Artwork > Community Mural Projects > Youth Projects > Summer Camps

Eitz Chayim, 2014
Camp Ramah, Palmer

In the summer of 2014, I  returned as a visiting artist at Camp Ramah in Palmer, MA for my fourth year. I led two groups of campers in the design and painting of a 24 foot wide, 8 foot high mural inspired by the camp's theme of "Eitz Chayim" (Hebrew for Tree of Life). In five short but very intense days, the campers managed to create a beautiful mural that is now installed outside the main community center at camp to be enjoyed for many years to come.

Here is a description of the mural in their own words:

"This year's theme at camp is Eitz Chayim, "tree of life," so our mural uses trees to spell ou tthe word Palmer. Placed next to the mural from last year, it completes the "Palmer 01069" theme. Each letter is a different tree that represents something at camp.

The first tree is the P with campers circling the trunk, holding hands, representing the community and large extended family we have at camp. The thumbprint flowers have our initials and there are music notes to represent all of the music at camp.

The A is the Ahava tree, which means love. There is a woman that represents the spirit of Miriam with hair that turns into song notes that waft up through camp.

The L is the center of all the trees which represents life and has a Torah within it. The small tree on the Torah extends beyond the borders of the Torah and connects to the larger tree, just as the words of the Torah extend into our lives. The center has a hamsaa that is facing up to represent protection as we think about the situation in Israel and hope for peace.

The M tree is the Shalom tree. Within the trunk back the world Shalom, which means peace, is hidden. The "leaves" are whimsical circles that represent the circles of responsibility that we undertake at camp.

The E is the palm tree as a play on the word "palm-er." Within the E a sun is stretching out, representing energy and sunlight.

The R tree is made of intertwined branches with a dove and a nest witting in the tree. The intertwining of the branches represents camp's closeness as a community and the dove represents our hope for peace.

The center L tree supports the canopy that spans the entire top of the mural. It offers shelter to the other trees and everything beneath it. Within the canopy is a scene of the camp bunks, and a hidden Ramah logo, as it approaches the Havdallah candle in the center. Havdallah is a very meaningful experience for all of us at camp, especially camp-wide Havdallah. On the other side of the candle is an Israeli flag and a scene of Jerusalem, showing our connecting to Israel.

A big theme our group talked about with eitz Chayim is the idea of growth and generations. The left of the mural therefore shows a child planting a tree. In the roots coming from that plant and from all of the trees, the names of the edot at camp are hidden, since they are our foundation. On the far right is a cutout of a tree with the rings of growth and age to show how we grow and mature at camp, and build strength as we age. Inscribed are the words to the song of our theme - Eitz Chayim Hee...."

Many thanks to all the campers for all of their hard work on this project.