Woven Song
A tapestry of wood, mirrored aluminum, and laser-etched text - where Jewish stories weave together joy, memory, and reflection.
Woven Song is a permanent public artwork installed in the learning center of Congregation Shir Ha-Ma'alot in Irvine, California — the only congregation in the world with that name, carrying fifty years of both remembrance and joy. Created in close collaboration with the congregation for the 2025 Jewish Street Art Festival, the work gives physical form to the Shir Ha-Ma'alot psalm: an interlocking tapestry of maple, oak, walnut, and mirrored aluminum, laser-etched in Hebrew, transliteration, and English, that invites every generation to find themselves woven into it.
Industry & Client
Non-Profit, Jewish Community Foundation Orange County, Congregation Shir Ha-Ma'alot
Location
Irvine, CA
Materials
Oak, maple, walnut, and mirror-finish aluminum
Services
Public Art · Community Engagement · Artist Talk & Workshops
About the Art
Woven Song takes its inspiration from Shir Ha-Ma'alot - the psalm of ascent that dwells on past and present at once, on lives "sown in tears" that may now "reap in joy." The artwork holds that tension: stories of pain in our individual and collective past do not diminish the joys of the present, but make the sweetness of "carrying bags of seeds" all the richer. In celebration, we are together - brought home with shouts of joy, sharing our burdens and our ecstasies with family, friends, and community.
The artwork draws this thread of shared experience and snakes it left and right, into the weft of a communal, never-ending fabric. Running vertically are individual threads, varying in color and form - a reminder that the diversity and vibrancy of our individual experiences is structurally integral to what makes our collective story powerful and enduring.
Three woods of differing hues and mirror-finished aluminum come together in beguiling, interlocking forms. Within the weft, occasional pocket cuts reveal the gleam of mirrored aluminum and laser-etched text from the Shir Ha-Ma'alot in Hebrew, English, and transliteration - so that these songs can be carried forward from one generation to the next.
The mirrored surface serves a critical function, bringing the youngest members of the community directly into the work. Installed in the congregation's learning center - a space filled daily with children - the reflective panels invite them into a story that stretches back thousands of years. A child passing by catches their own face in the aluminum and, in that instant, becomes part of the tapestry. Their reflection is living, changing, unrepeatable - just as these traditions are. They are not observers of Jewish history; they are woven into it. That sense of belonging, of being held by something ancient and ongoing, is at the heart of what this artwork is for.
The imagery of a fabric moving toward the viewer pulls from deep within Jewish tradition - the tallit, the chuppah, the sukkah, the Torah mantle, the afikomen napkin. Through these textiles, Jewish life comes alive in the piece, layering its visual richness with meaning that rewards both the knowing viewer and the child drawn in simply by the wonder of seeing themselves reflected back.
Working with Congregation Shir Ha-Ma'alot
The only congregation in the world with that name, Shir Ha-Ma'alot is named after the cheery song of ascents - but also in remembrance of the 1974 massacre of Israeli teens. For fifty years, this community has kept the flame alive of both remembrance and joy. That dual inheritance - of grief carried alongside celebration - is woven into the very structure of this artwork.
Golob Art worked closely with the congregation throughout the development of the piece, shaping the selection of materials, the placement of the mirrored panels, and the language included in the laser-etched text. The congregation's own spiritual life and history are embedded in every element.
The congregation also hosted an artist talk, creating space for dialogue between the community and the artist. Members brought their own interpretations, memories, and associations to the work - deepening its meaning and reinforcing that Woven Song truly belongs to the community it was made with.
Woven Song was created as part of the Jewish Street Art Festival - Golob Art's first public artwork on the West Coast - in collaboration with the Jewish Community Foundation Orange County and Congregation Shir Ha-Ma'alot in Irvine, California. You can learn more about the 2025 Jewish Street Art Festival experience here.
A child passing by catches their own face in the mirror aluminum and, in that instant, becomes part of the tapestry - our shared story.
Artist Panel
As part of the Jewish Street Art Festival's public programming, Alexander Golob participated in an artist panel alongside fellow Festival artists Shlome Hayun, Sheina Yarmush, Adam Podber, Hillel Smith, and Anne Hromadka - a conversation about the role of public art in Jewish communal life, the responsibilities of place-based creative practice, and the relationship between tradition and contemporary expression. The panel offered an opportunity to speak directly about the collaborative process that shaped Woven Song from its earliest stages, and to reflect on what it means to make Jewish art in public - visibly, proudly, and in the present tense.
Stencil & Spraypaint Workshops
As part of the project, Alexander hosted two hands-on workshops that put the tools of street art directly into the community's hands. Each session connected the act of making to the same themes of identity, shared story, and communal expression at the heart of Woven Song.
Family Workshop: An inclusive, multi-generational session for families with younger children. Participants of all ages created their own stenciled works, exploring pattern, symbol, and mark-making in an accessible, joyful environment.
Teen & Up Workshop: A more in-depth session for teens and adults, diving deeper into stencil design and spray paint technique. Participants worked through the full process - from concept to cut stencil to finished piece. The session was as much about creative confidence as it was about technical skill.
Taken together, the workshops ensured that the Festival's spirit of creative access reached across generations - inviting participants not just to appreciate public art, but to see themselves as makers capable of contributing to it.
