By Rita Poley

The visual arts serve many masters, whether through the fine arts, applied arts, crafts, decorative arts, commercial art, or art education.

These categories act almost like rocket launchers. An art object, once it leave an artist's studio, is hurled far afield-to the walls of a museum, gallery, or home; or to enhance a book, magazine, newspaper, computer-software program, or billboard; or in some form of video media. Such objects also influence products as varied as ceremonial art, automobile and fashion design, or architecture. It's all art.

The Raymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day School recently captured an object of art for permanent display that acts as a piece of fine art, architecture, and illustration-as well as a teaching tool. The Wynnewood school is the venue for a major installation by Jonathan Mandell.

Mandell is a Philadelphia artist whose intricate mosaics cross over into a number of the above-mentioned categories.

He began his career as a visual artist creating one-of-a-kind furniture that incorporated abstract, mostly nonobjective, mosaic-tile elements.

Almost immediately, his furniture work evolved from the secular to the Judaic. The first major object he created for a religious purpose was integrated into the function of synagogue architecture: Mandell was commissioned to create a Torah ark for a chapel at Gratz College in Melrose Park.

It did not take long for illustrative embellishment to take over in his art and even supersede furniture as a preoccupation of the artist. Mandell realized that while there were many people, especially in Philadelphia, creating eye-catching, unusual furniture, there was almost no one working with mosaics in a contemporary idiom.

Mosaic art is one of the oldest in documented history. Especially in the Mediterranean basin, it is inseparable from archaeology. Israel is a treasure trove of examples of ancient, mosaic-floored synagogues, such as those at Beit Alpha, Sepphoris, and Susiya.

Artist Resonance

The tradition of mosaic art as a Jewish craft resonated with Mandell, who began to research the mosaics of ancient Israel and incorporate thematic elements from ancient floors into his contemporary objects. Today, museums and galleries in Washington and New York display the artist's mosaics, and synagogues across the country regularly commission him. While his art is undoubtedly contemporary, Mandell finds a way to link contemporary Jewish life with ancient tradition.

Having recently moved into a beautifully renovated building, the Perelman Day School's Stern Center sought to embellish its ample wall space with artwork that would typify its 300 students. The school's walls, just 1-1/2 years after the move, are now full of art.

Most of the work on display is by the students and reflects the school's philosophy of creative education. Subject matter and art are integrated so that students are challenged and have an opportunity to express a personal relationship to what they are taught.

This approach to art as a tool of integrated education was also an important part of the Mandell mosaic project. The Robert Saligman Family Foundation presented the school with the piece, as a gift, upon the occasion of the move to the new facility.

To maximize the educational value of the work, the artist interviewed Perelman students. He asked what they thought was important and how he might visually represent what they were being taught, in order to tell visitors to the school precisely what the Perelman Jewish Day School stands for.

The 5-foot-square design consists of a circle within a square. The circle contains images associated with Jewish holidays, and the corners of the square refer to the seasons of the year. The center of the mosaic contains the school's logo and name.

This design echoes the Beit Alpha mosaic in the Beit Shean Valley in Israel. In that mosaic, the circle contains the months as depicted through the horoscope. In the center is the Sun God, Helios. At the bottom of the Beit Alpha work is a panel illustrating the binding of Isaac.

A particular feature of Mandell's mosaics is the rich variety of materials that make up the artist's palette. Some 30 different types of tiles include yellow fluorite, pyrite, mirror and commercial ceramic-tile fragments, glass marbles, jade, copper, and even seashells. This suggests that the mosaic may serve as a science lesson, as well as a lesson about the Jewish holidays and history, for both the students and faculty at Perelman.

Poley, Rita. "The Mosaic of Life," Jewish Exponent, Vol. 205, No. 3, January 21, 1999, p. 27.