We are very grateful to John Balczewski, a WAC member, for his generous donation of several paintings from his personal collection to the Waimea Arts Council. These paintings by David Schluss, Theo Toblasse, Andrey Sofin, and Chaim Goldberg are for sale at appraised values. Many of these paintings, which are available from the Firehouse Gallery, have Jewish historical significance.
David Schluss was born in 1943 and started painting at a very early age in Israel. Today, Schluss paints using his hands. Using his fingers as paint brushes, he sculpts out images, textures and colors directly onto the canvas. It is with this unique vision that he creates his whimsical and playful images. The joy and enthusiasm that he depicts in all his works are signature to the grace and elegance of his style of painting.
Theo Toblasse was a Master of the Paris school. He was born in Jaffa, Israel in 1927 of Lithuanian parents. His father, a Zionist, was a printer and, in order to find work, he moved his family to Paris in 1931. Toblasse has never forgotten his sight of Paris, the “City of Light.” Five of his color signed lithographs are available from the Firehouse Gallery.
Les Personnages, L’exile Et Le Temps Retrouve & & Une Orange Sauvee De Rives de l’Oublie 
Les Personnages, La legende du SinaiLes Personnages, La legende du Sinai 
Venise et un Bateau Qui Creuse le Temps
Andrey Sofin, a Russian-Jewish artist, has painted more than 2000 works in pastel and oil. His works are in corporate and private collections in Russia, USA, Great Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Germany. In 1981 he graduated from the Graphic Arts Faculty of Perm Pedagogical school. In 1982 he moved to Leningrad and, in 1997, he became a member of the Russian Art Union (St. Petersburg branch). In 1999, he was one of the founders and a member of the board of St. Petersburg Pastel Society. For more information on his life and examples of his work, go to www.andreysofin.blogspot.com.
Andrey Sofin, Rainbow 
Andrey Sofin, Fairytale 
Andrey Sofin, Autum
Chaim Goldberg was a Polish-Jewish artist, painter, sculptor, and engraver. He is known for being a chronicler of Jewish life in the small Polish village (or Shtetl) where he was born, Kazimierz Dolny in eastern Poland; and as a painter of Holocaust era art, which to the artist was seen as an obligation, and art with a sense of profound mission.
Chaim Goldberg, Horrah Dance