Samuel Bak's new exhibition Tools of the Trade opens on Saturday, 19 October 2024 and runs through Sunday, 5 January 2025.
We are excited to announce a panel discussion that will take place on Sunday, 20 October from 2 - 4PM at Pucker Gallery as part of the exhibition's opening weekend! The panel will feature a discussion on the Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center which is located on the campus of the University of Nebraska Omaha. Topics will include takeaways from their first year in operation, the impact of Bak's work on their community, and what we can expect from the future of the museum.
The panel will feature:
Samuel Bak, Pucker Gallery Artist
Hillary Nather-Detisch, Executive Director, Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center
Alex Cardon, Chief Curator, Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center
Marc Skvirsky, Former Vice President & Chief Program Officer, Facing History and Ourselves
Bernard Pucker, Gallery Director
Partnering with Facing History and Ourselves, we invite you to an engaging conversation with friends and scholars. Please let us know if you able to attend by clicking here.
About Our Panelists:
Samuel Bak was born on August 12, 1933 in Vilna, Poland at a crucial moment in modern history. From 1940 to 1944, Vilna was under Soviet, then German occupation. While he and his mother survived, his father and four grandparents all perished at the hands of the Nazis. At the end of the war, he fled with his mother to the Landsberg Displaced Persons Camp, where he enrolled in painting lessons at the Blocherer School in Munich. In 1948, they immigrated to the newly established state of Israel. He studied at the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem and completed his mandatory service in the Israeli army. In 1956, he went to Paris to continue his education at the École des Beaux Arts. In 1959, he moved to Rome where his first exhibition of abstract paintings was met with considerable success. In 1961, he was invited to exhibit at the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, followed by solo exhibitions at the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Museums in 1963. It was after these exhibitions that a major change in his art occurred. There was a distinct shift from abstraction to a metaphysical figurative means of expression. Ultimately, this transformation crystallized into his present pictorial language. Bak has exhibited extensively in major museums, galleries, and universities throughout Europe, Israel, and the United States. He has been the subject of articles, scholarly works, and over twenty books, most notably a 400-page monograph entitled Between Worlds. Last year his biography entitled Art & Life: The Story of Samuel Bak was published. A 2020 exhibition at the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) led to the Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center, which opened Phase One at UNO in 2023. Phase Two envisions a brand new, state-of-the-art, free-standing facility to house over 500 works donated by Bak.
Hillary Nather-Detisch is the Executive Director of the Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO). She has over 22 years of experience professionally fundraising and grant making for various organizations in the Omaha community, including some of the largest campaigns and projects. Hillary is committed to giving back to the community and is active on the board of Filmstreams and Launch Leadership. She also serves as an adjunct faculty for the UNO College of Public Affairs and Community Service. Hillary earned a BA in Political Science from San Francisco State University, participated in the Museum Studies Certificate Program from Harvard University, and earned a Master of Public Administration in nonprofit management from the University of Nebraska Omaha. She also attended the U.S. Coast Guard Academy which allowed her numerous traveling opportunities throughout the world.
Alexandra M. Cardon is the Chief Curator of the Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO). Alexandra envisions the future museum as a collaborative space that celebrates Samuel Bak’s oeuvre and educates viewers on the realities of the Holocaust, while also offering exhibitions that explore contemporary artistic responses to conflict, human rights, and genocide. Alexandra has worked in art museums and taught art history in universities and colleges. She began her museum career at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice after which she worked at the American and Canadian pavilions during the 2003 Venice Biennale, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and in the Modern and Contemporary art department at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She moved to Omaha in 2012 and worked for the sculptor Jun Kaneko as his studio’s registrar and archivist. She is an adjunct professor in the Art and Art history department and the Honors College at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Her research focuses on mid twentieth century European painting, particularly the production of art in the interwar years and painting in France after World War Two.
Marc Skvirsky retired as Vice President and Chief Program Officer at Facing History and Ourselves. For almost four decades Marc was a member of the senior management team, overseeing all aspects of organizational management, growth, and strategy. During his long tenure as CPO he directed all aspects of Facing History’s program implementation in schools, districts, and educational networks, both in the U.S. and internationally. He was responsible for strategic planning; the ongoing professional development of Facing History’s program staff focused on new scholarship, pedagogy, instructional technology, and educational trends; and the development and implementation of online learning. Marc developed content and outreach partnerships with filmmakers, authors, educational leaders, and scholars. He helped to edit Facing History publications and digital content, and designed Facing History-themed international study trips for stakeholders, including to South Africa, Eastern Europe, Northern Ireland, and the American South. He speaks at conferences and think tanks on topics ranging from school reform and civic education to nonprofit management. Before joining Facing History, Marc was a classroom teacher in Cambridge, MA, participating in the design team for an urban middle school magnet program, and teaching social studies and English. He received a B.A. and M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Marc is presently an advisor to several nonprofits and foundations and is on the board of directors of the nonprofit based in Boston, Grub Street. Marc is also a member of the faculty at the Institute for Nonprofit Practice.
Bernie Pucker is the director of Pucker Gallery, which he founded with his wife, Sue, on Boston's historic Newbury Street in 1967. Pucker Gallery represents over fifty artists from around the world, presenting approximately ten exhibitions annually, often paired with artist talks, virtual “WebinARTs,” and Gallery receptions. Bernie is currently a Board Member at the Japan Society, Boston, and the Jewish Publication Society. He also serves on the Leadership Council for Facing History and Ourselves as well as the Artistic Advisory Board for the Terezin Music Foundation. Previously, he has served as President of Solomon Schechter Day School, President of the Newbury Street League, and Board Member for the Friends of Copley Square and The Unity Project, among others. Bernie received his MA in Modern Jewish History from Brandeis University and his BA in History and English Literature from Columbia College.