Art for the mind's sake at the Hebrew Home

By Jason Fields

Art serves many purposes.

It adds beauty to our lives. It brightens our homes. It enriches our days.

At the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, located at 5901 Palisade Ave., art does all that, and also stimulates the minds of the seniors who live there.

“These exhibits provide a bridge to the outside community,” the assistant curator at the Home, Emily O’Leary, said. “And it works for the community as well.”

A new exhibit of prints will be on display at the Home’s Elma and Milton Gilbert Pavilion, beginning with a reception there on Tuesday, May 25, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The exhibit will be on display until August 22.

Printmaking, better known as a way of copying painted works, has become an art of its own, Ms. O’Leary said, with original works being created solely for the medium.

“It’s difficult to explain without seeing the process,” she said.

The 23 works on display at the show aren’t necessarily easy to explain, either. Many are abstract, using form and color to grab the eye.

“Each piece is a reflection of the variety you can get from printmaking,” Ms. O’Leary said. “They reflect the artist’s own personal idiom.”

Some residents of the home peered curiously at the new art, which was in the midst of being installed, though for many, it seemed to disappear into the background.

The Home’s mission is, in part, to keep its residents as connected to the outside world as they can be, and that’s why the public is always welcome to visit the extensive collection housed in the large, riverside compound.

In addition to the new prints, there are works by Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso among the 4,500 works in the Home’s permanent collection, and there is never a charge for admission. All of that is in addition to the extensive collection of Judaica that makes up the Derfner Museum.

And for residents art is no luxury.

“The ones who are interested in culture, they crave having art like this,” Ms. O’Leary said, speaking of the new exhibit.