Long-time member Liora Salter has contributed to our High Holy Days' art shows over many years. Now Toronto's Queen Gallery is mounting a solo show of her works. Liora says that art work is her "third round." Her first was a five-year stint as a community organizer in community radio out West. Her second was a distinguished career in academe, first at Simon Fraser University and then at Osgoode Hall Law School. In 1996, on a two-year leave, Liora enrolled at the Toronto School of Art, and then pursued studies full time at the New York Studio School.

Since returning to Toronto last November, Liora and her husband, Richard (Rick) Salter, also a long-time shul member and volunteer, instituted Muckraker's, a weekly get-together to discuss news, and Muckraker Bulletin, a by-weekly publication with background information about issues in the news. ( www.muckrakers.info/ )

Says Liora: "Whether it was back in my 11 years living in a communal house (four families), or in community radio, or at Or Shalom in Vancouver, community is important. In Shir Libeynu I am very quiet, an observer more than a participant or close friend to many. Yet the fact that Shir Libeynu exists for me (and for all others) is fundamental to my own sense of being. It is a place where I learn and where I feel supported in the sense of being a Jew.

My show is called 'contested' because I am fascinated with tangles, contradictions and complexities. It provides a glimpse at the various ways I portray, and occasionally unravel, these complexities."

Liora's upcoming art show is organized as a series of open houses to which all are invited. (Show begins on Wed., Oct. 18th, 7-9 pm; Open Houses: Oct 20th-22nd, 4-6 p.m.)

http://queengallery.ca/2017/08/contested/