In 1999 The Jewish Community Center on the upper West Side selected Michael Singer to create a sculpture for the new Samuel Priest Rose Building. Singer selected a large wall of Jerusalem Stone at the building's entry as the site for "Welcoming Garden". In Genesis chapter 18, verse 4, Abraham directs: "let now a little water be fetched, wash your feet and recline under the tree". Jeremiah references the power and healing quality of a garden in chapter 31, verse 11: "and they shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not pine any more at all."

"Welcoming Garden" is a forty foot high narrow vertical crevice-like green oasis cut into the large Jerusalem Stone wall set behind the glass entry facade of the building. Within the narrow crevice garden structure is a series of natural and built textured cliff-like shelves made of stone, copper and bronze castings. Vines are set within the 16" wide channel and grow out onto the stone wall. Slowly water drips from "cliff" to cliff before collecting in a small reservoir towards the lower portion of the crevice. The sculpture is like a hanging, green garden that does not come in contact with the floor and is just out of reach of visitors on the landings.

Artist/Designer: Michael Singer
Fabrication and Installation:
David Loomis and Eric Slayton
Design and Drafting: John Guminak
Plant and Irrigation Specialists: Chris Raimondi
JCC Art Consultant: Nancy Rosen

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