The event is free and open to the public and will feature a gallery talk by Lea Goldman and her partner Douglas Simmons. Light refreshments will be served.

Painter, printmaker, poet, and survivor; featured artist Lea Goldman shares her series of large oil paintings, “Gathering Sparks,” based on the teachings of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) by Rabbi Isaac Luria.

A holocaust survivor, Lea Goldman spent World War II as a wandering homeless refugee, was incarcerated in British prison camps, and lived in Israel during her growing years.

Her partner, Douglas Simmons, has collaborated with Lea to create numerous art, music, and poetry projects. “Gathering Sparks” is one of their most important ventures.

This project includes a number of large oil paintings painted by Lea. They seem to grow from Lea’s Jewish and nomadic traditions. According to art historian Elyse Speaks, “Lea developed a visual language of translation, on the uses of folklore and fairy tale, to communicate a deep investment in reverie and its possibilities.”

Based on the old Hasidic teaching of Tikkun Olam and the world’s creation, the legend tells us that “goodness” was stored in a magical vessel that broke at the time of creation. The sparks of good grace spread all over the universe, diluting the essential goodness in our lives. Every person has a purpose and a duty to gather those sparks of goodness and return them to their original vessel.