Website testimonial letters — International
Poland
The following is excerpted from a letter I received on May 15, 2021 from Jan Pamula, who was a retired Professor of Art at the Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland and a working and exhibiting artist. He was one of the 2 Art Academy (ASP, Krakow) professors who co-led the summer art course for foreigners, 1984, which I attended. Born in 1944, he left this world on June 24, 2022. During the summer 1985, when I was back in Poland, I visited Jan and his wife Barbara. She preceded him in leaving this world some years ago. Jan and I stayed in contact via snail mail over the years and in more recent years via email and on social media; through 2021 I had kept him up-to-date on my new social justice education artworks, including the drawing I did of Czech. dissident Zavis
Kalandra. Other works which would have been interesting to him as someone who lived in Communist era Poland and then post-Communist Poland included my (Sight-seeing with Dignity series) drawing of a Polish priest murdered, autumn 1984, by Polish police; and my Under the Wings series drawing of a Polish priest who was executed by the Nazi military, 1939. I recall learning from Jan that Barbara's mother had been a prisoner in the Nazi's Auschwitz death camp and slave labor complex. I assume she had been a Polish (Catholic background inmate.
"Dear Akiva,
.... I follow your activity, you are so brave. First - you are a very good artist. My congratulations. Your works are full of empathy and artistic virtuosity. Please, receive my best greetings."
~
The attached photo of Jan is seen in the Starmach Gallery website.
ENGLAND
Letter from Dr. Edward Timms, Director of the Centre for German – Jewish Studies, and Dr. Deborah Schultz, Director of The Arnold Daghani Collection and Coordinator of German-Jewish Colloquium, University of Sussex
England, 2 November 1999
“The Centre for German-Jewish Studies wishes to extend its thanks for your excellent presentation on 19 October 1999 titled ‘Holocaust Education Through Art.’ It was a fascinating account of the paintings of Israel Bernbaum from his series and book ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ and from your own drawing series ‘Under the Wings of G-D.’
Although the audience was knowledgeable on German-Jewish history, it had little experience of artistic interpretation of the Holocaust and of Polish-Jewish history.
Your presentation offered the chance to become better informed on artistic responses to the Holocaust, and your contextualization of contemporary visual art with historical photographs of Polish Jews, as well as anti-Semitic German hate propaganda from the 1930’s against the Jews, was very powerful.
Especially valuable was the way in which you related mass issues of stereotyping and prejudice to situations faced by other communities such as Native American peoples of North America. It remains very important to relate the significance of the Holocaust to contemporary circumstances.
Once again, many thanks for a wonderful and inspiring presentation.”
ISRAEL
Letter from Tammy Bar-On, Coordinator of Art Therapy Division, The Graduate School of Creative Art Therapies, Haifa University
May 7, 2011
“I want to thank you for the important presentation and workshop that you presented to my art therapy students. The timing was perfect as it did so close to Holcoaust Memorial Day here in Israel.
The presentation of your artwork was significant to the students and to me. Your focus on individual images and their stories in relation to the Holocaust and genocide created a personalization and closeness to what is often distanced, either because of the sheer magnanimity of the numbers or due to feeling that it is impossible to relate to something so incomprehensible. The feedback from the students in relation to the workshop was very positive. They were given a chance to express their feelings around this difficult subject through art.
Your leadership of the following discussion enabled them to openly relate to whatever came up for them through their dialogue with the subject, the art material, and the process of creating color, form and image.
The work you do is extremely important and should be presented as widely as possible. Personally I hope you will be able to come back again.”