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healing:
a personal journey
carolyn manosevitz

May 28 - August 2, 2002

This show is dedicated to the 15,000 Jews living in Krements, the Ukraine in 1941, 14986 of whom were murdered in the Shoah. Approximately 40 of them were my relatives.

For the past several years, my art has been inspired by conversations with children of Holocaust Survivors, known universally as the Second Generation. This odyssey that I find myself on has taught me much about those who have suffered trauma and the similar characteristics that exist between them, be they children of Holocaust Survivors, children of alcoholics, etc.

I have watched myself on this journey and observed how each step has deeply changed my art. My paintings are about healing. The intention is to provide an arena for my viewer to find his/her own pain and thus begin to heal. Before the healing process can begin, one must first identify the pain. A field of abstract imagery allows the viewer to tap into his/her own creativity and identify emotional responses.

As a child of Jewish immigrants to Canada from the Ukraine, it never occurred to me that someday I could turn to the process of seeking reconciliation between Christians and Jews through dialogue and artistic imagery. However, that is precisely my focus at present. This has come about as a result of my appointment as a visiting lecturer at a Christian seminary.

My course, Spirituality and the Holocaust, reminds me of the fact that the Shoah (Holocaust) wreaked havoc with people of all faiths. We all need to heal. We all need to remember. That is my passion: to remember and to heal myself and others, with my art as the vehicle.

Carolyn Manosevitz

Curator’s Statement

Carolyn Manosevitz speaks to the universal pain of being human in an imperfect world. Using her own experiences as the child of Holocaust survivors, and her conversations with others with a similar background, she evokes a world that is just out of reach. In works like “listen to the voices from the ashes,” “seeking the holy spirit together,” and “protecting memory,” Manosevitz combines fine papers, silver mesh, translucent fabrics and other delicate materials in pale colors to evoke a sense of memory and loss. The hauntingly beautiful abstract arrangements sometimes include references to the human body or to everyday objects, but nothing is clear, nothing is complete. Everything is as though seen in a dream, or through the filter of an imperfectly-heard story. Theses are quiet, subtle works. They do not shout or moan, but rather silently point to something half-known, inviting the viewer to fill in the gaps. Indeed, the makes a point of using only lower case letters in the titles of her works, as if using capitals would make them seem too loud.

Carolyn Manosevitz is on the faculties of Colorado Mountain College and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She has a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MFA from the University of Texas. Her art has been exhibited in many one-person and group shows throughout the united Staes, Canada, and Israel, and is included in the permanent collection of Yad Vashem (the Shoah memorial near Jerusalem) and the Ghetto Fighters’ Museum (Israel) as well as numerous private and corporate collections.

This exhibition was held  in connection with Ms Manovitz's course, The Arts, Spirituality, and the Holocaust, June 17-21.

Deborah Sokolove

send comments or questions about the gallery to the curator at:
dsokolove@wesleysem.edu

the copyright of individual works of art belongs to the relevant artist
please do not copy or distribute