Artists Offer Fresh Takes on Traditional Judaica in California

JEWISH WEEKLY
By Emma Silvers

“Hanukkah Menorah of the Talmudic Era” by Abrasha

CALIFORNIA---What do you call a creature that looks vaguely like a cross between a penguin and a miniature robot, made from a discarded wooden shoehorn and intricately arranged, disassembled circuit breakers? If you’re Liz Mamorsky, one local artist featured in a new exhibition of contemporary Judaica on display at San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El, you call him “Shoetree Totem” — and you can explain in one breath how he symbolizes the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the Trees. Mamorsky is one of 34 artists featured in “Traditional By Conception, Modern By Design,” an exhibition of contemporary Judaica organized in honor of Emanu-El’s Rabbi Stephen Pearce, on the occasion of his retirement this month after 20 years at the congregation. [link]