centerpiece is about us humans whose souls traverse both the material and ethereal worlds. We’re suspended between and interconnected with these two worlds holding our soul in some sort of balance. Our soul tethers us to this world and to some ‘other’ experience beyond our knowing. Will these tethers hold or snap? Will our soul return after its nightly sojourn? The ropes and cables on the sculpture express the tenuous tethering of our soul between these two worlds.
I know this description of my sculpture is full of questions and imagery that may fall short. Let’s be honest-I’m trying to explore something that evokes nothing but questions. The truth is, what do I know about any of this?
With my sculpture, Soul Construction, I wanted to explore how our soul exists in the material world, that world we inhabit, and also remains tethered to some ethereal world beyond our perception. For the last year, I’ve been engaging in the study of Jewish mysticism and the Kabballah, and this sculpture is no doubt the result of immersing myself in this esoteric and elusive material. I didn’t have a clear vision of how this piece would evolve. It happened gradually as ideas and moments of insight presented themselves. Little did I know that many of the components of this sculpture would have a relationship to concepts I studied in Jewish mysticism.
As I made this sculpture, I discovered a magnificent mural, The Annunciation, painted by Fra Angelico between 1440 and 1445. His mural grapples with the same questions that have captivated me. In the mural, an angelic presence, under a portico in the ordinariness of the garden, prepares to tell Mary Magdeline her future. Grounded as Mary is in the material world of her garden, Mary’s soul connects to the ethereal world through her twin, the winged angel, her soul on full display. Their hands are crossed across their hearts revealing that truly the hands are the window into our souls.
In my sculpture, the balusters around the sculpture represent our material world, just like the material world of Mary Magdeline’s garden. Then we move to the upper triangle supported by three zigzaggy pillars, festooned with many hands. I had a dream about using zigzaggy pillars for this piece. Months later, I discovered that the cover of the first printed edition of The Zohar, the seminal text of Jewish mysticism, featured zigzaggy columns on its cover! Who can explain this?
And why all the hands on this sculpture? For me, our hands are the window into our soul. They reveal everything about us. At times, hands sooth, caress, create, expressing our love and hope. At other times, our hands can be violent, cruel, destructive, coercive.
The hanging centerpiece is about us humans whose souls traverse both the material and ethereal worlds. We’re suspended between and interconnected with these two worlds holding our soul in some sort of balance. Our soul tethers us to this world and to some ‘other’ experience beyond our knowing. Will these tethers hold or snap? Will our soul return after its nightly sojourn? The ropes and cables on the sculpture express the tenuous tethering of our soul between these two worlds.
I know this description of my sculpture is full of questions and imagery that may fall short. Let’s be honest-I’m trying to explore something that evokes nothing but questions. The truth is, what do I know about any of this?
we are all waging an epic battle (2025)
See below for a video of the sculpture with a description by Allen
MATERIALS: Wood, steel; mannikin with plaster; styrofoam heads with plaster; snake; rope; crown
DIMENSIONS: 12’ L x 36” W x 9’ H
We are all waging an epic battle in our lives, trying to discern who we are and where we fit in. It’s quite easy (perhaps inevitable) to become overwhelmed by what life throws at us. At times, we can feel like the most unique person on earth, capable of accomplishing anything. At other times we can feel worthless, incapable of doing anything that has meaning or purpose, despairing and inconsolable.
There is a story about Rabbi Simcha Bunim who it is said always walked around with two slips of paper in his pockets. In one pocket, the paper says, ‘For my sake the world is created.’ In the other pocket, the paper says, ‘I am but dust and ashes.’ This story perfectly describes the epic battle we are all waging- the unending, internal war between feeling loved, embraced, unique, at times even magical, and alternatively, suffering and tortured by a sense of failure, loneliness, ennui.
How do we navigate this treacherous terrain? How do we muster the resilience, courage, and fortitude to change the trajectory of our lives? How do we respond to the challenges that inevitably affect us, such as death, illness, failure, loss, hopelessness? And even when we feel successful how do we explain our accomplishments? Do we attribute them to our perseverance, determination, and grit? Or is it simply a matter of luck, coincidence, and privilege? How do we preserve our belief in who we are (or think we are) when we fail at work, when relationships crumble, when the things that give us safety and security disappear?
