Fall 2005
Simchas – A Supplement to the Atlanta Jewish Times  

Added Excitement
Gallery of Love makes art of announcements

When Joel and Tara Green went to pick out their marriage license at their county courthouse, they were disappointed, buy not surprised, to find how boring the choices were. Joel had just returned from settling his parents’ estate where he had seen their ketubah, the Jewish marriage contract.

“We both wanted something that would capture the essence of the sacred marriage contract,” Tara said.

Joel a former Doyle Dane Bernbach Madison Avenue art and creative director with over 100 awards to his name, set out to create marriage certificates that would have a romantic flair to celebrate weddings and anniversaries.

And Gallery of Love was born.

The idea has expanded to baby gift and baby naming certificates, as well as bar and bat mitzvah certificates, which are 12-by-16-inch prints from original oils.

Bar or bat mitzvah certificates can be used as gifts to commemorate the special day, but Green said people often buy them and double-mat them for people to sign as they walk into the celebration. In the two original “Tradition” designs an old Rabbi guides the young man or woman as they approach the Torah. There is room for all of the personalized details of the day, including date of the celebration and the names of child, parents, rabbi and other celebrants.

The "Celebration of Birth" certificates combine art with the personalized details of a baby's birth, featuring a scene from a Grimm's fairy-tale-style enchanted forest where loving mama & papa animals rejoice in a baby’s arrival. “Nursery Rhyme Fun” is a burst of whimsical classic characters celebrating the miracle of birth.

The Greens created and designed the prints, which were painted for the certificates by award-winning illustrator Gary Overacre

For something more unusual there are the Star Child and Indigo Child designs, which are a retooling (with permission) of a 1936 Saturday EveningPost cover featuring a sweet child gazing into a crystal ball byJ.C. Leyendecker. 

 

ONLINE
www.galleryoflove.net

To go directly to bar and bat mitzvah certificates,
hit http://www.galleryoflove.net/mitzvah.php