
VOORHEES, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — A Jewish school in South Jersey is dealing with the trauma of the war in Israel through art.
Philadelphia street artist Amberella is known for her candy heart designs with words of inspiration. A project months in the making aimed to bring her signature wheat paste work to the walls of Kellman Brown Academy. But the week she came to the Jewish day school, students and staff alike mourned the loss of those killed in Israel at the hands of Hamas.
“Showing up at this time when this community is feeling so much pain,” said Amberella. “The hearts are a reminder of the love that’s shared in this community.”
Max, 9, says the artist’s words displayed around the school have brought hope during a dark time.
“They’re like kindness. Some say ‘I stand with Israel,’ ‘KBA (Kellman Brown Academy) awesome.’ They're like words of joy,” he said.
“Especially for children who often lack the language to be able to express how they're feeling, to be able to physically now draw these hearts, put in their sentiments, whether it's about pride about being Jewish or supportive of Israel as a country,” said Laura Walters, a cooperating artist, “art has the power to just be transformative.”
Another 9-year-old student, Elka, says art is a good way to deal with complicated feelings. “Sometimes it makes you feel better [about] what it looks like, what it makes you feel. It just expresses your emotions a lot of the time,” she said.
Some of the affirmations were written in Hebrew. “They provided me with the Hebrew characters, then I was able to place them into the hearts and print them,” Amberella said.
She was also able to join in a school-wide prayer for peace in Israel. “It was really powerful to get to be in a circle with this beautiful community and I was just so honored to get to be in their prayer circle,” she said.
“There are teachers and there are students who have family and friends living in the land of Israel. We have a great number of teachers that are Israeli themselves,” said Walters. “So for them, I think, is literally like having the embrace around you.”
Amberella provided wheat paste works of art for the school as well as two mosaics. She also went into the classrooms, where she led inspiration-themed art classes for children of various grade levels.