Home - The Winds (Then and Now)

Then and Now

Two years ago Chanukah time I came to Israel after a 48-year absence. I knew then that I planned on making Aliyah. What I didn't know was how my life would change in the intervening two years. How I would add photographer/artist to my 2 page+ long Science and Marketing Communications CV. In a very short time, I have been privileged to sell my work, to be recognized as a Emerging Artist (which I called Emergent in keeping with my teaching background). I've had three gallery shows, including one here in Israel at the Bloomfield Science Museum, and a second show - a chizuk for the community in Neve Eshkol and a reminder for me to be of value, of service.

I mention these things for background purposes. The technique I developed creates the illusion of depth – 3D-like visual illusion in 2D space – and like my photography endeavors emerged as a direct result of my trip to Israel in 2012. Then like anyone visiting this amazing country, like anyone coming home, I took pictures and when I returned to the States wanted to share my experiences, to tell a story which could convey the rich visual and textural colors, experiences. sights and feelings...my story.

The story become a photage - a photo montage which differs from a collage in that the images remain wholly intact but are juxtaposed to convey a narrative. Part of that narrative was my first visit to the Kotel.

I visited Israel as a child in 1964, a time when we weren't allowed to go to the Kotel, to go beyond the fence line, to walk freely in Yerushalyim and the Old City. I remember the fence, but those memories were replaced as I walked through the Jewish quarter on approach to the Kotel. What emerged from that confluence of moments reaching back across time to that moment and the ones which followed was my first photage entitled, REMEMBER.

This is the description I include with the photage, part of my experience, my story and maybe yours...

There is much we are often asked to remember, but the phrase from the Psalms Tehillim 137 speaks of forgetting, "If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning..." These are the words written about our exile and which begin with the verse "By the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept when we remembered Zion..."

The phrase, "If I forget thee O Jerusalem..." is a familiar one spoken and sung at weddings, and offered at a most joyous time just moments before the breaking of the glass. It, however, serves as a reminder that nothing should ever be placed above Jerusalem - our highest and greatest of joys. As I prepared to travel to Israel, some 48 years after my first visit, I often listened to several beautiful renditions of these verses, sung by different Israeli artists. The song became a part of me as did Psalms 121 - Shir laMa'alot Esa Enai "I lift up my eyes..."

As I approached the Western Wall during Chanukah, there were no prayer books within my reach and I had to lean over those in front of me to touch the stones. I might have spoken any number of prayers and words, but it was the verses from Psalms 137 and 121 which seemed most appropriate to the moment. That moment was part of the past, a memory from my childhood as I once stood at the fence line unable to enter the Old City; that moment was part of the present, of the moment, and of the future - an enduring symbol of a promise yet to be fulfilled and one which we keep close to our hearts and minds.

The REMEMBER photage includes an iconic golden sunset over Jerusalem; the Western Wall and plaza during Chanukkah 2012, and a view from the Haas promenade looking towards the Old City. The images blend past, present and future - of what can be seen and what cannot be seen, from the everlasting to the enduring, from the old to the new, from a beginning to a transcendent time and place without end...JERUSALEM.

I made Aliyah this summer on the Nefesh b'Nefesh August charter. I now make my home in Yerushalyim, in Katamon. I try to not to take for granted how lucky I am to be able to live in Israel, to live in Yerushalyim. I put the REMEMBER photage on a metal cuff which I wear religiously on my right wrist. I don't ever want to forget or take for granted this amazing country and remarkable city I call home.

I'll close with this thought, before I left the States I gave a gallery talk at the David and Laura Merage Gallery University of Denver Hillel House. I included a verse from Perek Shira which is the Song of the Wind...

The photages I developed for the Bloomfield Science Museum, the mada, are part of their new exhibit entitled, Fly with the Wind. I gave a gallery talk at the beginning of December and repeated the story.

It took me a long time to get here, but this daughter is home.

Happy Chanukah, Chanukah Sameach, Chag Urim Sameach...from Yerushalyim.

By the numbers...

After my initial posting I thought further about the passage from Perek Shira related to the crane (and other water fowl) which speaks of the lyre and David's ten-stringed harp (Psalms 33:2). There is some question as to whether Perek Shira refers to actual songs, audible on one level - though maybe not ours. If however we are to learn from these songs, this passage, moves our understanding to an actionable realm to give thanks through music.

