Light of the Nations
Bruce David
Bruce David (www.davidart.com), President of Light of the Nations, has dedicated the past 30+ years of his life to creating creative, engaging, Jewish educational resources that provide people with the opportunity to discover and experience the contemporary values of a "Wholistic" approach to Judaism. Storytelling art filled with hidden multidimensional symbolism, original music, and other forms of creative expression have broadened his spectrum of experiential Jewish materials, all of which are now embodied in the programs of Light of the Nations.
A distinguished lecturer in fine arts, Professor Mazelle Van Buskirk, discovered the art of Bruce David in 1982. Having taught art appreciation at the Indiana University School of Fine Arts for over a quarter century, Professor Van Buskirk was so impressed with this self-taught artist's talents that she compared David's artwork with that of Marc Chagall's at the plenary session of a major Hadassah conference outside Chicago. This "distinguished lecturer in fine arts" writes that, "It is rare to find works of art that are, or seem to be, without precedent. The art of Bruce David is such a rarity." Professor Van Buskirk goes on to state that, "once the viewer is guided through the magnificent array of colors and forms, they will find never-ending delight in the study of this most original artwork."
Additionally, David's work has won the praise of numerous museums and school of fine arts directors, gallery owners, art professors and critics, as well as Jewish educators.
Background
David, who started his art career in the early 1980s, travels the country with his art and has been the main speaker and/or exhibitor at major international, national, and regional functions around the country. He also creates large stained glass windows, glass mosaics and metal sculpture for synagogues, schools, organizations and individuals. Additionally, he is a feature writer for a national Jewish newspaper (National Jewish Post and Opinion). David's art has been chosen for the cover of dozens of publications,magazines, books, and greeting cards, and has been featured in numerous newspaper articles around the country. David's work won an educational award from the largest Jewish organization in the world (Hadassah).
David, who views the art as a gift, feels that the best way to use this gift is to share the good, important, and beautiful aspects of our Jewish heritage. While he is glad that his work has found value for its artistic merit, he personally views it very strongly as a contemporary educational tool, designed to promote Jewish understanding and awareness.
Bruce David was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where he attended and graduated from the Louisville Jewish Day School, Atherton High School, and the University of Louisville. His parents are Dr. Artie David, z"l, and Esther David.
The artist currently lives outside Bloomington, Indiana near Lake Monroe in Hoosier National Forest with his wife, Diane. Their son, Joshua, lives nearby in Bloomington,
An art critic and reviewer of one of David's gallery exhibits wrote that,
Bruce David’s Life
The early years of Bruce’s life in Louisville, Ky. were fairly uneventful, as he mostly maneuvered aimlessly through his life without any really set goals. As an acknowledged card-carrying member of the “dumb-as-heck tribe,” Bruce lacked the knowledge, wisdom and purpose that would provide him impetus towards living a meaningful, worthwhile life.
When Bruce graduated college, after scoring extremely high on one of their computer proficiency tests, he turned down a job with IBM to go to work with children in Appalachian Eastern, Ky. Later he worked with the Dept. of Aging and Handicapped providing services to clients in need who fell outside established parameters for assistance. From these jobs, and throughout his life, Bruce recognized that his real-life value would come from helping others.
After meeting Diane, they traveled around the country in a van for two months visiting National/State Parks, and then lived in a tent back in a holler in Eastern Ky. with their cats for four months.
These experiences helped Bruce develop a love and appreciation for nature and life, and led him to writing and illustrating a number of books of poetry and song including “Heaven Has No Walls,” and “Believing in Love.”
Bruce’s third book, “Meeting with God” came about during their time living in the tent and provided a spiritual experience for his life journey.
After an extremely unique occurrence brought them to Bloomington, Indiana to live in a fancy mansion on a lake, the next step led them to the land and home where Bruce and Diane lived for over 40 years, “Davids Forest Park Sanctuary.”
Although Bruce would sometimes refer to himself as a “deeply flawed holy-man wanna-be,” his inner desire to grow into his most consciously aware, enlightened self, thrived as his spiritual journey guided him forward on his journey. Soon he became a full-on Jewish energy conduit for bringing art, music and insights to others in his efforts to utilize his gifts and talents to improve the quality of people’s lives and our world.
It was during these times that Bruce grew to be the person he wanted to be. Here, Bruce created his multidimensional story telling art, and wrote songs, books and meditations while developing lesson plans and creating art music videos.
It was during this time Bruce reconnected with Judaism and became a service leader for a spiritual group of friends who prayed together for around 30 years. Bruce was also the shofar blower at their synagogue for many years on the High Holidays and gave several talks preceding the shofar blowing. Bruce was also a feature writer for the Jewish Post & Opinion and they used his art many times for the covers of their periodicals.
This was also when Bruce started creating his unique, Jewish, multidimensional storytelling art. Eventually this expanded to his creating large stain glass windows, glass mosaics, metal sculpture, original hand-pulled serigraphs, limited edition lithographs and so much more. www.davidart.com
Bruce and Diane also started “Light of the Nations” (www.lightofthenations.org), a Jewish educational awareness, non- profit organization, which uses art, music and creative expression to share the universally “wholistic” values Judaism has to offer for improving the health and quality of people’s lives and our world. Eventually all this culminated in them developing their Jewish “Wholistic” Philosophy.
In 1988, Diane and Bruce had their son, Joshua David. When he grew up, Joshua helped advance Bruce’s efforts with Light of the Nations. Joshua also recorded a cd of Light of the Nations songs. By continuously challenging Bruce on his spiritual/religious approach, Joshua helped Bruce to clarify his beliefs and develop his educational programs for reaching others with the values of Judaism.
Bruce also posted weekly Shabbat Shalom posts on his Facebook pages, (Bruce David, Bruce David Creations and Light of the Nations Experience), where he built quite a following. Bruce also maintained a Standing Up for Israel and the Jewish People Facebook page.
On Light of the Nations YouTube page. https://www.youtube.com/user/BruceDavidCreations people can find many of Bruce’s songs and art music videos.
For many decades, Bruce travelled around the country exhibiting and speaking on his art and its message.
Viewing themselves as Jewish Bohemian Outliers, Diane and Bruce used this Wholistic approach to Judaism as a creative energy outlet for sharing their contemporary, universally oriented approach to Judaism and life.
For more details on the amazing experiences in their lives that have led Bruce and Diane to be who they are, and why they believe the ways they do, check out their “Extraordinary Happenings - Blessings In Their Lives” booklet!
Thanks to all who have positively contributed to our lives. You all mean so much to us!
Love, Blessings, L’Chayim and Onward together!
(One of Bruce’s biggest life regrets is that he met so many wonderful people, who he considers friends that he loves and cares deeply about, but that he just didn’t have the time to spend with them as much as he would like. The same goes with his family. Being driven in his efforts, and trying to use his unique gifts to achieve so much of real-life value, as well as maintain their home and property, create art, music and do his writings and videos limited his available time. So, Bruce is truly sorry that he wasn’t a more present friend, but he hopes people will understand his situation.)
