Death of Art Pioneer Dorothy Riester, Sculptor of Temple Adath Yeshurun Art

Syracuse, NY. Temple Adath Yeshurun. Menorah candelabra by Dorothy Riester. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

Death of Art Pioneer Dorothy Riester, Sculptor of Temple Adath Art 

Dorothy Riester (1916-2017), a pillar in the art world of Central New York for decades, died this week at  the age of 100.  She had remained active and creative until the end of her life.  Though not Jewish, Riester contributed some of the most memorable "Jewish art," in upstate New York with her sanctuary sculpture for Temple Adath Yeshurun in Syracuse. Designed by Percival Goodman, the Conservative synagogue dedicated its new home with Riester's powerful combined Decalogue and Ner Tamid  over the Ark and menorahs on the bimah in  June, 1971.  Riester also created a sculpture representing the Burning Bush in Temple Adath's Cooper Meditation Garden.  Her sanctuary work recalls that of Seymor Lipton, and is in every way of equal quality.

Riester was one of just a handful of women sculptors who received major synagogue commissions in the 1950s and 1960s.  Others were Mitzie Solomon Cunliffe, Luise Kaish and Louise Nevelson.

Syracuse, NY. Temple Adath Yeshurun. Percival Goodman, architect; Dorothy Riester, sculptor.  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

Syracuse, NY. Temple Adath Yeshurun. Decalogue and Ner Tamid. Dorothy Riester, sculptor.  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

Syracuse, NY. Temple Adath Yeshurun. Decalogue and Ner Tamid. Dorothy Riester, sculptor.  Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

Riester did her undergraduate work at William and Mary and Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and graduate work in ceramics at University of Pittsburgh; she received her master’s degree from Syracuse University in sculpture and design.

Syracuse, NY. Temple Adath Yeshurun. Menorah candelabra by Dorothy Riester. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

  You can read her obituary here.

Dorothy had many accomplishments in her long life of art, teaching, and activism. Perhaps her most lasting contribution is the creation of the Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Cazenovia, New York, in 1991 for which she served as director and president and hen as an advisor after it was incorporated as a non-profit.  In 2014 Dorothy's house and studio at Stone Quarry were placed on the National Register of Historic Places.