Remembering the Dead and the Living: Sharing Their Stories and Ours
Join us for a conversation with Rabbi Elana Zaiman - author of The Forever Letter - and artist Nancy Patz in conjunction with her exhibit, All About My Mother. A reception will be held prior to the talk from 6:00-7:00pm.
In Nancy Patz: All About My Mother, the artist exhibits poetry and paintings created 50 years after her mother died of cancer as an expression of delayed mourning. In this related public program, Patz discusses her project in conversation with Rabbi Elana Zaiman, author of The Forever Letter.
Artist and popular children’s book author/illustrator Nancy Patz was 17 when her mother Fanny died at the age of 41. It took Patz almost 50 years before she was able to write and paint her mother back into her life. Sometimes she wrote poems on her mother’s portraits. Other times she drew her mother’s portraits on the poems. Nancy returned to this series on and off for 15 years as she reimagined particular moments with her mom.
Elana Zaiman, rabbi, chaplain and author of The Forever Letter, joins artist Nancy Patz in this retrospective exhibition. As they walk through the exhibit, Rabbi Zaiman will question the artist about specific portraits and engage her and those present in conversation about memory, loss, grief and creativity, hoping that sharing these stories will open a path to meaningful awakenings within ourselves and deepened connections with the people in our lives today who matter to us. Participants may have an opportunity to engage in a brief writing exercise with Rabbi Zaiman at the conclusion of the event which highlights relevant themes.
NOTE: There will be an opening reception from 6:00-7:00 pm, followed by the conversation with Rabbi Elena Zaiman from 7:00-8:30pm.
