Owings Mills JCC to Participate in National Public Art Program to Counter Acts of Hate

May 31, 2022 JMORE Staff

(Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on pexels.com)

Can a stick of chalk serve as an instrument to help change the world? The organizers of “Chalk Over Hate: Fighting Antisemitism through Public Art” are betting on it.

This Friday afternoon, June 3, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore will be among an estimated 30 organizations and groups around the country to participate in “Chalk Over Hate.” The event will be held in honor of the National Day of Action and the holiday of Shavuot, which will be observed June 4-6.

The gathering, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., will be held near the Aquatics Park and Preschool entrance of the Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC, 3506 Gwynnbrook Ave., and led by local artist, educator, author and storyteller Julie Schwartz Wohl. Wohl serves as director of PJ Library at the Macks Center for Jewish Education.

In recent weeks, Baltimore’s JCC received two bomb threats that were eventually deemed noncredible by law enforcement agencies.

In the wake of the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, participants of “Chalk Over Hate” will be asked to create messages and works of art advocating tolerance and love to counter acts of bigotry.

“The whole world is so impossibly sad right now — it is hard to find the right words or actions,” Wohl posted on social media. “One thing i do know is that creating art in community can be incredibly healing. Join me on Friday June 3rd, before Shabbat and Shavuot, from 3:30 to 5:30 at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Greater Baltimore as we create a work of communal art as part of ‘Chalk Over Hate.’ Participants will be young and old, artists and … not so much! No experience necessary. Let’s come together, support each other and make something beautiful.

The national program is in partnership with the group Artists 4 Israel and the Edlavitch DC JCC (EDJCC).

For information, visit artists4israel.org/registerforchalk.