As the title of this blog entry is by the numbers, it seems appropriate to relate to the number 10 mentioned in the verse. The number 10 is significant and symbolic on many levels, including as a representation of completeness. The number 10 is also part of my photage artwork Each image is divided into 10 sections; and, despite the hyphenation the entire image is still present in the composite image. It is also how I tend to shoot images - full frame without cropping the image so as to capture the moment...in its entirety.

One such photage entitled, "walkabouts" showcases a magnificent snowy egret prancing along a railing and which is juxtaposed with a bull snakeskin shed along a path and raccoon tracks in the sand, both of which are vestiges of movement past, and stand in striking contrast to the elegant egret. Each of these other creatures have a passage related to them in Perek Shira as well and so in many ways each photage represents a chorus of songs made up the various elements - animal, vegetable and mineral - contained in the each photage expression.

Perek Shira link: http://zootorah.com/assets/media/perek-shirah-booklet.pdf

Migrations & Change

I've started several blogs associated with my photography and the photage visual illusions I've created. Understanding my work is a dynamic process not unlike the illusions shifting perspectives - an evolution of sorts. It is my goal to migrate the previous posts here but with offered with a new dimension, an evolving perspective & story. A disclaimer here I am not a Bible scholar, I speak from what I know and perceive, and open this for discussion or comment.

About the name of this blog - in the song refers to Perek Shira - Chapter Song - which shares the voice/song of all of creation...animal, vegetable and mineral. As much of my photography work focuses on wildlife & nature, and is subsequently incorporated into my photages, it seems fitting to explore my relationship with the spiritual aspects of this gift.

As a scientist, I've developed my observational and reasoning skills; as an educator & writer I've been able to enhance my ability to communicate, and share knowledge and understanding about the amazing world around us.

I have been privileged to explore and in many ways discover for the first time, an amazing diversity of plants and animals, and with it a greater appreciation for our responsibility for this world.  Within the context of Perek Shira and its 85 verses which are excerpted from the Psalms (Tehilim), Prophets (Nevi'im) and other sources, we can hear the individual songs and see how these relate to us.

Within the context of my photage work which are developed as juxtapositions of two or more images into a content-rich story, and as such the Song of Creation can be viewed as a chorus of song - complex interactions but somehow rooted in simplicity through simple acts and actions. The title of this post is Migrations and Change, and which is as much about wildlife and nature as it is about the personal changes and my own migration, or in this case immigration to Israel. 

The photos I have included here are of some of the magnificent bird species I have seen recently. These are not always the best photographs but they document an experience in the moment...in the song. 

The Crane says: 

"Give thanks to Hashem with the lyre; play for Him with the ten-stringed harp." 

(Psalms 33:2)

I am focusing on a particular group of birds - the herons, egrets and ibis which are described in Chapter 4 of Perek Shira within the verse related to Cranes. While their flying characteristics are different, these are waterfowl breed and nest near the water, marshes and wetlands. 

The ibis is particularly known for capitalizing on new water sources - which is true of this photo as they are located near a flooded area following significant rainstorms in Colorado. The rain as it was came in a torrential downpour, flooding many streets and areas.

It was in the middle of the spring storm on 5.22.2014 (just yesterday) that I tried to escape the heavy traffic and flooded streets, by heading over to the lagoon outside the Denver Zoo where I knew flocks of snowy egrets and cormorants were nesting. To my surprise I also found male and female night herons at the water's edge; in the image below a black-headed night heron is perched on a tree branch at the water's edge.What a treat it was - a new discovery!

The landscape changed dramatically following the rain, tree branches and leaves littered the sidewalks and roads, and tumbleweeds and reeds were washed away by the rain and winds. 

When we pray for rain, formally or otherwise, it is with the caveat of..."for a blessing and not for a curse." We hope for a metered measure of rain, of water - for what we need both for crops and our own sustenance. But water is a powerful force of nature, shifting with the gravitational pull of the moon, able to etch and cut through metal and stone in industrial uses or in the smoothing of rocks as the river flows.Water has amazing properties - adhesion and cohesion, high surface tension, heat capacity, it is considered a universal solvent... (http://water.usgs.gov/edu/water-facts.html).

Water is the lifeblood of the Earth. It is what NASA searches for on other planets looking for signs of life. Here on this planet, approximately 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water, and a smaller percentage of this amount is freshwater as opposed to saltwater. Unfortunately, water is not always respected or appreciated as a limited resource, a vital resource. The crane and the other waterfowl whose existence is intimately dependent and related to water sing the song from Perek Shira of giving thanks and which is interpreted as giving thanks by many for water. Whether you're an environmentalist or not it is a lesson we too can learn.