Peshi Haas’s portraits capture a family’s memories
Like the painting she made as a memento for her father, of a building on Madison and 25th in NYC, once home to the family business started by her grandparents shortly after they came to the United States from Europe following World War II.
Fifteen years ago, in that very building, Peshi started out as a budding artist, working in a studio just a door away from her grandmother’s office.
Every morning, Peshi would take the train from her home in Lawrence to Manhattan. It was a long trip, made doubly hard because she had two small children at home. Her grandmother never missed a day of work, and could be found each day at her desk, reviewing paperwork. She appreciated anyone with a vision and a dream and she’d stop into Peshi’s studio every day to see what her granddaughter was working on.
Peshi painted in a red, paint-smeared apron, and her grandmother focused all her pride on that apron, perhaps seeing it as a symbol of Peshi’s hard work. Dein shirtzel, she’d say, using the Yiddish word for apron.
Create a free account to keep reading.
