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CALLING ALL ARTISTS!

The JCC is proud to welcome and introduce The Museum of Imajewnation as part of its grand opening of the Staenberg Family Complex Arts & Education Building in Creve Coeur scheduled for late February 2010.  The ambition of the museum is to engage people’s imagination and encourage their interaction with Jewish culture - its ritual objects and customs, its texts and stories, its history and legends, and its chants and music.  Artists are challenged to create for display, and possible sale, works that respond to a specific question or theme.  We will support their efforts with optional community workshops and classes to create a thriving environment for interactive learning and artistic expression.  Exhibit will be located within the new Beit Midrash (Jewish Learning Center) in the JCC’s Arts & Education Building where thousands of community members are anticipated to view each exhibit.

The first exhibit will celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim and be entitled:

Listening For Haman, Sounding Out the Grogger;  Groggers For War and Peace

The Jewish community celebrates the holiday of Purim with a public reading of the scroll of Esther which recounts the events of the Jewish community in Persia in ancient times when a sinister advisor to the King, Haman, plotted to destroy and wipe out the Jewish community.  His plot was foiled by Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai and the Jews were saved.  Today, during the public reading of this story on Purim, when each time Haman’s name is read, it is custom for the entire congregation to make loud noise with noisemakers called groggers to blot out the name of Haman.  Artists are invited to respond to the question:  “Have you ever heard a sound that could ease an angry heart?”  This exhibit challenges the artist to design a grogger and imagine the sounds that it can make in response to an enemy.  Artists can create functional, mechanical groggers or house digital or other self-recording devices in the grogger.

Entry Procedures and Requirements

Exhibit runs February 21 - March 14, 2010

• Please send a letter of intent to participate, with name, address, email and phone number, along with entry fee for $18, made out to the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146, Attention: Rabbi Brad Horwitz.
• Deadline for entry letter and $18 fee is February 1, 2010 in order to participate.
• In general, artwork may not exceed 12’’ in depth.  There may be limited space for larger pieces.  Call for information.
• Attach identification label on the work (artist’s name, title [optional] and price if for sale)
• Write an artist’s statement that tells how you view this project.  Please include name, address, phone number, e-mail address.
• Please bring or mail artwork to Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146, Attention Rabbi Brad Horwitz by February 15, 2010
• Note that the JCC takes 20% commission on any sales from the exhibition.
• Submission of artwork signifies that the artist allows the Museum and JCC to reproduce artwork for publicity.
• All entries must be picked up on Monday, March 15, 2010.  Mail returns require prepaid postage.
• Due to limited space, not all artwork submitted may be displayed in exhibit.  If artwork is not chosen for display by committee, entry fee will be refunded.

Contacts:
Rabbi Brad Horwitz, 314-442-3271
Naomi Fishman, 314-477-5772