Alumna

Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts, Washington University in St Louis

Project

Susan Shender, RA / BA, 1975

Files

Date

9-7-2014

Description

Shabbat / Havdalah Set, Designer. Cast-Bronze Using the Lost-Wax Method, 2007.

The Shabbat, in its welcoming and in its departure, is a unity experience. We usher it in on Friday night, we gently mark its departure with Havdalah on Saturday night.

The Exile of the week is over on Shabbat. On Shabbat, that which is partial finds its whole, so too with human beings. On Shabbat, we receive what we are missing.

We make Havdalah on Saturday night to mark the separation between Shabbat holy time and weekly not-yet-holy time, but the emphasis is on unity, integration, not separation.

The Shabbat / Havdalah Set design emphasizes the integrative experience of Shabbat. Instead of a distinct Shabbat set (candlesticks, wine cup) and Havdalah set (wine cup, candlestick, spice holder), one set conveys the feeling of wholeness.

Each piece increases in height to form an upward spiral, from the shortest Shabbat candlestick to the highest Havdalah candlestick, expressing the fulfilling experience of Shabbat.

Comments

Women in the Design World: Work in Progress, an exhibition presented by the Sam Fos School of Design and Visual arts in conjunction with the Women in Architecture Symposium 2014.

Recommended Citation

Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts, "Susan Shender, RA / BA, 1975" (2014). Women in the Design World: Work in Progress. 4.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/wia_profiles/4