Transformations: A Piece of Wood Becomes a Masterpiece

I have been close friends and a musical colleague with Hevreh Ensemble member Laurie Friedman for many years. We first met as young music students at the Manhattan School of Music and since that time, it has been my great pleasure to not only have the opportunity to play music together but to also witness the creation of her innovative and inspiring carvings. What starts out as a log or an interesting piece of wood is transformed into an object of beauty!

One of the silver linings of the pandemic, has been the wonderful gift of time. This past year, Hevreh Ensemble would have presented a tour to China under the auspices of our record label PARMA , presented concerts for the Jewish Community of Argentina, taught students in person (what a novel idea) rehearsed and worked on new music together and presented concerts and workshops in the US.

On a snowy afternoon, Laurie and I sat down with cups of tea and had an in-depth ZOOM conversation where Laurie talked about what inspires her, the materials and techniques that she uses and about her most recent sculpture that is based on her impressions and experiences from our 2018 tour to Poland.

POLIN Museum of Jewish History-2018/ Video projection by Loli Kantor

For the tour, we presented concerts in Krakow for the Jewish Cultural Festival, the Galeria Labiryant in Lublin and for the POLIN Museum of Jewish History in Warsaw. This was part of a collaboration with the photographer Loli Kantor. When our concerts were finished, we had a free day to explore Warsaw. With my husband Paul, Laurie and Jeff and I set out to find a section of the remaining Warsaw Ghetto Wall. After asking for directions and getting lost many times, we came upon a restored synagogue that had miraculously survived the war. Horrifically, it had been used as a horse stable by the Nazis.

After walking for a few more miles, we saw it! Straight ahead of us was the section of the ghetto wall-in the middle of a residential neighborhood- quite a surreal moment!

Laurie based her most recent sculpture on the emotions that she experienced during this day and impressions from the tour to Poland.

In this section of the sculpture, a shofar is depicted. In our concert for the POLIN Museum, Laurie played the Shofar. She remembers how she felt- a strong and powerful affirmation flowed through her; the Jewish people had survived and were flourishing.

The synagogue that was restored from the former desecration by the Nazis is depicted here. The small indentations in the wood represent bullet holes. We saw them on the side of a wall near the Chopin Boutique B&B in Warsaw.

Here, the section of the ghetto wall is represented with steps going down to the gas chamber at Auschwitz.

Look closely and you will see a small fetus, curled up safely in the center of the wood. According to Laurie, this “represents the continuance of life; we did not perish!”

In our conversation, I asked Laurie what was coming next. She showed me a picture of a piece of yellow wood that was she was starting to work on. I will eagerly look forward to what develops! Hopefully Hevreh Ensemble will be able to travel to Argentina soon to present our rescheduled concerts and perhaps she will find inspiration there!

Written by: Judith Dansker