A Conversation with Ariel Schlesinger

Robert Franciosi, THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS, June 23, 2022
Artist of Ways to Say Goodbye shares his creative ideas and processes for Holocaust memorial.
RF: Your work for Meijer Gardens evokes your trees at the entrance to the Frankfurt Jewish Museum. Why trees? And why trees without leaves?
 
AS: Trees are people, and people are trees. We all live in a forest and socialize; it's part of our nature. It was only obvious to me that a natural element like a tree will be a center that draws people together and starts a discussion around our past and future, together. The reason not to sculpt the leaves is a choice both visual and practical, keeping the overall elements in the object as minimal as possible.