Jewish artist creates mural for Mosaic Apartments
The project is the region’s first affordable housing community for LGBTQ+ friendly older adults
Artist Rosabel Rosalind credits a professor at the Art Institute of Chicago with inspiring her to explore Jewish identity in her work.
“She told me about a sabbatical she took where she went to the Jewish Museum Vienna. They had a collection of antisemitic objects that she was really struck by,” Rosalind recalled. “At the time she told me about it, my art was caricatures. I was using self-portrait to discuss misogyny and other forms of othering. In that moment, I felt called to take a look at this collection of antisemitic postcards.”
Rosalind applied for and won a Fulbright grant enabling her to take the same trip as her Jewish art professor.
“That’s really where Judaism introduced itself into my art in a big way,” she said.
While the trip helped to insert Judaism into Rosalind’s art, it had been infused in her life since childhood.
Her grandfather, an Orthodox rabbi who lived with her family, believed in the importance of Jewish education.
“He encouraged me to go to a Jewish day school and supported that financially,” Rosalind said. “I went to Beth Shalom day school in the [San Fernando] Valley. It was pretty Conservative. I wore a yarmelke and learned Hebrew. Being Jewish was a huge part of my upbringing.”
She paid homage to her zayde, who led a congregation in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, when she created a graphic novel about him. She said both he and Jewish themes are a big part of her work.
A quick look at some of the work she’s created confirm that — “The Sofer,” “Original Sin,” “70% Chutzpah” and “NOT KOSHER” — are all projects featured on her website.
The artist, who identifies as a queer woman, said that it’s often difficult to navigate her Jewish identity in the art world.
“In conversation with non-Jews, it’s felt reminiscent of coming out,” Rosalind said. “There are times where I feel like I’m coming out as a Jew more than I’m coming out as a queer woman. It definitely carries a different tone and, like, I need to preface my Judaism with a lot of other stuff. I wish I didn’t have to do that.”
Rosalind’s newest work will soon be seen at the Mosaic Apartments, the first LGBTQ+ friendly affordable housing community for seniors in the region, located on the corner of Forbes and Craft avenues in Oakland.
The process to get the commission, she explained, involved submitting a proposal and previous work. After the initial round, Rosalind presented a preliminary design, which was ultimately accepted.
“I am really excited to have the opportunity to design the mural, which is going to be my first truly public artwork,” she said.
Dan Rothschild, senior principal and CEO of Rothschild Doyno Collaborative — the project’s architect — said the building’s façade is going to be a piece of architectural artwork that will serve as a metaphor for the diversity and fluidity of sexuality and gender, featuring panels that change color as a person drives by the building.
The design, he said, is typical of the meaningful work the firm strives to do. Rothschild Doyno has worked with many different Jewish clients including the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, Emma Kaufmann Camp and Hillel Jewish University Center, as well as several other organizations.
“It’s a meaningful design — that is, design that goes beyond aesthetics and talks about the cultural, spiritual, social and environmental aspects of a project,” he said.
Rosalind, he said, was selected through a process that began with an outside firm, Shiftworks, interviewing approximately 20 different artists who put together proposals, not only for the exterior mural but also for three interior murals as well.
Both Rosalind and artist Pinaka Art, who will create the interior murals, were selected at the conclusion of the process.
Rothschild said that Rosalind’s ability to tell stories was important in her selection.
“She is a passionate storyteller whose work is not only beautiful, but also meaningful,” he said. “We are looking forward to her murals depicting the history and culture of Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ community.”
Mosaic is part of Rothschild Doyno’s mission to leave the world a better place, he said. The firm’s portfolio includes work for the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh and Gateway Rehabilitation Youth Services Center.
“It’s tikkun olam, and all of my partners are attracted here because of that,” Rothschild said.
Rosalind said that the mural won’t have direct allusions to Judaism but was influence by her time spent in synagogue.
“My design will ultimately be inspired by the stained glass that you see outside of a temple or church,” she said. “I wanted it to feel nondenominational and inclusive, but I am referencing the stained glass windows I grew up with, spending hours and hours in temple, staring at these beautiful light-filled artworks and the walls around them.”
The allusion, she said, is to the sense of sacredness and safety those stained glass windows inspired in her.
Having the ability to create art for another aspect of her identity has been special, she said.
“Being queer is deeply, deeply entangled in my identity and the art I make,” she said, “and my relationship with my Jewish identity. The beauty of Judaism is that there are all these rules but there’s also flexibility.” PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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