In four doorways on the Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life hangs a copper and brass mezuzah, each intricately crafted with a pomegranate design.
And replicas could well be found at many Bay Area homes: Approximately 160 major gift donors to the campus received a smaller version of the mezuzah, made out of bronze, for their own doorways.
“We thought donors would like to take home a piece of our home,” said Amy Grossman, who oversaw the project as the community events director for the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center on the Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life.
The OFJCC commissioned Los Angeles artist Ruth Shapiro to create and make an original mezuzah for the new buildings.
Shapiro was chosen out of 30 artists asked to submit concepts for the mezuzah. The OFJCC staff extended the invitation only to artists who regularly participate in the fall Palo Alto Jewish street festival, To Life! (There will be no festival this year due to the grand opening of the new campus.)
“Ruth is a very loyal, wonderful participant in To Life, Grossman said. “And I think her design really struck a chord with the committee.”
Shapiro’s design was inspired by the project architects’ decision to design the landscaping and designate the buildings’ colors based on the biblical seven species in the land of Israel.
As such, Shapiro’s mezuzah depicts a cross section of a pomegranate on the front.
“It was so subtle and delicate,” Grossman said. “We loved the materials she worked with.”
Shapiro was selected as the mezuzah artist in June, and spent the rest of the summer in her home studio working on the pieces. It was an intricate process.
She soldered the brass and copper together, and gave the brass a pebble finish by using an acid etch.
She then dipped the piece into a lacquer, and when it was dry, sanded back the surface in the area she intended to fashion into a pomegranate section. She put an acid patina on it, wiped it down with steel wool and then painted it with several coats of a metal die to develop the fruit’s rich garnet color.
Shapiro then added another lacquer finish to the mezuzahs, and screwed tiny brass balls into each mezuzah to make the pomegranate seeds.
“I’ve made thousands and thousands of mezuzot over the years, and it’s a great canvas to work on,” Shapiro said. “I loved the idea that 160 homes will have my piece in them, and that it ties them into the Jewish Community Center.”
Shapiro has worked as a metal artist for 25 years. Before, she worked as a registered nurse. She is a mostly self-taught artist and learns new techniques from books.
To be chosen as the commissioned artist, she had to answer a number of essay questions about her creative process, techniques and ideas.
“It made me really focus on how I proceed,” Shapiro said. “Sometimes it’s hard to pin it down, and thinking about my methods was very interesting to me.”
The mezuzahs will hang in the main entrances of the Oshman Family JCC administrative building, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Sports and Wellness Complex, the Leslie Family Early Childhood Education Center and the Albert and Janet Schultz Cultural Arts Hall.