WHERE ARE OUR DEAF ARTISTS?
Everywhere!
We are all artists. Some of us may use paints and brushes to paint pictures; some use cameras. Others may use tools to carve and paint woodcraft; some are artists in the kitchen, producing master-pieces of culinary art. Others are artists when they decorate and repair their homes. Then we have our artists on the computer, not actually drawing pictures, but putting words together on paper-the art of writing. We are all artists when we use sign language, some more talented than others, but signing is an art, that's for sure.
Recently I looked through my copy of Deaf Heritage and found 65 pages devoted to deaf artists, sculptors, architects and crafts-men. There were many famous deaf artists in the 1900's and even before. Included were deaf Californians like landscape artist Granville Redmond, who died in 1935, one of whose works is displayed in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Douglas Tilden whose sculpture, The Baseball Player, can be seen in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The Bear Hunt, one of his most dramatic sculptures, welcomes students and visitors to the campus of the California School for the Deaf in Fremont. The book also mentions the late Fred La Monto, whose statue of Moses holding aloft the Ten Commandments was donated to Temple Beth Solomon several years ago by his friend Bob Miller. Morris Broderson, a famous contemporary deaf artist, who lives and works in West Hollywood, is also featured in Deaf Heritage.
The fact is that the deaf community today has many fine artists but it seems to me not enough are recognized. Last year Rabbi Miriam Biatch and Jan Seeley organized an exhibit of deaf artists who were members of the Temple. When Jan asked for works to be displayed she had no idea what the response would be and to her surprise and everyone's delight, artists came out of the woodwork, bringing in paintings, watercolors and sculptures that had been in their homes for years. It was a case of hidden talent. Many of us keep these cultural items in the privacy of our homes but it is time for us to let people know about our art!
That is what excites me about 17 year-old Maxie Goldberg, whose paintings were displayed at the Temple on February 17th. She wants her art to be seen, she has so much to say and she wants to share with us her feelings and emotions through her art. Maxie started painting as a very young child and was encouraged by her parents who always had paints and paper and canvas available for her to work with at home. Her parents sent her to summer camps where she had even more opportunity to express herself.
Maxie was very fortunate, unlike the children she portrays in her paintings, who didn't have that opportunity or supportive parents. I've found that in schools and programs for the deaf there is not much emphasis on art. Children do get the chance to draw in the classroom, but many times it is to copy other pictures. Art therapy is often used to help students with problems work out their frustrations, but art should not only be looked upon as therapy, art should be a given. If art was added to the basic three R's, reading, writing, and arithmetic, there very likely would be less frustration.
Visual communication is basic to the deaf and art is a visual communication. Some talented children will go on to high school and choose art as an elective but there doesn't seem to be a major effort being made to provide art and art appreciation in the schools and programs for the deaf, with the exception of schools such as Kendall Elementary Demonstration School and the Model Secondary School at Gallaudet University. There is also the Center on Deafness, near Chicago which has a very special art program and sponsors an annual Creative Arts Festival. But these schools seem to be the exceptions.
Reception/Deception by David Bloch
We celebrated Jewish Art Month in February and the Temple is very proud to have the lithographs of deaf Jewish artist, David Bloch, who lives in New York. He is well known for his wood block prints and his designs for chinaware. He designed a service set of china for the White House during Lyndon Johnson's presidency. Bloch was born in Germany and imprisoned in Dachau for two years. His story is a long and courageous one and from his experience produced extraordinary woodcuts of the Holocaust, some of them are displayed in our library. If you haven't seen them yet you can visit our library.
At the ASL Festival in November there was an art exhibit sponsored by Deaf Visual Artists, and it proved that we have many artists working in Southern California. Maxie Goldberg is one carrying on our deaf heritage with her art and inspiring others. Where are our deaf artists? Right here, when we sign, when we paint, when we do a good job and are pleased with it. We can all be artists if we try.