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South Orange Synagogue will Hold an Opening Exhibit for the Temple Community on April 14
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J., April 4, 2019 – Richard Koch, a long-time member of Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel (TSTI) in South Orange, is a fine art photographer accustomed to showing his work. He also notices blank walls and imagines filling them with artwork. Some blank space at TSTI gave him an idea for his lifelong synagogue community: creating an art gallery for TSTI, with the first show featuring art created by members of the congregation. This idea will become reality when TSTI holds a gallery opening reception on Sunday, April 14, with over 90 original pieces in various media on display.
With the support of the temple board and Rabbi Daniel Cohen, Koch assembled a diverse committee of art teachers and collectors, fellow artists and others to develop the TSTI Gallery project. They are: Felix Aarts, Bonnie Garely, teenager Quinn Joy, Kelly Leight, Jeffrey Lindberg, Arnold Rintzler, architectural advisor Mark Schaevitz, Lisa Suss and Gail Szenes. Koch said the committee has received enthusiastic support from TSTI’s various cohorts and the religious school as well.
A museum-quality hanging system is being installed in all common areas to display artwork in the front and school entrances, and the hallways leading to the library and to the mansion. The system will accommodate up to 96 distinct works of art. Members may submit up to three pieces for consideration in all painting media, photography, drawing, sculpture and mixed media. The initial, members-only exhibit will be displayed through June 6.
“The TSTI art gallery has tremendous potential for the community,” said Koch. “We hope to eventually exhibit art that also educates, with themes such as civil rights. We also want to have a show for the wider Essex County art community and possibly one that showcases artwork by local teens.”
Future plans also include a loaner program to exhibit Jewish art along the hallway leading from the school to the mansion; members would lend their Jewish art to TSTI for a period of one year to display.
Koch, a West Orange native and current resident, traces his temple membership back to his childhood; he became bar mitzvah when the synagogue was in East Orange. His son also became bar mitzvah at TSTI—with the party held in the mansion—and his daughter attended TSTI’s religious school when the family lived in Maplewood. Koch served on the TSTI board for several years in the 1980s.
Koch’s passion for photography has taken him around the world; he traveled to Patagonia before the gallery opening, where he photographed landscapes, wildlife and people. Exotic locales aside, he is also excited by the possibilities the TSTI Gallery holds for synagogue members, religious school students and the wider community—as a place to share artistic expression and to use art as an educational and cultural tool that brings people together.
Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel (TSTI) is a dynamic, inclusive Reform congregation that offers numerous ways for members to connect with and celebrate being part of the Jewish community and the world. Welcoming Jews by birth or by choice, interfaith, traditional and non-traditional families, and children of all abilities, TSTI provides lifelong learning and enriching programs for all members through a full complement of religious services, early childhood and religious school education, cultural programs, and activities that foster connection, engagement and community outreach in a joyful, judgment-free environment. Located at 432 Scotland Road in South Orange, TSTI draws members from Maplewood, South Orange, West Orange, Short Hills, Millburn, Livingston and surrounding areas. For more information, visit www.tsti.org.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Members of the TSTI art gallery committee (l. to r.): Bonnie Garely, Kelly Leight, Felix Aarts, Gail Szenes, Lisa Suss and Richard Koch. Not shown: Jeffrey Lindberg, Arnold Rintzler, Quinn Joy, Mark Schaevitz, Bonnie Maranz
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432 Scotland Road, South Orange, NJ 07079
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