Ori Z. Soltes, PhD, former director and chief curator of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum, will be the first presenter for The Jewish Museum and Cultural Center’s Tidewater Jewish Visual Arts Advisory Board.  The advisory board is comprised of members from United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, the Chrysler Museum, representatives from local universities, and the community at-large.  

 One of five children of the late Rabbi Avraham Soltes and Sara Rudavsky Soltes, Oriz Soltes is married, has two sons, and is a professor in Georgetown University’s Jewish Civilization department.  He teaches theology, art history, philosophy, and political history, has taught across diverse disciplines, and is a prolific writer, with more than 32 books and several hundred articles.  

 At the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum, Soltes created more than 80 exhibitions focusing on aspects of history, ethnography, and contemporary Jewish art. He has also curated diverse modern and historical art exhibitions at other sites, nationally and internationally. As director of the museum, he co-founded the Holocaust Art Restitution Project and has spent more than 20 years researching and consulting on the issue of Nazi-plundered art.

 In his book, Fixing The World, Soltes includes artists who depict Jewish themes and symbols as well as individual biographies of painters, stylistic analysis, and thematic interpretations. The concept of Tikkun Olam –   repairing or fixing the world – is a common thread among most of these artworks. 

 At the presentation, Soltes will discuss the work of 20th-century Jewish artists to explore various themes including immigration, urban life and politics, the Holocaust, and the new views of Judaism in recent years by feminist painters and Soviet emigrée artists. 

 Soltes will also share and discuss various artists who represent an interest in the social, as well as the aesthetic, aspect of their work. Artworks of despair and repair are balanced by paintings of celebration and joyous experiments in how to convey Jewishness and Judaism on canvas into the 21st century. They are concise, elegant, and sophisticated.

Tickets are $18 and can be purchased from Hunter Thomas at www.JewishVA.org/JewishArt. Tickets will also be available at the door and at half price for students with ID.  The lecture will be followed by a reception. 

 A wide range of Jewish visual arts programming is planned by the newly formed group. To participate in implementing this and future TJVA programs, contact Rick Rivin at
rickrivin@gmail.com or Myrna Teck at Teck.jarted@gmail.com.