CURATORS STATEMENT
A recent gift of a postcard written in the late 30’s sparked this art exhibit
at Montclair’s 73 See Gallery. The postcard had been written by a young man from the ghetto in Lodz, Poland, to his great-aunt Frieda living in Paterson, NJ. Written in German, it was translated by a mutual cousin and ultimately given to me, a very interested cousin and artist. The postcard’s tragic plea for help impelled me to create art related to the stories I had heard while a child visiting my grandmother in Paterson. My paintings and the work of six other artists will be shown at the gallery from March 28th until early May. The members of the exhibiting collective, Janet Boltax, Pauline Chernichaw, Helena Gullstrom, Racheli Hilai, Caren Sommer-Lazar, Monica Litvany, and Marilyn Deitchman, have approached this project with their own stories in mind. The art behind “A Visual Narrative” is a unique expression of each artist. Collectively they reflect their compelling interest in provoking viewers to think and feel beyond any stories and reflect on the wider reality of both the natural world and human behavior. – Marilyn Deitchman, curator, 2014