2008 Woodie Awards
Holocaust tapestries colorfully depict dark history
Densie Fisher
Issue date: 9/22/06 Section: Features
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Guilford College is honored to have Fabric of Survival, an exhibit of the visionary art of Holocaust survivor Esther Nisenthal Krinitz on display.
"The Greensboro Public Library's 2006 One City One Book selection of the Diary of Anne Frank prompted me to look for a Holocaust artist," said Theresa Hammond, Guilford art gallery director and curator. "I have been very pleased to have a social justice theme this year."
According to Hammond, the founding director of Guilford's gallery, securing the collection required more effort than any previous exhibit in her 16 years as curator. Dimmed lighting and special heat and humidity control must be followed to protect the survival of the fabric itself. Extra staffing was scheduled to meet the security measures understandably required by the artist's family.
Krinitz was a skilled dressmaker who, at the age of 50, began to piece together the stories of her family lost in the Holocaust through embroidered tapestries. Her daughters, Bernice Steinhardt and Helene McQuade, soon realized that their mother's art - intended only for them and their children - should be seen by the world.
For those who visit the exhibit, which is on display until Oct. 29, a nearly sacred setting of subdued lighting and vibrant textures invites the viewer to be drawn into Krinitz's childhood memories of her family and village of Mniszek, Poland.
"Most striking is the lack of depression, the cheer of color and style of her work in the way a child might approach it," said exhibit visitor Andrew Bruenig, a junior physics, environmental studies, and math major. "She conveys her message objectively without losing her personal connection. Particularly meaningful is her healthy ability to portray her subject matter without dwelling on it."
"What do we want to come out of all this?" asked junior Lily Moselle, an art and education studies major who is an intern with Hammond this fall. "This was somebody's life - everybody's life is worth living - she was really somebody."
"The Greensboro Public Library's 2006 One City One Book selection of the Diary of Anne Frank prompted me to look for a Holocaust artist," said Theresa Hammond, Guilford art gallery director and curator. "I have been very pleased to have a social justice theme this year."
According to Hammond, the founding director of Guilford's gallery, securing the collection required more effort than any previous exhibit in her 16 years as curator. Dimmed lighting and special heat and humidity control must be followed to protect the survival of the fabric itself. Extra staffing was scheduled to meet the security measures understandably required by the artist's family.
Krinitz was a skilled dressmaker who, at the age of 50, began to piece together the stories of her family lost in the Holocaust through embroidered tapestries. Her daughters, Bernice Steinhardt and Helene McQuade, soon realized that their mother's art - intended only for them and their children - should be seen by the world.
For those who visit the exhibit, which is on display until Oct. 29, a nearly sacred setting of subdued lighting and vibrant textures invites the viewer to be drawn into Krinitz's childhood memories of her family and village of Mniszek, Poland.
"Most striking is the lack of depression, the cheer of color and style of her work in the way a child might approach it," said exhibit visitor Andrew Bruenig, a junior physics, environmental studies, and math major. "She conveys her message objectively without losing her personal connection. Particularly meaningful is her healthy ability to portray her subject matter without dwelling on it."
"What do we want to come out of all this?" asked junior Lily Moselle, an art and education studies major who is an intern with Hammond this fall. "This was somebody's life - everybody's life is worth living - she was really somebody."
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