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Among the earliest artists was Sidney Bersudsky who started as a commercial artist in the city in the 1930s. He went on to work in Ontario as an industrial designer on numerous projects to design packaging and create new innovations. He was also named to the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts.2
Sidney Bersudsky1930s
Saint John, New Brunswick
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Clint Wiezel began an eleven year career as a photographer in 1947 in a studio over his father's shoe store on King Street. He was one of Saint John's most successful portrait photographers; his subjects included prominent individuals such as K.C. Irving and artist Miller Brittain and many members of the Jewish community. He used an Ansco Portrait camera, experimented with lighting in his photographs and may have been the first person in the province to use a dye transfer method to make colour prints that would not change over time. Some of his work has been compared to internationally known portrait photographer, Yousef Karsh.4
Clint Wiezel1950s
Saint John, New Brunswick
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Martin Grosweiner has recently closed a professional photography studio which he operated in Fredericton. Among his accomplishments were panoramic landscape photographs of many sites in New Brunswick.6
Martin Grosweiner1980s
Fredericton, New Brunswick
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Michelle Green Echenberg has more recently taken up photography and has exhibited in galleries in Quebec, Ontario and Saint John.8
Michelle Green Echenberg1990s
Saint John, New Brunswick
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Art by Michelle Green Echenberg1990s
Saint John, New Brunswick
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Joseph Kashetsky (1941-1974) studied fine art and commercial art under Saint John artists Ted Campbell and Fred Ross at Saint John Vocational School on Douglas Avenue. His art career started as an illustrator of children's stories as they were being read on a local children's TV program. Kashetsky was primarily an abstract artist of the non-objective school. His work appeared in a number of group and solo shows between 1963 and 1974 around the province. From 1970 to 1974, Joseph Kashetsky was part owner and director of Cassel Galleries in Fredericton.11
Joseph Kashetsky1941-1974
Saint John, New Brunswick
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His brother, Herzl Kashetsky, followed in his brother's footsteps and studied art in Montreal and Italy. Saint John has been a major inspiration for his work as a professional artist - nature, cityscapes, still life and portraits. Some of his works are images of the now-lost Jewish neighbourhood in which he grew up. More recently he completed a series of panels interpreting the seven days of Creation as described in the Bible and a series of stark, realistic paintings of the Holocaust. His works are held in many public and private collections, including those of the British Royal Family.13
Herzl Kashetsky1989
Saint John, New Brunswick
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Other Jewish artists have made Saint John their adopted home. Toby Graser is known for her abstract works in collage, mixed media and acrylic. She often presents several works on a theme, including the Jewish alphabet and music. Sidi Schaffer lived in the city for about a decade beginning in the late 1980s. She became a part of the local art community as a painter and printmaker and was widely known elsewhere for her murals. Teaching art to children was also part of her contribution and as Hebrew School teacher oversaw the creation of a large mural which was displayed in the synagogue. Josh Beutel, formerly of Montreal, is known primarily for his editorial cartoons in the Saint John daily newspapers and his freelance work elsewhere. Others who painted as talented amateurs, included Dr. M.I. Polowin, Frances Meltzer Geltman and Gladys Davis. |
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