Architecture and Buildings

please click to enlarge 1988 or '89. Ink, gouache, watercolor, pencil. Approx. 18" H x 24" W	TEMPLE DE HIRSCH SINAI, SEATTLE An architectural treasure, the temple's original sanctuary building was destroyed when no one would raise enough money to save it, alas. Private Collection: Pip & Miriam Meyerson
The 1920's photo of the house please click images to enlarge 1991. Watercolor, ink.	GREAT GRANDMA ZLATA AND GREAT UNCLE MOSHE'S HOUSE IN GRYNIEWICZ, POLAND, NEAR BIALYSTOK, 1890's. The house was photographed by my mother's sister on a visit to Poland in the 1920's; on a later visit, it was no longer standing. According to my mom's cousin Genia, now of Tel Aviv and who grew up in Kovno, Lithuania, my great-grandparents sold herring and candles from the house and they had a horse and a cow. Great-granddad died before the Shoah. Zlata was murdered at Treblinka or died in the Bialystok ghetto; she lived in the Jewish Home for the Aged in Bialystok when the Germans occupied Poland. Zlata and Moshe had 3 sons and four daughters, several of whom died in infancy. A son, Leibl, had moved to Berlin with his wife Brindel from Kovno. He sold clothing from their apartment. They had a boy and girl born in the 1920's; all four vanished during the Nazi regime. Private Collection: G. Dayan, Israel
Please click to enlarge 1994-95 Ink, gouache, pencil Size: 24 7/8" H x 19 7/8" W Collection Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem, Gift of Alexander Schwarz in memory of his mother Anna Schwarz (murdered at Auschwitz), his wife Gertrude, and their son Ronnie. Alex passed on in Vienna, February 16, 2001, may his memory be blessed and that of his beloved wife Trudi & son Ronnie. A story postscript: Segan attended and facilitated a workshop at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1999. Before arriving in Israel, Segan visited Alex & his nephew & family in Vienna. An article on the trip, authored by Segan, was published in The Jewish Transcript, spring 2000. It may be on-line in the Transcripts website. While in Vienna, Segan saw a photo of a first cousin of Alex's, who was murdered at Auschwitz. The art Segan created from the photo can be seen in UNDER WINGS GALLERY: Triple Portrait of Camille Hahn of Czech.	TYKOCIN SYNAGOGUE - BAROQUE PRAYER WALL, POLAND [The following article was originally published in THE JEWISH TRANSCRIPT, Seattle, Sept. 10, 1999, p. 28. The artwork was reproduced on the cover of Section B, p. 27, for Rosh Ha'shonah - the Jewish New Year - 5760 issue] " L'SHANA TOVAH (Happy New Year!) - On the Cover: Tykocin Synagogue - Baroque wall, by Akiva Segan, Special to the Transcript This artwork has a strong emotional bond for me, for two reasons. First, Tykocin is very near Bialystok in northeast Poland (and for those of you who were raised in cities with good Jewish bakeries, you know a bialy as the first cousin of the bagel). My grandpa Harry, who died in 1968 when I was 18, grew up in a tiny village outside of Bialystok, and while I don't think (Oh, how regrettably so!) that I ever had a conversation with grandpa, I look back on him with great respect and nostalgia. The second reason is that I began the drawing in Nov. 1994 and within a week I flew from Sea-Tac (Seattle's airport) to West Palm Beach, Fla., to help care for my dad as he went into his final two months of life. Knowing I'd be spending many long hours sitting in a hospital room, I brought the work with me and completed it there during that ordeal. The wall, which I drew from a photo in a book I bought in Poland in 1984 called Polish Jews - Art and Culture, is a remarkable one. For it has this magnificent sculpted relief archway emanating up and out toward the ceiling. While in W. Palm I found a rabbi nearby who kindly examined the photo I was working from. The Hebrew writing on the wall (center left and right) contained memorial prayers for the departed. The town is Tykocin also appears in Polish Jews - The Final Chapter, written by my late Hillel rabbi, Earl Vinecour, of blessed memory, who died at a very young age in the late 1970's. It was Earl and a classmate of mine, photography student Chuck Fishman who is now a photographer in NY, who provided me with an interest in Poland and brought me, through their own travels, research and writing, to examine the world of my own Jewish ancestry. A few years later, I myself traveled to Poland and had my life changed. ...the (artwork)will hopefully be acquisitioned into the Yad Vashem Art Museum collection as a gift from Alexander Schwarz in memory of his mother, his wife Trudi and their son Ronnie. The Schwarz family are friends and were library patrons of mine at the Magnolia branch of the Seattle Public Library (where Segan worked at the time the article was published). Refugees from the Vienna of the Nazi party, Trudi was sent to England in the late 1930's where she spent several years working in a private home in the countryside, unhappy but alive. Alex, through the luck of a draw, got out by the skin of his teeth. Eventually settling in Seattle, they owned a dry cleaners on Madison near Seattle University for many years and lost their only son to MS (Multiple Sclerosis) about 15 years ago. Following Trudi's death a few years back, Alex moved back to Vienna to be with one of his few living relatives, a nephew and his spouse, wit whom I'll be staying for a few days on my way to Israel."