This epic battle may also be a challenge to us, a decision we are compelled to make about how we choose to live. We can either live a life in which we exercise our agency to excel and create and help to repair our world OR we can simply be a bystander, letting the flow of life's events dictate and direct who we are, what we become, and how we choose to engage with the world that lies before us. This epic battle challenges us day in and day out as we navigate the turbulent seas between ‘for my sake, the world was created’ and ‘I am but dust and ashes.’
DIMENSIONS: 12’ L x 36” W x 9’ H
We are all waging an epic battle in our lives, trying to discern who we are and where we fit in. It’s quite easy (perhaps inevitable) to become overwhelmed by what life throws at us. At times, we can feel like the most unique person on earth, capable of accomplishing anything. At other times we can feel worthless, incapable of doing anything that has meaning or purpose, despairing and inconsolable.
There is a story about Rabbi Simcha Bunim who it is said always walked around with two slips of paper in his pockets. In one pocket, the paper says, ‘For my sake the world is created.’ In the other pocket, the paper says, ‘I am but dust and ashes.’ This story perfectly describes the epic battle we are all waging- the unending, internal war between feeling loved, embraced, unique, at times even magical, and alternatively, suffering and tortured by a sense of failure, loneliness, ennui.
How do we navigate this treacherous terrain? How do we muster the resilience, courage, and fortitude to change the trajectory of our lives? How do we respond to the challenges that inevitably affect us, such as death, illness, failure, loss, hopelessness? And even when we feel successful how do we explain our accomplishments? Do we attribute them to our perseverance, determination, and grit? Or is it simply a matter of luck, coincidence, and privilege? How do we preserve our belief in who we are (or think we are) when we fail at work, when relationships crumble, when the things that give us safety and security disappear?
This epic battle may also be a challenge to us, a decision we are compelled to make about how we choose to live. We can either live a life in which we exercise our agency to excel and create and help to repair our world OR we can simply be a bystander, letting the flow of life's events dictate and direct who we are, what we become, and how we choose to engage with the world that lies before us. This epic battle challenges us day in and day out as we navigate the turbulent seas between ‘for my sake, the world was created’ and ‘I am but dust and ashes.’
homage to my mentor and friend, david stromeyer (2024)
MATERIALS: Steel, brass ball, wood base
DIMENSIONS: 54"H x 22"W x 14" D
When we visited the Cold Hollow Sculpture Park in Enosburg, VT in 2023, David Stromeyer, the sculptor, offhandedly told me to take some scrap steel on the side of his studio. I loaded a dozen or so pieces into my car and that was that. We've visited the Stromeyers in Vermont every summer for the last 35 years. We check out the new sculptures in the fields, see what David's working on in his studio, share meals together and laugh alot.
David is a renowned sculptor who has been making sculpture and creating a sculpture park (with his effervescent and imaginative wife, Sarah) for over 50 years. He has been a mentor and friend to me for decades and has been a source of encouragement and inspiration as I eventually found a way to make sculpture. Yes, we talk 'shop' a lot, but for me it was more about being around him, listening to him describe his process, observing his work ethic and seeing his attentiveness to every detail. And putting up with my onslaught of questions!! David's wife, Sarah, has been such a blessing for me to know, independent of David, because of her wisdom and love and her unsparing embrace of our family and all the visitors to the scupture park. The main ingredient for this new sculpture of mine is love, for both of them.
I decided to take these scraps of steel, cutoffs from sculptures David had fabricated and keep their original shape. I wanted to retain the essence of David's sculptures, reflected in these scraps. So no scraps were changed. This is my way of saying 'you guided me and showed me how you create so I could create. And now I'm creating.'
