By Cynthia Citron  

San Diego’s own Lisa Slovis Mandel, creator of exquisite metal objects and jewelry, will be among the international artists exhibiting their work this weekend at Temple Isaiah’s Festival of 
Jewish Artisans in Los Angeles.  As will former San Diegan Debra Band, renowned for her beautifully illuminated Song of Songs book as well as her delicate papercuts, who will be bringing her work this year from her home in Potomac, Maryland.

The annual Festival, featuring America’s premier juried exhibition  of contemporary Judaica, will be marking its 25th anniversary with a  gala concert on Saturday, November 12, at 7:30 p.m., followed by an artists reception and preview sale.  On Sunday, November 13,  artworks will be available for public viewing and purchasing from  11:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.  Attendees will also have the pleasure of  meeting and speaking with the artists themselves, since an essential 
prerequisite for having their work accepted by the jury is that they will be on hand throughout the Festival.  Temple Isaiah is located at 10345 West Pico Blvd., in West Los Angeles.

Coming from Israel will be Yemenite artist Moshe David, an eighth  generation metalworker and first-time exhibitor at this Festival, who  creates jewelry and ceremonial objects using sterling silver, gold, ancient Israeli coins, and Roman glass.

Also coming from Israel are photographer Dinu Mendrea, jeweler Sarah Tamir, and wood sculptor Gregory Ruvinsky, representing the cultural  influences of Romania, Persia, and Russia, respectively.  They will be joined by Israeli illustrator Tamar Messer and Rafi Landau, who 
creates silver Judaica.

Bill Aron, Los Angeles photographer who captures Jewish communities around the  world, Kathlean Levine Gahagan, who creates metal jewelry  from her home in Santa Monica, and Michelle and David Plachte-Zuieback of Santa Rosa, who work in etched glass, are among the 
Californians who will be exhibiting their artwork.

San Diegan Slovis Mandel who often makes whimsical metal objects out of pewter, contends that she sees a connection between athletics and  art and wants to incorporate both movement and function in her work so that viewers will “have fun touching, playing, and manipulating 
the arrangement of parts” in her pieces.

Altogether, some 30 artisans working in glass, wood, silver, gold,  and other metals, ceramic, textiles, embroidery, photography, calligraphy, and paper will be represented.  Ritual and ceremonial objects, jewelry, ketubot, mezuzahs, candelabra, Kiddush cups, and 
much more will be available in price  ranges to suit all pockets.

At the gala concert on Saturday night, performers will include the 100-voice Angel City Chorale, world-renowned oud player John Bilezikjian,  and Cantors Evan Kent, Alison Wissot, and Patti Linsky of Temple Isaiah.  Celebrating “25 Years of Great Music and Song”, the concert will reprise past favorites, including Jewish choral music, klezmer tunes, Jewish jazz, Sephardic melodies, and Yemenite chants, as well as Israeli popular music, songs written by Jewish 
luminaries of Broadway and Hollywood, and familiar cantorial chants.

“Classical Fun” concerts on Sunday at noon and 2 p.m., featuring  The North Wind Quintet, will take the children on a “Fantastic Journey” through a magical world of instruments and sounds while their parents browse among the treasures on display.

This spectacular weekend event began modestly some 25 years ago when Jean Abarbanel, an arts educator, and Marcia Josephy, an art historian, decided “like Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney,” as Josephy says, to “throw a Festival.”  Having previously hosted a  well-attended lecture series on Jewish art and artists, Abarbanel was game.

“From the beginning, we did not design it as a fundraiser,” Josephy emphasizes.  “Our goal was to bring in artisans from all over, provide them with home hospitality and contacts, and hopefully, 
help them sell some of their work.

“No one is paid,” she continues.  “The artists are giving part of their souls.  We are supporting them by providing personal contacts.  We wanted to introduce artists who are just starting out 
to others that they could learn from.  Many have become really good friends.

“We also wanted to provide a gift to the community.  A place where they could be comfortable, learn something, and buy a lot,” she says with a  laugh.

Josephy’s own home in Hancock Park is lined to the rafters with Jewish art, from the framed papercuttings on her dining room walls to the corner display of unique Chanukkiah to the elaborate ceramic Torah holder in a nook over the fireplace to her collection of colorful Ethiopian-themed pillowcases embroidered by artisans commissioned by the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry to her staircase wall crammed with drawings, etchings, and posters.

“If the Festival artists don’t do so well, we feel bad,” Josephy explains.  “That’s why there’s a lot of stuff here.”

On the other hand, some of the Festival artists have had success that is literally out of this world.  Like Beth Shapiro, whose delicate sterling silver yad (Torah pointer) was carried by astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman on one of his four flights into space.  It now resides in Hoffman’s synagogue museum in Houston, Texas, while Hoffman resides in Paris as NASA’s ambassador to Europe.

Admission for the Festival Concert on Saturday night is $20, $18 for seniors, and $50 for reserved patron seating. Admission on Sunday for the Festival of Jewish Artisans is $5 for 
adults, $2 for children.  Admission fee includes the “Classical Fun” concerts.

Temple Isaiah is located at 10345 W. Pico Blvd., West Los Angeles.  For more information, call (310) 277-2772 or reach them at their website at www.templeisaiah.com