I first discovered Gary Rosenthal about 10 years ago when my mother-in-law, Linda, gave me a Gary Rosenthal mezuzah. His work is unlike anything you have ever seen! The metal is brilliant and shiny and the glass comes in the most incredible shades, blended and arranged in the most striking way.

When I first launched Jewish Gift Place, I met with dozens of artists to search for only the most beautiful handcrafted Judaica. When I met Gary Rosenthal and saw his magnificent collection, I knew right away that the items in The Gary Rosenthal Collection were of the quality and uniqueness that I wanted to be part of the Jewish Gift Place collection. He became the first artist to join Jewish Gift Place and his products are consistent favorites with our customers.

Gary Rosenthal has been sculpting in welded metals for almost 30 years and his incredible works of art have been presented to presidents from Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton. The pieces in the Gary Rosenthal Collection are sold in fine galleries and museum shops around the world.

This interview is the first in a series of interviews with our artists. I am so happy that Gary agreed to be interviewed. It is my pleasure to introduce to you a wonderful man and artist, Gary Rosenthal…

Risa Borsykowsky (RB): Were you always artistic?

Gary Rosenthal (GR): No. I started creating art when I dropped out of college as a junior. I worked for my dad who owned a used stove repair store, and my first experience with a torch was welding stove grates back together. I loved working with fire and became an artist with a torch.

RB: What is your education?

GR: A Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell and M.B.A.s. from the University of Virginia.

RB: How did you get started?

GR: It was a life choice. I did not want to get a job after college and art was a way for me to keep busy and eventually to earn a living.

RB: Which artists do you admire?

GR: Frank Lloyd Wright and Picasso.

RB. What drew you to Judaica?

GR: I was at a JCC art show in Baltimore in the late 70s and a customer asked if I could make a menorah because there were no contemporary ones available. I made one and it sold right away and people asked for more, so I basically went where the market took me.

RB: Are you religious?

GR: Spiritual and Reform.

RB: Where is your family from?

GR: The Pale - you pick the country between Russia and Poland.

RB: Why do you like showing up at gift shows yourself?

GR: To meet the people and to talk about Judaica.

RB: Tell me more about the Hiddur Mitzvah Project and Art as Catalyst.

GR: I have spent most of the last five years turning my business into a community service machine based on art. For the Hiddur Mitzvah Project, we get people involved in craft activities with a social connection. Children in Minneapolis create Shabbat candlesticks and then we feed people in Argentina for Shabbat. Families in New Jersey make twin kiddush cups. One goes home and the second one is sent to Israel as a gift for an Ethiopian Bar Mitzvah.

Art as a Catalyst is outside the Jewish market but has the same concept of art to involve, raise awareness, and raise money for good works. We work with breast cancer patients or homeless women and empower them through art. A portion of our profit goes into several foundations we have set up to feed people or educate them or to fund other artists working with kids.

RB: How many people work for you, including designers, sales people, and support staff?

GR: Around 20.

RB: How involved are you in the design of new projects?

GR: Completely, in all new projects.

RB: Which are your most popular products?

GR: All of our work is popular but the best new piece is our vertical seder plate.

RB: What is the most unusual custom project that you created?

GR: A woman with declining eyesight had me make a torah pointer with a magnifying glass.

RB: Where do you like to travel? Do you travel to Israel?

GR: I went to Israel in August to be inspired.

RB: Which accomplishment has made you most proud?

GR: Having great kids.

RB: Do you express yourself artistically in other ways?

GR: Through my community service, which is based on creative social venture concepts.

RB: What do you do for fun?

GR: Think about work and how to it better.

RB: Who or what had the greatest influence on you as you developed as an artist, or did you always have your own style?

GR: I was self taught and books that I read with pictures, going to museums.

RB: What's your favorite part of being an artist/sculptor/designer?

GR: Not having a regular job.

RB:What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

GR: Persist.

RB: How would you describe your creative process?

GR: I have an idea and then I collaborate with others and make prototypes until I see what I like.

RB: Where do you get your ideas?

GR: From life, in the shower, at a play, driving a car......

RB: Do you display your own work in your home?

GR: Very little.

RB: Have you met any of the famous people who own your artwork?

GR: President Clinton.

RB: Specifically, which items did you present to…

GR: He received a small sculpture that was placed in the White House Library Collection.

George H.W. Bush?

He received a mezuzah from a Houston Rabbi as part of a Holocaust remembrance ceremony.

Bill Clinton?

He received a menorah that he lit in the Roosevelt room for Hanukkah in 1998. It was presented by the kids from Temple Sinai.

Bette Midler and John Travolta?

They received a sculpture of jazz dancers, cast in bronze and mounted on marble presented by Dance Masters of America.

RB: Tell me more about meeting Bill Clinton.

GR: Last year, Bill Clinton presented three of my tzedakah boxes to outstanding democrat fundraisers at the J. Rockefeller mansion.

RB: I received your double helix Seder plate today for a customer and it is really magnificent!

GR: Glad to hear it. I am working on another special vertical seder plate for Women of Reform Judaism. It will have an extra dish at the top to hold an orange. They plan to have me at their biennial in San Diego this December to lead a Hiddur Mitzvah project for 600 women.

RB: Final question. What do you want people to remember you by when you are gone?

GR: My community service work and for the good deeds I have accomplished.

RB: Thanks so much, Gary. I really appreciate the time you have taken to answer these questions.