Kabbalah Camp For Everyone

Kabbalah is Jewish theology. The principal book of Kabbalah, the Zohar, was written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai about 1800 years ago. He died on Lag b’Omer (that day is commemorated this year on Friday May 23, 2008) His grave in Meron, Israel is visited each year on that day and bonfires are lit in his memory. The Zohar gives answers to basic questions such as: Who and what is man and why we are here?
For further information, I recommend: “Kabbalah for Dummies” by Arthur Kurzweil, Wiley Publishing, Inc. As to who may study Kabbalah, I will quote from his book”
“Of course, you don’t have to be Jewish to study Kabbalah. On the contrary, in today’s world, the wisdom of the great spiritual traditions is, for the first time, universally available. In the past, you may have been able to find a book here or there or spend some time with an occasional teacher from a religious or spiritual tradition that wasn’t your own. But now books , Web sites and ease of travel afford the opportunity to encounter the world’s great religious and spiritual traditions. There’s certainly nothing wrong with wanting to nourish oneself at the watering hole of any source of wisdom.

The sculpture represents my dream of a Kabbalah camp ground for every man.
This hand built fired clay sculpture is, 18” wide x 12” deep x 12” high, and is decorated with under glazes, acrylics and ribbon.

Chabad Doxie Basketball Team

I pictured my not so athletic dachshund, Madison as a basketball player. I figure that with his long body, a jump shot is no big deal. He can slam-dunk that ball into the basket. But he is not major league material. I picture him starting on a Chabad team. My dog is devout. Look at him with his black hat and coat, with the tzitis sticking out from his waistband.

This is a political cartoon

Clay on wood base

Size: width 15" x depth 12" x height 22"

FACES

FACES.
People are intrigued by faces. We love to look at others. However we are embarrassed to be caught staring.
Here are some sculptures of faces designed to be hung on the wall.
They are Ingratiate, Sad,

Abashed, Shout,

and Disgust.

The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka wrote stories of people in impossible situations. His subject matter was the absurd, alienation and entrapment. His themes reflected his own situation. He has tuberculosis eighty years ago. At that time there was no cure. He was a Jew in central Europe after the end of the First World War. Two decades later, if he had lived that long, he would have been killed by his neighbors. He grew up in Prague, studied in schools that taught in the German language. Before the war, Prague was part of the German speaking Austrian Empire. After, it was the capital of Czechoslovakia. The local language was Czech. He of course, wrote in German
The two principal characters are Gregor, who wakes up one morning to find that he has changed into a dung beetle, and his sister Greta who cares for him, though less so as the dynamics between parents, the sister and Gregor evolved.
I selected the singer Madonna to model Greta. I pictured her wearing a traditional German dirndl dress.


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Gregor, I made as a rather colorful if not fanciful dung beetle.



In the story, his father throws apples at Gregor, to force him back into his room. One of the apples gets stuck in his back between the shell sections, where his is unable to remove it. the family finds him so disgusting that no one would touch him, much less remove the apple.

Hillary, A Hell fo a Gal

She is running for President. She wants to get back to her old address on Pennsylvania Avenue. Good for her!

Be that as it may, this is a three dimensional political cartoon in clay.
The reference for this sculpture is the Garden of Earthly Delights by H. Bosch. Hieronymus Bosch 1450 – 1516, a resident of the Netherlands, who had a successful career as a painter of religious visions. There are three panels to this painting. The panel on the right was a depiction of hell. While many of the tortures of hell are depicted as musical instruments (husband Bill’s saxophone might fit in), I picked another figure. That is the hollow body supported by two trees growing out of two boats floating in water.

IMUS: Do you like my NAPPY HOSE?

Funny how you can miss hear things. When the news broadcast the story about Imus and his "nappy headed ho's" remark, I was only half listening.

Even though she does not appear to be ready for the Rutgers womens basketball team, this sculpture pictures what I thought I heard.