Arts & Culture

Meet Jewish artist Simon Cherkasski

Hot Works presents the 24th Estero Fine Art Show outdoors at JetBlue Park, Jan. 2 and 3

The focus of this show is visual arts, featuring fine art and fine crafts created by award-winning artists from around the world. All disciplines — paintings, clay, glass, sculpture, fiber, wood, jewelry and more — juried by art professionals is for sale.

One of the participating artists is sculptor Simon Cherkasski from Israel, who was born in 1966 to Bessarabian Jewish parents.

Cherkasski finished ORT Hana Senesh Professional Art School in 1984, lived in Kiriat Bialik and served in the IDF from 1984 to 1987 as a tank crew member.

After the Army, Cherkasski spent a year in Paris, randomly studying the arts. Deciding not to join the Fine Arts Academy, he spent one more year in the U.S. After returning to Israel in 1989, he worked at Colbo Haifa newspaper as an illustrator and, later, as a graphic designer. Cherkasski participated in a long series of private art shows with black and white drawings and charcoal, thanks to an enthusiastic art-loving couple who arranged private locations and guests.

In 1992, Cherkasski was hired as art director at a different newspaper, Vestnik, and stopped the private shows due to lack of time. In 1999, he moved to Baltimore, Maryland and shortly after, started working with Maryland Jewish Artist Smadar Livne.

In 2006, Cherkasski started his own art and graphic design studio, and began participating in public and private shows.

After a fire in the studio destroyed years of work, Cherkasski shifted to metal arts in 2007. A year into working with iron, he fell in love with copper and works primarily with this material today from Greenacres, Florida.

Cherkasski loves to create art with Jewish motifs, both because of his heritage and because so little has been done in the Judaica field in recent years. Together with a few friends, we worked to establish Judaica Heritage Foundation to promote the genres.

You can meet him personally at Estero Fine Art Show.

As part of Hot Works’ commitment to bring art education into the community, a youth art competition has been integrated within the art show. The competition encourages students ages 5-13 or grades K-8 to enter original art to be publicly displayed in the art show the entire weekend. On Sunday, at 3 p.m., a $250 Youth Art Award will be presented at the show. Each youth art winner also receives the same, two-foot-long colorful, gorgeous ribbon that the professional artists receive.

Great food from local area restaurants and music add to the ambiance of this beautiful show.

With COVID-19 safety precautions in place, such as all booths are six feet apart, social distancing, the show promises to be a safe place to enjoy original art and artists creating it.

Join us Jan. 2 and 3, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at JetBlue Park, 11500 Daniels Parkway, Fort Myers. Admission is free. $5 parking supports Institute for the Arts & Education, Inc. For more information, go to www.artsandeducation.inc.org.

Book Festival off to a stellar start

A message from your Book Festival Co-Chairs

Susan Pittelman and Robin Mintz Volunteer Co-Chairs, Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival

We hope you enjoyed the Opening Event of our 2020-21 Jewish Book Festival, featuring author and psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb in conversation with Cary Barbor, local host of NPR’s “All Things Considered” and WGCU reporter.

In the past, as we planned these events, we worked with our Book Festival Committee to make sure the presentations were more than simply “talks,” they were “events.” In fact, many considered the Book Festival events among the highlights of our community’s cultural and social season. Planning this year’s Opening Book Festival event certainly reinforced that it was more than just another Zoom program.

During the past five Book Festivals, we enjoyed “setting the stage” for the author events with decorations and themed food. Last year’s cruise-oriented opening event even had a signature cocktail and a photo booth! But this year, having to present the event through Zoom, our opening kickoff on Dec. 3 actually turned an event into a “production.”

In preparation, we consulted with a technical advisor, wrote a script, selected an opening song, created the “run-of-show,” arranged for closed captioning, designed visuals, and even had a dress rehearsal. Nothing

was left to chance. And fortunately, our planning paid off. We hope you enjoyed the evening as much as we did.

We send a sincere thank you to our patrons and sponsors for both their financial support and their enthusiastic response to the Book Festival. And to you, our wonderful community, who “Zoomed” along with us in December.

The 2020-21 Jewish Book Festival is off to a stellar start. We look forward to you joining us at future events as we welcome an outstanding line-up of authors.

We are Virtually Yours,

Susan & Robin