	FACING THE BIMA, BRIGHTON & HOVE HEBREW SYNAGOGUE, ENGLAND 2004 Linoleum block print (artwork in progress)
Please click to enlarge 1974-2004 Woodcut proofed in gold ink on black paper 18" H x 24" W	THE MAGIC CITY - JERUSALEM Private collections: Andy Weeks sister-in-law (black ink on white paper). Rabbi Beth Singer & Rabbi Jonathan Singer Rebecca Sporn Dr Pam Silverstein John Graham & family Phedra R. Whitney McCleary & Joe King (whereabouts unknown - lost) $250
Please click to enlarge 2005 8 5/8" H x 7 7/8" W India ink, colored pencil, with collaged on United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) - Homeland Security metallic security- inspection stickers, rubber stamps.	MONTEFIORE WINDMILL, JERUSALEM Titled, signed & dated in ink, lower right: Segan, May 5, '05 Montefiore Windmill, drawn from the St Andrews Scottish Gueshouse Terrace Private collection: Rabbi Philip Rice & Rabbi Laurie Rice
Please click to enlarge 2005 10 1/8" H X 26 1/4" W India ink with United States Transportation Security Administration metallic security-inspection stickers, El Al & American Airlines luggage stickers, and rubber stamps.	JERUSALEM, THE OLD CITY WALLS, 2005 Titled, signed & dated in ink, lower right: Jerusalem, May 5, '05 Segan $1,000
Please click to enlarge 2006 India ink. Size: 13 H x 36" W (inches) 31 H x 66 W (cm)	JERUSALEM, THE OLD CITY WALLS, 2006 This latest terrace from drawn on site at the St Andrews Scottish Guesthouse depicts the view looking right from where the 2005 drawing (above) was drawn and observed. Signed in ink at bottom right. Private collection: Gwen & Mark Thompson, Scotland. This beautiful drawing can be seen at their new B&B in north central Scotland (info to be posted shortly - Gwen & Mark spent 2005-7 in Jerusalem where Gwen was the manager of the St Andrews Scottish Guesthouse.)
	CITYSCAPE VIEW WITH CONSTRUCTION CRANES, JERUSALEM May 6, 2007 Ink.
	VIEW OF OLD CITY WALLS, JERUSALEM Ink, May 7, 2007. A church is seen at right.
	MONTEFIORE WINDMILL STUDY May 6, 2007 Pencil, gouache.
Please click to enlarge India ink, pencil 19 1/8” inch height x 24 3/8 inch width May 11-16 with pencil & ink observation notes	A JERUSALEM MOSAIC Ink, pencil, with notes in ink and pencil. May 8-12. Size
	Jerusalem pencil sketch studies of a tower of the Sergei building, a nearby church tower, an old building and stone stairs near a park facing the Menachem Begin Centre, a two-toned crow-like bird and a Yemenite man in traditional costume. May 2007 May 2007.
