Totem Unveiled

In conjunction with the new Cherry Hill Public Library’s Grand Opening, “A Celebration of Arts & Leisure”, April 16- 17, a large-scale sculpture by David Ascalon, “Totem”, will be unveiled for long-term display as a prime feature of the new library. Loan of the towering abstract fabricated bronze work was gifted from the collection of Eric and Tanya Ascalon of Cherry Hill.

The new library, under the leadership of its art director artist James Toogood, promises to be a first-class venue for the exhibition of the work of local and nationally renowned artists. In addition to Ascalon’s Totem, the library has secured loan of a number of other impressive works, including a life-size piece by the realist sculptor Seward Johnson. Ascalon’s Totem, an ethereal, monochromatic, rising conglomeration of abstract forms, contrasts sharply with Johnson’s colorful, realistic casting, which includes a man lying in the grass, reading the New York Times.

Artist David Ascalon (b.1945) has been a Philadelphia-area fixture for a quarter century now. The South Jersey-based art and design firm that he heads, Ascalon Studios, has, for three generations, engaged in the artistic adornment of worship and public spaces throughout North America.

Ascalon’s monumental public sculpture and immense contemporary liturgical stained glass, mosaic murals and other projects can be seen in New York, in Los Angeles, and hundreds of points in-between. Ascalon’s works include the monumental Holocaust Memorial for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, located on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg.

David Ascalon, a longtime resident of Cherry Hill, was born in Israel in 1945. He first learned sculpture as an apprentice of his father, the Hungarian-born master sculptor and founder of Ascalon Studios, Maurice Ascalon (1913-2003). The Ascalon family, together with their studio, relocated the United States in 1956. After residing in Los Angeles for a period, David studied architecture and design at New York’s Pratt Institute. David eventually made his way to South Jersey in the late 1970s.

Over the years, Ascalon has undertaken commissions for hundreds of monumental site-specific artworks throughout North America, and has been the recipient of major design awards, including from the American Institute of Architect’s Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art & Architecture. Ascalon’s commissions are executed with the aid of a handful of talented in-house artisans at Ascalon Studios, which is today based in the Philadelphia suburb of Berlin, New Jersey.

Ascalon serves as president of the American Guild of Judaic Art. When he is not creating, he enjoys cross-country flights as a private pilot.

If you would like more information on Ascalon Studios or David Ascalon, or high quality images of Ascalon artwork for publication, please contact ERIC by phone at 856.220.0322 or via email at eric@ascalonstudios.com . More information can also be found at www.ascalonstudios.com. Requests for interviews and tours of Ascalon Studios are also welcome.

Information on the Grand Opening “Celebration of Arts & Leisure” can be obtained from the Cherry Hill Public Library at phone number (856) 667-0300.

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Author: Press Release