Art Kibbutz International Jewish Artist Colony
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Gateway - Emmett Leader

Picture
Ceramic artist Emmett Leader has created a beautifulgateway for the 2.5 acre organic garden that The Jewish Farm School's intentional community is developing day by day.  This gateway consisting of an arch that holds five beautiful friezes and 15 foot poles braided together was dedicated on our Open Studio day on May 12th, when more than eighty people -- friends, journalists, families, came to spend the day, visiting artists' studios, enjoying the beauty of the awakening landscape, appreciating what some of them have helped create with their generous donations, and all getting to know Eden Village.  

Personal Statement:
The concept of the farm gateway was driven by a direct and personal response towards  the guiding principals of Eden Village Camp and the organization running the farm there, The Jewish Farm School. What I saw, simply put, was a farm and community being created where agriculture, creation, community and celebration was inspired by Jewish texts and custom in way that resonated deeply within me.

My artwork, which for many years has been inspired by Jewish ritual, narratives, and historical material culture, where the relationship of human beings to one another, the land, and to G-d is the primary focus. For me, to create a gateway, a transitional and sacred space where one has the opportunity to consider and work with some of these questions seemed like an obvious project to design and build.

While the gateway can potentially serve a wide range of purposes, there were  primary considerations that motivated my design. First, as I mentioned above, it is a transitional /sacred space within a farm/community and one is invited to experience that in both a Jewish and personal context. It is also a functional gateway in the sense that it marks an opening through which people, animals and tractors must pass in order to go into the farm, or at selected times, where machinery can be denied entry.

In this gateway, I created large scale carved clay tiles that have imagery and text, laying claim to  the importance of the visual in the human experience and also very importantly to imagery as a portal to Jewish spirituality. The text incorporated into this gateway are the first two and last two lines from a quote of Rabbi Eleazar :                                                                                                                    

Where there is no Torah, there is no derekh eretz/decent, cultured behavior;
where there is no derekh eretz, there is no Torah. 
Where there is no wisdom, there is no fear/reverence of God; 
where there is no fear/reverence of God, there is no wisdom. 
Where there is no understanding, there is no knowledge; 
where there is no knowledge, there is no understanding. 
Where there is no kemah/meal/flour, there is no Torah*; 
where there is no Torah, there is no kemah/meal/flour.** 
Pirke Avot 3:17 

The imagery carved into the tiles speak to the uniquely human experience of growing grain and transforming it into bread. Additional imagery speak to other species coexisting and foraging for their food. Details reference Jewish practices related to our agriculturally based history as well as the shelters that we build for our own protection. Included as well is a reference to the homes that we have built for an animal that we have been intertwined with, both practically and metaphorically, for millennia- the dove/pigeon.

The wood for the gateway is from locust trees that I cut on my land. In deciding to work with them I have learned to use what is at hand, experiencing it’s abundance or scarcity, it’s ease and it’s resistance to being shaped- allowing the qualities and potential of the local material to influence in it’s own unique way.

I was especially excited to be able to install and finish the gateway during the Art Kibbutz residency- to be able to expand on the conversation that I’ve started with the gateway as well as learn what others were thinking and creating!

