JAI Featured Member/June 2025
Elizabeth Bloom z”l
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JAI Featured Member
Elizabeth Bloom z”l
June 2025
JAI Featured Member
Elizabeth Bloom z”l
June 2025
It is with great sadness that I share the passing of longtime JAI member Elizabeth (Lizzy) Bloom.
Lizzy was a founding member of JAI, a dedicated board member for many years, and a past board chair during our Cutting-Edge Grant cycle. Under her leadership alongside Ruth Weisberg, founder and president, JAI transitioned from its original home at the University of Southern California to an independent organization, first under Jumpstart LA and later Jewish Creativity International.
Lizzy brought a warm, intuitive presence that helped guide us through our formative years and during a time of tremendous growth. She will be deeply missed.
– Anne Hromadka Greenwald
It is with great sadness that I share the passing of longtime JAI member Elizabeth (Lizzy) Bloom.
Lizzy was a founding member of JAI, a dedicated board member for many years, and a past board chair during our Cutting-Edge Grant cycle. Under her leadership alongside Ruth Weisberg, founder and president, JAI transitioned from its original home at the University of Southern California to an independent organization, first under Jumpstart LA and later Jewish Creativity International.
Lizzy brought a warm, intuitive presence that helped guide us through our formative years and during a time of tremendous growth. She will be deeply missed.
– Anne Hromadka Greenwald
Lamentation / Jubilation
A R T I S T S T A T E M E N T
“My work, Lamentation & Jubilation, consists of two installations of individual portraits, the placement of which shifted as I continued to add new images.
Initially, I painted Lamentation to express my reaction to the tragedy of September 11th. As I worked, the world situation worsened. I realized my subject, Lamentation, was not restricted to this one horrific event, but was universal and historical. I needed to make a more global statement against war, hatred, and intolerance.
To this end, I juxtapose portraits in a symbolic way. For example, next to a grief-stricken Palestinian woman, I place an Israeli man in a state of shock; a black woman and a white woman are next to one another, and their gestures of grief are identical; next to a stoic elderly woman is a crying young child.”
“Jubilation is the antidote and foil to Lamentation. I depicted the faces of family members and friends as they express happiness and amusement in all their varied manifestations. Lamentation & Jubilation exemplify the extremes of human emotion. In painting these two bodies of work, I have portrayed aspects of the human condition that we all experience and that remind us that despite our differences, we are essentially the same.”
Poppies, oil/canvas, diptych, 24″ x 41″ (overall)
Self-Portrait in a Beveled Mirror, 1977, pencil/paper, 30″ x 22-1/2″
Portrait of David Reisbord as the Emir of Bukhara, oil/canvas, 46″ x 30″
Mother, 1984, charcoal/paper, 26″ x 19″
Witness Roots #3, graphite/paper, 48″ x 72″
Website: ElizabethBloom.com
Contact: Family
Thank you!
About JAI
Jewish Artists Initiative (JAI) is a Southern California organization committed to supporting Jewish artists and arts professionals. JAI aspires to be an agent of transformative change by organizing provocative exhibitions and thoughtful programs promoting diverse dialogue about Jewish identity and experiences. Founded in 2004, JAI remains committed to fostering Jewish culture in our community and beyond.
MISSION AND HISTORY
JAI was conceived by the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles in 2004. It was originally in partnership with the University of Southern California Casden Institute and the USC Roski School of Art and Design. For many years we have been under the fiscal sponsorship of the Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity. Members include primarily artists, as well as curators and art historians based in Southern California. The artists go through a jurying process to be admitted as members.
We have collaborated with a great range of Southern California institutions including American Jewish University, Hebrew Union College, UCLA Hillel and USC Hillel as well as a variety of art galleries and public spaces. We have also worked and exhibited in institutions in other parts of the United States and Israel such as the Jewish Art Salon, Hebrew Union College, New York, the New York UJA and the Jerusalem Biennale.
JAI BOARD MEMBERS
Bill Aron, Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik, Anne Hromadka Greenwald, Gilah Yelin Hirsch
Sagi Refael, Doni Silver Simons, Hillel Smith, Ruth Weisberg, Cathy Weiss
How to Become a JAI Member: JAI welcomes applications for membership from artists and arts professionals. For how to apply and to view the selection criteria click on Join JAI in the navigation links at the top or bottom of any page. Questions: contact JAI at admin@jaisocal.org