Reconstructing a DECORATIVE arch in my backyard garden
The original version of this arch was the very first sculpture I ever made in 2004. It was called Mia's Arch and was made in September 2004 to honor the birth of my granddaughter. I first made a template in my studio our of balsa wood and then used construction lumber (2x10) to make the arch. After 20 years, it was beginning to rot and needed to be replaced. In Winter 2025, I came up with a plan to make the structural pieces out of steel and reclaimed many of the wood pieces from the original arch, cutting out the rot and applying Bondo as needed.
The new arch has two steel caps on top of the 4x6 posts and square steel rods that go to a center plate. I was able to salvage four large wood pieces from the original arch and two smaller ones. Assorted found objects and 'discards' from my past sculptures adorn the new arch. The arch measures 12' long and 14' high.
The new arch has two steel caps on top of the 4x6 posts and square steel rods that go to a center plate. I was able to salvage four large wood pieces from the original arch and two smaller ones. Assorted found objects and 'discards' from my past sculptures adorn the new arch. The arch measures 12' long and 14' high.
creating a garden gate
While visiting a friend in 2024, I ventured into his lush and bountiful garden to have a look. We examined all the vegetables and picked some for dinner. Then I said to him,'You know what's missing here? A garden gate. Would you like me to make one?' Without hesitation he said, 'Sure.' What you see below is the finished product. It's 34" wide by 40" high. I thought the spider web theme was perfect for the garden entry. The gate was installed in the Fall 2024. SOLD
STUDIO WITHOUT WALLS (SWW) SHOW 2023
ENIGMA VARIATION IN FIVE PARTS
The 24th Annual Studio Without Walls Show was on display during the summer months 2023 in the Riverway Park, Brookline MA. My installation included five smaller sculptures hanging from the trees in the park. See my description of the sculpture below the photos.
MATERIALS: Wood, steel-plate, square bar and rod, steel wire mesh, plastic birds, cast plastic hands, handsaw, acrylic sheet, household objects, Victor rat traps, picture frames, mirror glass
DIMENSIONS: (1) Bird in the Hand 36”L x 22”W x 17”D; (2) Keyhole 44”L x 20”W x 17”D; (3) Victor Rat Trapped 41”L x 41”W x 4”D ; (4) The Conversation 32”L x 21”W x 19”D; (5) Fractured Family Mirror 40"L x 20"W x 10"D
When is the Whole more thn the sum of its Parts? Is the Whole more than the sum of its Parts because of the artist's creative genius or the viewer's emotions or the synergy of creating and viewing? Teasing out what this ‘magic sauce’ is can be elusive, but that said, it offered me an opportunity to consider how the SWW show’s theme- the W-hole is more than the sum of its P-arts could be operationalized.
I’ve been feeling out of sorts and fragile for a while now, disconnected from those things in my life that have always given me a sense of security, emotional well-being, peace, and tranquility. Enigma Variations in Five Parts is my response to the emotional turbulence I’ve been experiencing which, I might add, has impacted my physical and emotional health.
I had originally planned to work on one large sculpture, but I decided to reinvent my ‘big sculpture’ idea and make five smaller ones instead, displayed in proximity to each other. The thematic focus for each is the same: using sculpture to express my emotional turbulence. My question to you, the viewer, is: how does your experience of this installation change when you consider each sculpture individually and then consider them all as a whole? Each sculpture takes familiar objects and displays them in ways that can feel disquieting, perhaps arbitrary, and even absurd. How is it for you to look at one sculpture and then the others? Does the installation draw you into the disquiet and ennui I’m feeling about life, or do you feel too overwhelmed and just shut down? Please-take your time. Don’t rush by.
DIMENSIONS: (1) Bird in the Hand 36”L x 22”W x 17”D; (2) Keyhole 44”L x 20”W x 17”D; (3) Victor Rat Trapped 41”L x 41”W x 4”D ; (4) The Conversation 32”L x 21”W x 19”D; (5) Fractured Family Mirror 40"L x 20"W x 10"D
When is the Whole more thn the sum of its Parts? Is the Whole more than the sum of its Parts because of the artist's creative genius or the viewer's emotions or the synergy of creating and viewing? Teasing out what this ‘magic sauce’ is can be elusive, but that said, it offered me an opportunity to consider how the SWW show’s theme- the W-hole is more than the sum of its P-arts could be operationalized.
