The 5X Jewish Studies program, in the College of Arts and Sciences, will host a presentation by Gary Phillips, Ph.D., the Edgar H. Evans Professor of Religion at Wabash College, on March 2 at 7 p.m. in Satterfield Hall, Room 121, on the Kent Campus.
Phillips presentation, titled “Representing the Irreparable: The Holocaust and Art of Samuel Bak”, will discuss the art of the renowned Jewish painter who grew up in East Poland during World War II and survived the Holocaust.
A child prodigy, Bak was nine years old when he held his first art exhibition in the Vilna ghetto. He has been a prolific conceptual painter for the past seventy years, using metaphor and allegory to address the horrors of mass death. He is known for using biblical themes and images in his work. He currently lives in Massachusetts and continues to produce art.
Phillips is the Edgar H. Evans Professor of Religion at Wabash College and his recent works include The Icon of Loss: The Haunting Child of Samuel Bak and Representing the Irreparable: The Shoah, the Bible, and the Art of Samuel Bak. He previously served as the dean of Wabash College from 2006 to 2013. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the Canadian Society of Biblical studies.
The event is part of a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Jewish Studies at Kent State and will be followed by a dessert reception. Additional support for this event was provided by the School of Art and the College of Arts and Sciences’ Religion Studies program.
To learn more about the Jewish Studies Program at Kent State, visit
Media Contact:
Chaya Kessler, 330-672-8926, ckessle7@kent.edu