Howell artist Avram Shapiro and his wife, Marcia. His paintings have helped make a spiritual setting for Congregation Kol Am services.
Photo courtesy Avram Shapiro
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A painting by Avram Shapiro of Jerusalem; the Hebrew reads “sukkat shalom,” shelter of peace.
A painting based on synagogue life at Congregation Kol Am shows Rabbi Brooks Susman conducting a bar mitzva.
Sun bathers enjoying the beach in Eilat.
July 21, 2009
Congregation Kol Am may not have its own building, but wherever its members meet, the site is transformed into a sanctuary by the paintings of Avram Shapiro.
Depictions of Israel, sacred objects and rites, and Jewish subjects painted by the artist, who lives in the Villages adult community in Howell, are set up on the makeshift bima before the start of services.
“We create that sacred space wherever we go,” explained Kol Am president Henry Rose. “Avram’s paintings help create that place and feeling of being Jewish.”
The congregation also often includes a Shapiro painting in its e-newsletters.
Shapiro, who has been painting since 1974 and has shown his art throughout the New York area, has used his brush to detail nature scenes and other things that strike him, including the New York skyline minus the World Trade Center, where he worked for years as a federal employee.
Seven years ago, when he was among the founding members of Kol Am, he said, it occurred to him that his artwork could help set the mood for Shabbat worship.
He made the offer, and the paintings were such a hit they became a regular feature at services, which are held in the Freehold area, generally at West Freehold School and in the municipal building in the summer.
The works include scenes of Jerusalem and many based on events and rituals conducted, from a Kol Am bar mitzva to lighting Hanukka candles.
“I started a whole series of Jewish themes from our services,” said the 73-year-old Shapiro, who has dabbled in art since his childhood, but became serious about painting after chance encounters with other artists.
“I was sitting next to this gentleman on the bus who was leafing through his portfolio and said he was going to do a show at the World Trade Center,” Shapiro said. “The next day there was another fellow who said he was going to do a show at the World Trade Center. I thought to myself, ‘I could do that also.’ That kind of inspired me and I’ve painted ever since.”
Shapiro has exhibited at the Monmouth Festival of the Arts at the Monmouth Reform Temple and most recently at the SCAN senior learning center in Eatontown. He also recently received a second place award in the Monmouth County Senior Art Show. A board member of the Freehold Art Society, Shapiro has exhibited widely in other individual, group, and juried shows.
Also an avid photographer, both his photos and paintings are in numerous private collections in the United States and Canada, particularly on Prince Edward Island, where he and his wife, Marcia, spent summer vacations for 19 years and where the artist spent many hours capturing its nautical surroundings.
His work has also been on display at the Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County in Freehold, where Kol Am’s rabbi, Brooks Susman, is on the board and chairs the exhibit committee.
However, although he has painted colorful and vivid scenes of Israel, Shapiro has never actually been there.
“Some of the temple members took photographs and shared them with me,” he acknowledged. “Maybe I’ll get there one day.”
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