Please click to enlarge JERUSALEM ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES MAY 16-17, 2007 India ink 19 1/4 inches height x 24 3/8 inches width Notes on the drawing: A church tower/spire, one block east (?) of Sergei tower Renaissance Style Imperial Tower Named for Grand Duke Sergei, completed 1890 as hostel for pilgrims from nobility, used by British Admin. & then State Isr. Houses Jerusal. Branch, Isr. Soc. for the Protection of Nature Sergei Building Tower Old Building, stone stairs, facing park near British Consulate & Begin Centre A Yemenite Jewish man in parade costume The bird at bottom left is seen around Jerusalem. I believe it’s a carrion-hooded crow. To see an illustration, go to http://www.botanic.co.il/english/birds/index.htm# click Carrion hooded crow – the click on is at the third line from the bottom	Jerusalem - A study of the tower at the corner of the Sergei building, a church tower nearby, an old building and stone stairs near a park facing the Menachem Begin Centre, a two-toned crow-like bird and a Yemenite man in traditional costume. May 2007 Ink on paper. Size
Please click to enlarge PLANT STUDIES – SEATED ON OLD STONE WALL OUTSIDE OLD WALLS NR. OLD CITY, YERUSHALAYIM, MAY 18, 2007 India ink Size 16 1/2 inches height x 11 5/8 inches width on Daler-Rowney drawing paper	JERUSALEM PLANT STUDIES May 2007 Ink. Drawn on-site along the road winding around the Old City which goes all the way from the Tomb of Zachariah and beyond in one direction and towards the park facing the Begin Centre and Scottish Guesthouse in the other direction. I walked by these distinctly visually enticing plants several times over the course of the preceding week (to my doing this drawing on May 18) on my way (to and) from the Scottish Hotel when I went to draw the Tomb of Zachariah one day and the next, an old stone wall and metal gate with Arabic writing facing Arab East Jerusalem. I would also pass by the entry to the Christian Arab and Polish cemetery where Oskar Schindler is buried, as well as the Dung Gate entryway to the Old City and the security entry to enter the Western Wall area. Walking by these plants - there were three within a foot of each other - I vowed to make time to draw them - and did so my last full day in Jerusalem before leaving for the airport on May 19th. The old city outer walls were behind me while I drew while sitting on a stone ledge. The plants grow in somewhat rocky looking soil on the upper part of a sloping hill. To one direction facing away from the old city is Jerusalem's Wolfson Gardens Park. During the preceding week the park turned into a temporary military bivouac area for a couple of days: Two very large military-green tents materialized, along with soldiers, jeeps and trucks. The moms and kids who usually played in the park were briefly displaced. This surely had to do with security around the two nights during the week Jewish Israelis celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Israeli capture of Jerusalem from the Jordanian Army in 1967. Transcription of ink notes on bottom of the drawing: If I draw architecture, dozens of folks stop to look & talk - but when drawing flora, no one stops! Who knew?! 1:35 p.m.
Please click to enlarge TREE WITH ROUNDISH PODS HANGING FROM VINE-THIN BRANCHES IMMEDIATELY EAST OF A PARKING LOT, JUST SOUTH OF THE DUNG GATE, JERUSALEM, MAY 18, 2007 India ink, watercolor, colored pencil on Daler-Rowney drawing paper. Size 16 ½ inches height x 11 5/8 inches width Transcription of notes on the drawing: [upper left, ink] h: about 2 thumb lengths width at top: one thumb length (mine) [upper center, ink] Both cones on tree branch within inches! Warm brown color > lil circles are light, like pale beige [upper right, ink] < not a strawberry! [lower left, pencil] Drawn along south side (by Armenian & Jewish quarters) with Arab E. Jerusalem & Mount of Olives – Jewish cemetery – in Background [lower right, immediately below ink drawing, pencil] Nope – 2 types of cones!! Pinecones! – same type of tree by my hotel room! Lower right at bottom, ink] Tree w/ large roundish pods (?) hanging on the thinnest of branches – May 18 ’07 Just outside wall nr. Western Wall [lower right in pencil] About 2 minutes walk west of St Peter in Gallicantu Monastery SEGAN	JERUSALEM TREE May 2007 Drawn while sitting on a stone ledge in a parking lot a few minutes walk from the Dung Gate; also close to the entry to the Christian cemetery where Oskar Schindler is buried. The Dung Gate is a pedestrian entryway to the Western Wall area, and not far from the Dome of the Rock as well. The tree was visually fascinating. In addition to leaves it had hundreds of very thin, sinewy and long hanging branches. There were cones of some sort too, which I saw on another tree the next day while sketching the old railroad station building (close to the German Colony district) from the roof of the church building adjoining the Scottish Guesthouse.
	JERUSALEM RAILROAD STATION STUDY Ink May 2007
	JERUSALEM RAILROAD STATION Ink May 2007

INTERNATIONAL SHOAH ART MUSEUM & HOLOCAUST / GENOCIDE EDUCATION THROUGH ART AqIVA KENNY SEGAN, ARTIST & EDUCATION DIRECTOR
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