I’ve been feeling out of sorts and fragile for a while now, disconnected from those things in my life that have always given me a sense of security, emotional well-being, peace, and tranquility. Enigma Variations in Five Parts is my response to the emotional turbulence I’ve been experiencing which, I might add, has impacted my physical and emotional health.
I had originally planned to work on one large sculpture, but I decided to reinvent my ‘big sculpture’ idea and make five smaller ones instead, displayed in proximity to each other. The thematic focus for each is the same: using sculpture to express my emotional turbulence. My question to you, the viewer, is: how does your experience of this installation change when you consider each sculpture individually and then consider them all as a whole? Each sculpture takes familiar objects and displays them in ways that can feel disquieting, perhaps arbitrary, and even absurd. How is it for you to look at one sculpture and then the others? Does the installation draw you into the disquiet and ennui I’m feeling about life, or do you feel too overwhelmed and just shut down? Please-take your time. Don’t rush by.
Watch a video of this installation narrated by the artist (4:15 minutes)
REFURBISHING A SCULPTURE
Tahara (Purification)
DIMENSIONS: 36” h x 22” w x 32”d (2015 and 2022)
MATERIALS: Flat steel stock; square and round rod
I volunteer for a Jewish organization that prepares the dead for burial. Called a hevra kadisha (holy society), a team of five volunteers participates in a thousands year old purification ritual called tahara (meaning purification in Hebrew). We wash and dress the deceased and then place the body in a coffin. After my first tahara in 2013, I had a dream about this sculpture. It's a stylized coffin with two rising elements on either end- one represents the body as it leaves our world and the other represents the departure of the soul as it ascends to some unknown realm.
After seven years of being exposed to the weather in New England, this sculpture needed to be refurbished. I discovered that after eight years performing taharot, my understanding of the soul had changed. I have come to believe that God reclaims a bit of our soul when we die, while the remainder goes to some repository to be reused or reshaped or reimagined or reunited. I decided to include an additional feature to the 'soul' end of the sculpture to reflect my belief in this bifurcation of the soul. SOLD
Tahara (Purification)
DIMENSIONS: 36” h x 22” w x 32”d (2015 and 2022)
MATERIALS: Flat steel stock; square and round rod
I volunteer for a Jewish organization that prepares the dead for burial. Called a hevra kadisha (holy society), a team of five volunteers participates in a thousands year old purification ritual called tahara (meaning purification in Hebrew). We wash and dress the deceased and then place the body in a coffin. After my first tahara in 2013, I had a dream about this sculpture. It's a stylized coffin with two rising elements on either end- one represents the body as it leaves our world and the other represents the departure of the soul as it ascends to some unknown realm.
After seven years of being exposed to the weather in New England, this sculpture needed to be refurbished. I discovered that after eight years performing taharot, my understanding of the soul had changed. I have come to believe that God reclaims a bit of our soul when we die, while the remainder goes to some repository to be reused or reshaped or reimagined or reunited. I decided to include an additional feature to the 'soul' end of the sculpture to reflect my belief in this bifurcation of the soul. SOLD
Tahara 2022
Tahara (original sculpture) 2015
REFLECTIONS ON THE THIRTEEN ACTS OF CREATION
DIMENSIONS: 108”H X 77”W X 20”D (2019)
MATERIALS: Plate steel; round and square steel rods; propeller blade; brass discs; stainless bolts
A creation myth is a cultural universal. Every society spins an elaborate tale about its origins. The Judeo-Christian biblical origin story (Old/New Testament) assumes a priori that God (with a capital G) exists, and it is this God that initiates the grand design we call our world. At first, this undifferentiated nothingness contracts in three different dimensions to make room for the natural world: darkness and light; the heavens and earth; water and dry land.
Then we see singular acts of creation-vegetation that depends on the cyclical majesty of day and night; living creatures-fish, birds, reptiles, mammals-find a receptive, hospitable environment to reproduce and fertilize the world; than humans find a place amongst this fecundity. Each step of creation builds on its previous creation event to set up conditions necessary for the next step to take place. And so it goes.
