LOCAL ARTIST EXHIBITION IN LONDON — Shane Lutzk is going “across the pond” for his first solo exhibition in London next week. “Continuity and Transformation” will be on exhibit at Oneroom Gallery beginning March 21. The exhibition will feature large-scale sculptures and smaller objects. Lutzk utilizes the potter’s wheel to create his wall installations and architectural vessels.
His ceramic work involves a continuous study of formal language of the vessel. While traveling abroad, Lutzk was greatly influenced by the historical architecture in Kecskemet, Hungary. He develops work by integrating the precision and structural components found in the diversity of architecture. Lutzk designs monumental sculptures that reflect his thoughts and complement architectural form. He expresses himself each day by developing and designing innovative vessels. His sculptures create a spatial connection with the viewer, according to scale. He determines what he wants to convey, experiments and then decides on the composition and proportions of each ceramic piece, he said.
A NEW MEANING FOR MA NISHTANAH — A staged reading of “A Very Different Night,” written by Stu Lewis, will be part of The Living Room Theatre’s “Night of Ten-Minute Plays” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 18. Lewis, who is a member of Congregation Beth Torah, said his play was about a young man who invites his non-Jewish girlfriend to meet his parents for the first time at their Passover seder. The Living Room Theatre is at 1818 McGee in Kansas City, Missouri, and admission is “pay what you can.” (Make sure you have cash.) For more information, call 816-533-5857.
WATCH SHIR JOY CONCERT ON FACEBOOK — Those who missed the Shir Joy concert at Congregation Beth Shalom featuring Hazzans Tahl Ben-Yehuda, Asa Fradkin, Steven Stoehr and Lizzie Shammash can watch it on Facebook (facebook.com/BethShalomKC). I hear it got rave reviews!
KU CHABAD’S BAR MITZVAH YEAR — We all know I find little tidbits about our community by perusing Facebook, but I’ve been a little behind lately. I stumbled across a post on Zalman ‘n Nechama Tiechtel’s page from March 4 pointing out they arrived in Lawrence, with their then-6-week-old daughter Mina, to start Chabad at KU on March 4, 2006. The photo with the post was a copy of the front page of The Chronicle from May 26, 2006, which featured a photo of the Tiechtels and the headline, “KU gets its own Chabad House.” Rabbi Zalman, as he is known around Lawrence, is fond of saying “We arrived in this small college town with a dollar and a dream.” Their first event was hosting a Shabbat dinner for four students. Thirteen years later, Chabad at KU sponsors a variety of meals and courses throughout the week and always a Shabbat dinner. The Chabad co-directors wrote, “As we sit around the lit Shabbat dinner table with warm challah, chicken soup and matzah balls, delicious kosher chicken and kugel, the most important aspect of the evening will be the real sense of family and connection that is felt by all present.”
There’s more. “We are continuously inspired each and every day by the countless young Jewish men and women who make time in their day and space in their heart to connect with their own heritage.”
Their primary responsibility is to the students at the University of Kansas, but they reach out to the entire Jewish community in Lawrence as well as communities in surrounding areas including Manhattan, Kansas. Rabbi Zalman has even answered a few of my questions on occasion. To that I say todah rabbah and mazel tov on your anniversary. We wish you many more successful years with your beloved Jewhawks!