Shane Lutzk, the son of Congregation Beth Shalom members Dion and Howard Lutzk, was recently one of five students who received the 2015-2016 Joan Frazer Memorial Award for Judaism and the Arts at Arizona State University.
Lutzk was honored for his Holocaust commemorative plate. The award is given to Jewish students in the arts at ASU who create original artistic expressions that portray Judaism. The award is administered by the Jewish Studies Program Joan Frazer Memorial Award for Judaism & the Arts Selection Committee with funding designated through the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix.
A graduate of Kansas City Art Institute, Lutzk is currently in his second year of graduate school at ASU studying ceramic art. His award-winning creation had to be an original artistic expression combining elements of Judaism and the arts.
Lutzk selected the theme of the Holocaust and carried it out be creating a large commemorative ceramic plate. He selected the title, “Cries were heard beneath the smoke, and no one cared.”
In a portion of his presentation at the awards ceremony, Lutzk said, “I was stunned and disheartened to read a report about college students, when asked about the Holocaust did not have a clue of what the interviewer was talking about. They may have studied about World War II, but not the events leading up to the atrocities leading to the annihilation of 6 million Jews. They did not know that the Nazis were the embodiment of evil.”
He chose to create a commemorative plate to depict the Holocaust because he wanted the individuals looking at the plate to have unanswered questions in their minds, leaving them wanting to learn more.
“Movies, books, paintings and sculptures have depicted the Holocaust. I felt ceramics would be a different medium to express myself,” he said.
The plate is currently hanging on display at Chabad at ASU.