By Ted Kleine
Perhaps this will be Pinkhasik’s magic month. Three of his works will soon be on display in the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, which is opening February 11 at Navy Pier. Two were inspired by fairy tales Pinkhasik heard from his grandmother growing up in the Soviet Union. One shows Father Frost “bringing snow and wind and all kinds of shit with his magic stick” while his granddaughter, the beautiful Snow Girl, gathers round her a fox and an owl, a wolf and a deer. The second shows a bee that moves into a little house in the woods and then is followed by a dragonfly, a fox, a wolf, and finally a bear that destroys the house. The other work is a Chicago Bulls logo.
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In 1980 he began hearing rumors about pogroms and became afraid that the Soviet Union was no longer safe for a Jew. “I decided I have to go out from this country,” he says. “It’s going to be a mess.”
Churches and synagogues asked for windows. One of Pinkhasik’s most intricate works is in the lobby at Congregation B’Nai Tikvah in Deerfield: a 12-sided platform shaped like a Star of David. Each panel depicts happy, dancing children celebrating one of the Jewish holidays. Above them glow constellations of stars–613 stars, one for each commandment in the Talmud.