Now the natural world has been created in all its grandeur. What remains to be done? One final act of creation remains-a momentary pause in the unending maelstrom of the universe; an ephemeral respite to consider the awesome power of the creator God.Whatever creation myth you embrace, we stand in wonder of this natural world. SOLD
THE ACTS OF CREATION
Darkness-Light-Heavens-Earth-Water-Dry Land-Vegetation-Nighttime-Daytime
Living Creatures (birds/fish)-Mammals/Reptiles-Humans-Day of Rest
MATERIALS: Plate steel; round and square steel rods; propeller blade; brass discs; stainless bolts
A creation myth is a cultural universal. Every society spins an elaborate tale about its origins. The Judeo-Christian biblical origin story (Old/New Testament) assumes a priori that God (with a capital G) exists, and it is this God that initiates the grand design we call our world. At first, this undifferentiated nothingness contracts in three different dimensions to make room for the natural world: darkness and light; the heavens and earth; water and dry land.
Then we see singular acts of creation-vegetation that depends on the cyclical majesty of day and night; living creatures-fish, birds, reptiles, mammals-find a receptive, hospitable environment to reproduce and fertilize the world; than humans find a place amongst this fecundity. Each step of creation builds on its previous creation event to set up conditions necessary for the next step to take place. And so it goes.
Now the natural world has been created in all its grandeur. What remains to be done? One final act of creation remains-a momentary pause in the unending maelstrom of the universe; an ephemeral respite to consider the awesome power of the creator God.Whatever creation myth you embrace, we stand in wonder of this natural world. SOLD
THE ACTS OF CREATION
Darkness-Light-Heavens-Earth-Water-Dry Land-Vegetation-Nighttime-Daytime
Living Creatures (birds/fish)-Mammals/Reptiles-Humans-Day of Rest
Monk's 'Round Midnight' Redux Guardian of Memories (2017)
Thelonius Monk 'Round Midnight' 2020
This piece, reimagined in 2020, is a tribute to Thelonius
Monk's classic tune, Round Midnight. I made the original
in 2016 (see below) and sold it to friends during Jamaica
Plain Open Studios. Truth be told, I never liked it. In 2020,
I asked them if I could have it back to remake it. They
agreed! Here is the reimagined piece (see top). SOLD
Title: The Orchard (Pardes): A Series of Trees in the
Garden of Eden
Materials: Plate steel; round and square steel rods; steel pipe; stainless bolts;
Enter The Orchard (Pardes) in the Garden of Eden and you sense there is something unique and startling here. The Orchard contains fruit-bearing trees, but trees of a different sort. You won’t find apples, pears, plums or bananas. You will find the kind of fruit that supplies us with a different kind of nourishment- the essential values for living. It is the very values that guide our day to day lives like Truth, Trust, Patience, Humility and Passion.
These values and so many others serve as our signposts and guideposts. And yes, we find all of them in The Orchard. Some of these luscious trees are in full bloom now and stand close to the majestic entrance. Others are harder to find and identify, and we need to search with intention and purpose to find them. But they are all there.
Trees are the perfect miracle of nature to be the keepers of these values in the Garden of Eden. There they are-straight and tall- reaching to the heavens. Their roots descend into the rich, verdant soil seeking sustenance and stability, making certain they provide a firm foundation on which to grow. Then, there is the canopy of leaves that offers shelter and beauty and absorbs the toxins in our world. Miraculously, these toxins become life-sustaining oxygen.
The trees in The Orchard offer each of us this lesson: stay grounded and focused. Then reach for the heavens in how you choose to live and engage with the natural world and all its creatures. The trees command us: "Take in the toxins you see around you and convert them into something that is precious and life-sustaining." You can do this all by eating the abundant fruit in The Orchard. SOLD
Garden of Eden
- Tree of Truth
- Tree of Souls
- Tree of Secrets
Materials: Plate steel; round and square steel rods; steel pipe; stainless bolts;
Enter The Orchard (Pardes) in the Garden of Eden and you sense there is something unique and startling here. The Orchard contains fruit-bearing trees, but trees of a different sort. You won’t find apples, pears, plums or bananas. You will find the kind of fruit that supplies us with a different kind of nourishment- the essential values for living. It is the very values that guide our day to day lives like Truth, Trust, Patience, Humility and Passion.
