





Client: Temple Adath Israel
Location: Lexington, KY, United States
Completion date: 2022
Artwork budget: $15,000
Project Team
Artist
Helene Steene
Art Committee
Kim Rosenstein
Art Committee
Ann Rosenstein Giles
Art Committee/design committee
Bill Giles
Art Committee
Debra Booker
Overview
Flexibility panels – ‘URBAN ECLIPSE” morphs into ‘ECLIPSE OF LIGHT”
Oil glazes using natural dry pigments, acrylic, charcoal pencil, wood part and metal on wood panels (6)
52″ x 125″ x 2″
Working with the client to move the panels around to become a visual link between two spaces in the Temple.
Goals
Temple Adath Israel in Lexington, KY was undergoing some remodeling to a more contemporary look in the gathering spaces and wanted to add more art. Especially in the hall that would lead members from the temple part to the social gathering spaces.
Process
When invited to show my portfolio to the committee, several pieces were considered, but one of the members had looked at “Urban Eclipse” upside down and saw a visual connection to the windows in the actual temple, and later very gently asked if an artist could ever consider turning a piece upside down?
As I personally feel that any non-objective work, from a design point of view, should work in any direction, I visited the temple part, and saw very clearly what she meant, so was happy to turn and rearrange the painted panels upside down, but kept the metal panels as before to give balance with the dark lines.
Now the piece acts as a nice anchor between the temple part and the gathering rooms when moving from one space to the next.
Additional Information
Most of the time, when painting on panels, each is painted to stand on its own. But can work in groups, or as in this case, upside down! Being flexible, even with panels that already are finished, offers the beauty of collaboration as sometimes the collector will inquire about ideas I earlier have not considered myself. It is like creating a new commission in a joint effort.