I enjoyed a lovely crowd last night at Havurah Shalom in Portland, Oregon. My talk, sponsored by the Oregon Jewish Museum and the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center, had a fabulous turnout. I’m told that close to 120 people were in attendance!
The first talk about my great-grandfather’s art and my documentary film project was a year ago. The talk has grown and changed over time but the goal, always, is to share my great-grandfather’s work.
A selfie taken before the talk
There were many kind words and wonderful questions last night during the Q&A including several about artistic influences upon my great-grandfather’s work. This question is an important and interesting one and is one which I wish I could offer a better and more solid answer. My background is rhetoric and speech communication and while I have delved deep into the story of my great-grandfather, I am only beginning to understand his contemporaries and the influence of other artists on his own stylistic choices and subjects. I must admit that I wish someone else would come along and write about this, but perhaps the time has come for me to buckle down and do more research on this matter myself.
Posing with the film crew after the talk. Peter at right, Alex at left.
The reception after the talk was lovely! I met and spoke with so many interesting people – friends of friends, artists, a Fulbright scholar who did research for me in Warsaw, and a filmmaker. I left buoyed by the enthusiasm for the project and with several opportunities to follow up on in the upcoming weeks.
Next scheduled talk is:
Sunday June 8th at 1pm
San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society.