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  • Home
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    • Public Programs in 2019
    • Public Programs in 2018 >
      • Lincoln Center Film Festival
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      • Creative Queers
      • NY Poetry Festival
      • Make Music New York Festival
      • ARt, ARchitecture & AR: Augmented Reality & Jewish Art
      • Klezmer Aerobics
      • Interactive Poetry Presentation
      • Lost Sock Project 'Oneness'
    • Public Programs in Summer 2015 >
      • Shmita ArtFest
      • Seven Minutes Between Heaven and Earth
      • Shpiel Performing Arts Workshop
    • Rooted Exhibition
    • Creative Catalyst Symposium >
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    • Creative Family Circle
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  • Artists
    • Artists & Curators 2018 >
      • Neshama Carlebach
      • Ronnit Vasserman
      • Ari Goldman
      • Goldie Gross
    • Artists 2017 >
      • Asherah Cinnamon
      • Ali Shrago-Spechler
      • Goldie Gross
      • Kobi Arad
      • Ronit Levin Delgado
      • Sky Kim
      • Oran Etkin
      • Natalie Jean
      • Shira Holder
      • Cecil Parker
      • Antonio Bamoozie
      • Shira Dicker
      • Deborah Kahan Kolb
      • Pinny Bulman
      • Jane Mushabac
      • Tamra Plotnick
      • Naftali Noah Lehrman
      • Raymond Richards-Mcnaught
      • Bobby Mcullough
    • Governor's Island Resident Artists 2016
    • Rooted Exhibition Participating Artists
    • Creative Catalyst Presenters
    • Governor's Island Resident Artists 2015
    • Governor's Island Resident Artists 2014
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    • New Museum Resident Artists
    • Environmental Art Residency Artists
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  • Past Residencies
    • Past Residencies
    • Governor's Island Summer Residency 2016 >
      • Governor's Island Summer Residency 2016
      • Resident Artists 2016 >
        • Resident Artists
        • Yona Verwer >
          • ARt, ARchitecture & AR: Augmented Reality & Jewish Art
        • Cynthia Beth Rubin
        • Judith Margolis
        • Pinny Bulman
        • Andreas Savva
        • Boshko Boskovic
        • Eugenia Delfini
        • Kevin Bernstein
        • Julian Voloj
        • Benjamin Melendez
        • Tamra Plotnick
        • Ayelet Danielle Aldouby
        • Pesya Altman
        • Deborah Yarchun
        • Kyo Young Keum
        • Pearl Gluck
        • Ella Moriah Mason
        • Lori Goldberg
        • Hillel Broder
        • Lenore Cohen
        • Debralynn Fein
        • Michal Berman
        • Jeremy Stoller
        • Sarah Sokolic
        • David Winitsky
        • Nicole Teeny
        • Malky Lipshitz
        • Melissa Weisz
        • Yishai Jesse Romanoff
        • Shira Holder
        • Hope Weiner
        • Michael Feder
        • Amy Oestreicher
        • Wannes Duponcheel
        • Nadia Randriamorasata
        • Jesse Freedman
        • Debra Epstein
        • Lev Ari
        • Aaron Moeller
        • Ali Shrago-Spechler
        • Raphael Rice
        • Anna Turai
        • Chavie Weisberger
        • Shira Dicker
        • Asherah Cinnamon
        • Daniel Brenner
        • Benjamin Melendez
        • Rabba Dr. Anat Sharbat
        • Shaina Goldberg
        • Jennifer Rappaport
        • Kimani Fowlin
        • Dorene Schwartz-Weitz
        • Mitchell Harrison
        • Peggi Gottlieb
        • Zoi Klemencz
        • Alice Shockey
      • Fellowships
    • Governor's Island Residency 2015 >
      • Governor's Island Summer Residency 2015
      • Resident Artists 2015 >
        • Asherah Cinnamon
    • Governor's Island Residency 2014 >
      • Governor's Island Residency 2014
      • Governor's Island Resident Artists
    • Figment Festivals
    • New Museum Residency >
      • New Museum Residency
      • Resident Artists at the Draftsmen's Congress at the New Museum
    • Environmental/Land Art Residency >
      • Environmental/Land Art Residency
      • Environmental Art Eden Village Resident Artists >
        • Present with the Wind
        • Shema:Listen
        • Eden Waters
        • Gateway to Her Dwelling
        • Kabbalistic Improvisations
        • Foraging for Manna
        • The Gateway
      • Press release
      • Testimonials
  • Support
  • About
    • Staff >
      • Patricia Eszter Margit
      • Noah Benus
    • Board of Directors
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    • Volunteer Teams
  • Press
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