These values and so many others serve as our signposts and guideposts. And yes, we find all of them in The Orchard. Some of these luscious trees are in full bloom now and stand close to the majestic entrance. Others are harder to find and identify, and we need to search with intention and purpose to find them. But they are all there.
Trees are the perfect miracle of nature to be the keepers of these values in the Garden of Eden. There they are-straight and tall- reaching to the heavens. Their roots descend into the rich, verdant soil seeking sustenance and stability, making certain they provide a firm foundation on which to grow. Then, there is the canopy of leaves that offers shelter and beauty and absorbs the toxins in our world. Miraculously, these toxins become life-sustaining oxygen.
The trees in The Orchard offer each of us this lesson: stay grounded and focused. Then reach for the heavens in how you choose to live and engage with the natural world and all its creatures. The trees command us: "Take in the toxins you see around you and convert them into something that is precious and life-sustaining." You can do this all by eating the abundant fruit in The Orchard. SOLD
Self-Portrait (2020)
DIMENSIONS: 45"L x 36"W x 17"H
MATERIALS: Steel rod and flat stock; wire mesh; cables
DIMENSIONS: 45"L x 36"W x 17"H
MATERIALS: Steel rod and flat stock; wire mesh; cables
Self-Portrait-Left Hand Detail
When it was time for me to do my self-portrait, I decided it was my hands that would best capture my identity. Our hands are the window into our soul. Our hands create and soothe and express our love and connect us to this world through action and tenderness. Left brain/Right brain. Can you figure out my dominant hand from this sculpture?
My Sculpture at the 2020 Studio Without Walls Show
in the Riverway Park, Brookline, MA
in the Riverway Park, Brookline, MA
Yet Another Sunrise...Tomorrow (2020)
DIMENSIONS: 68” W x 74” H x 6” D
MATERIALS: Plate Steel, Round and Square Steel Rod
Our universe is one miracle on top of another. We often take this daily precision for granted. As our world suffers from the ravages of climate change, we become more keenly aware of the fragile preciousness of planet Earth. We expect the sun to rise and its warmth to renew our day. We anticipate brilliant sunsets to end our day. And yet…
DIMENSIONS: 68” W x 74” H x 6” D
MATERIALS: Plate Steel, Round and Square Steel Rod
Our universe is one miracle on top of another. We often take this daily precision for granted. As our world suffers from the ravages of climate change, we become more keenly aware of the fragile preciousness of planet Earth. We expect the sun to rise and its warmth to renew our day. We anticipate brilliant sunsets to end our day. And yet…
My Sculpture at the 2019 Studio Without Walls Show
in the Riverway Park, Brookline, MA
in the Riverway Park, Brookline, MA
The Monument was installed at the Studio Without Walls show in 2019 in Brookline MA.
Monument To Lost Gloves (2019)
In Memory of Steve Schwartz and Barry Claycomb
DIMENSIONS: 108" H x 96" W x 18" D
MATERIALS: Steel plate, pipe and rod; assorted found gloves
All of these gloves are found objects I collected over the last few years from the local parks, sidewalks and schools while walking around Jamaica Plain or enjoying the tranquility of Jamaica Pond or the Arnold Arboretum. Collecting lost gloves has become a regular part of my wintertime activity. They are a ubiquitous characteristic of the city’s winter landscape. I often miss a lot of the winter’s beauty because I’m constantly checking the ground for lost gloves.
When I pick up a lost glove, I feel a sense of regret that I’m denying this glove the possibility of reuniting with its twin. Gloves are created as a pair. Isn’t a single glove found on the sidewalk the ultimate expression of loss and loneliness?
A relationship with a close friend feels like being part of a pair of gloves. Our time together can feel magical, a special type of connective tissue holding us in place. And like a lost glove, friendships cease through death, distance or disinterest.
I lost two dear friends in the last few years- Steve Schwartz and Barry Claycomb. Steve (who died in 2016) and I shared a mutual love of jazz. Over the years, we cultivated a loving and supportive relationship, the absence of which continues to be difficult for me. Barry died in early 2019 and our friendship goes back over 30 years. I’ve dedicated this piece to Steve and Barry’s memory.
In Memory of Steve Schwartz and Barry Claycomb
DIMENSIONS: 108" H x 96" W x 18" D
MATERIALS: Steel plate, pipe and rod; assorted found gloves
All of these gloves are found objects I collected over the last few years from the local parks, sidewalks and schools while walking around Jamaica Plain or enjoying the tranquility of Jamaica Pond or the Arnold Arboretum. Collecting lost gloves has become a regular part of my wintertime activity. They are a ubiquitous characteristic of the city’s winter landscape. I often miss a lot of the winter’s beauty because I’m constantly checking the ground for lost gloves.
When I pick up a lost glove, I feel a sense of regret that I’m denying this glove the possibility of reuniting with its twin. Gloves are created as a pair. Isn’t a single glove found on the sidewalk the ultimate expression of loss and loneliness?
A relationship with a close friend feels like being part of a pair of gloves. Our time together can feel magical, a special type of connective tissue holding us in place. And like a lost glove, friendships cease through death, distance or disinterest.
I lost two dear friends in the last few years- Steve Schwartz and Barry Claycomb. Steve (who died in 2016) and I shared a mutual love of jazz. Over the years, we cultivated a loving and supportive relationship, the absence of which continues to be difficult for me. Barry died in early 2019 and our friendship goes back over 30 years. I’ve dedicated this piece to Steve and Barry’s memory.
A news article in the Brookline Tab about the 2019 Studio Without Walls show in Brookline MA.
This sculpture is organized around a unique theme: tell me a story that you have never revealed to anyone. What secrets have you decided are yours alone? The identity of the storyteller remains anonymous. The story could be fact or fiction. No one really knows. We all have personal tales in our possession and that impact us in unconscious ways. Some exalt our sense of self and others torment us. I hope this process allows the storyteller to gain some release in the telling.
A Sculptural Interpretation of the Stuart Davis Masterpiece, Hot Still Scape in Six Colors
7th Avenue Style
7th Avenue Style
Stuart Davis-Hot Still Scape (1940) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Creating A Sculpture Of A Masterpiece By The Renowned American Painter, Stuart Davis
Hot Still Scape in 3-D: A Sculptural
Interpretation of the Stuart Davis Masterpiece (2019)
DIMENSIONS: 45”w x 86”h x 14”d
MATERIALS: Plate steel, round and square steel rods;
wire mesh
The Stuart Davis painting, Hot Still Scape in Six Colors-7th Avenue Style (1940), at the Museum of Fine Arts,* Boston hangs prominently alongside his compatriots Arthur Dove, John Marin, Marston Hartley and Georgia O’Keefe. The painting is an extraordinary amalgamation of design, abstraction, color and sheer brute energy.
This painting wants to be a sculpture! It cries out for release. The entire painting swirls with a cyclonic flow that gathers more and more energy the longer you stare at it. When you break down the painting into discrete parts, you experience bursts of power from the juxtaposition of color and shape. It’s so full of depth and intensity.The circles, crosses, triangles, and trapezoids work together to create magic.
I wanted to create a 3-D version of this painting for some time, an homage to this extraordinary painter. My sculptural interpretation is the same size as the Davis painting. I arbitrarily divided the painting into 16 constituent parts and then copied the painting’s features within each of these 16 constituent parts.
My piece is a sculptural interpretation of Hot Still Scape. It is not intended to be an exact reproduction. I took liberties with some of the painting’s features to reflect my sculptural whimsy. I chose a single-color scheme to call attention to the marvelous sculptural features of Davis’s painting. DONATED TO THE PINGREE SCHOOL
*see a photo of the Davis painting at the top
Interpretation of the Stuart Davis Masterpiece (2019)
DIMENSIONS: 45”w x 86”h x 14”d
MATERIALS: Plate steel, round and square steel rods;
wire mesh
The Stuart Davis painting, Hot Still Scape in Six Colors-7th Avenue Style (1940), at the Museum of Fine Arts,* Boston hangs prominently alongside his compatriots Arthur Dove, John Marin, Marston Hartley and Georgia O’Keefe. The painting is an extraordinary amalgamation of design, abstraction, color and sheer brute energy.
This painting wants to be a sculpture! It cries out for release. The entire painting swirls with a cyclonic flow that gathers more and more energy the longer you stare at it. When you break down the painting into discrete parts, you experience bursts of power from the juxtaposition of color and shape. It’s so full of depth and intensity.The circles, crosses, triangles, and trapezoids work together to create magic.
I wanted to create a 3-D version of this painting for some time, an homage to this extraordinary painter. My sculptural interpretation is the same size as the Davis painting. I arbitrarily divided the painting into 16 constituent parts and then copied the painting’s features within each of these 16 constituent parts.
My piece is a sculptural interpretation of Hot Still Scape. It is not intended to be an exact reproduction. I took liberties with some of the painting’s features to reflect my sculptural whimsy. I chose a single-color scheme to call attention to the marvelous sculptural features of Davis’s painting. DONATED TO THE PINGREE SCHOOL
*see a photo of the Davis painting at the top
Die Melcomeh (The War)
DIMENSIONS: 60" W x 48" H x 13" D
MATERIALS: Steel pipe, rod and sheet metal (2017)
When you travel to Europe (as we did in 2015) to visit the death camps that exterminated millions of Jews and other innocents, strange things happen. Prague and Berlin are cosmopolitan and well managed, perfect for a delightful vacation. Then we entered Thierenstadt and Sachsenhausen and wondered how these terrors could exist side by side with this sophistication and elegance. I appreciate that Germany today keeps its wartime atrocities front and center and for that, I developed newfound respect. The Czechs (and many other European wartime perpetrators) are another story. For them, it’s let’s erase, sanitize, obliterate and cleanse- as though ‘this thing’ barely happened and hardly made an impact on their collective consciousness.
That’s the point of this piece-Die Melchomeh (The War). It’s impossible to erase the Holocaust from our memory as Jews. I wasn’t directly affected by it, but I was truly affected by the savage scar IT left on the Jewish soul. The truth is that all of us are survivors of some past obscenity done to our peoples through endless forms of violence-rape, murder, dislocation, despair, hunger, starvation, and enslavement. These aren’t THINGS that simply pass out of our bodies. They have become part of every sinew in us-generation to generation.
It has been two years since I got the idea for this piece and it has taken me that long to make it. Then a dear friend sent me the memoirs of her friend who was a child of Holocaust survivors. In reading The Butcher’s Daughter by Florence Grende, my art piece started to take shape. The title for the piece, Die Melchomeh, comes from the book. Die Melchomeh is a Yiddish word for World War II. But it is much more than that. Here are two excerpts from The Butcher’s Daughter that capture what Die Melchomeh really means.
"Along with Tateh’s rucksack and weapon, Mameh’s photos and Bubbe’s scorched pots, they carried out of the forest a ravenous beast, Die Melchomeh, The War. That beast clung onto their backs throughout their journeys, from Poland to Germany to America, its jaws tearing through to their unseen parts. If I could, I would have warned them. I would have said, look behind you, shake it off, leave it here deep in the woods, or it will consume us all." (page 168)
"On her visit to the death camp at Majdanek:
In one barracks’ corner are mounds of blackened shoes, a mountain of leather piled topsy-turvy. With no one in sight, I reach for a child’s shoe, flattened as though depleted of breath, I think of my half sisters murdered not far from here, pocket it, leave. I wrap it in a soft cloth; carry it close during the long trip home. I’ve reclaimed something stolen, from my family, from me, from countless others. One shoe. In its singularity a symbol to me of all that was lost." (page 186)