Each exhibit we present throughout the year represents Israeli and/or Jewish artists, spotlighting talent from within our Tidewater community, or from around the globe.

All exhibits are free and open to the public. Upcoming exhibits and meet-the-artist events are announced in our twice-monthly newsletter. Click here to sign up for that correspondence.

Gallery Hours
Monday – Thursday | 9 am – 8:00 pm
Friday | 9 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday & Sunday | 9:00 am – 6:00 pm

Sep

24

Elise Melnick Simon Exhibition Opening

Exhibition Openin...

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60 Photographs
Elise Melnick Simon

On exhibit through October 2026

Elise Melnick Simon was a painter, photographer, performer, educator, and lifelong creative force.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Elise earned a fine arts degree from Beaver College and began her artistic career in New York City, working as a model, performer, interior decorator, actress, and visual artist. After moving to Norfolk, she continued to raise her family while deeply pursuing her art.

Elise’s creative path took her to the Canary Islands, Spain, where she helped found the Community School of Gran Canaria and taught art and drama. During this time, she developed her work as a painter and photographer and presented a one-person exhibition in 1976. Her photography was later featured in another solo exhibition at Eastern Virginia Medical School. That exhibition, “60 Photographs,” was on show from January 6 through February 15, 1989, and stayed in storage after Elise’s unexpected death at 69 in 2002. This exhibition features the original prints made for the 1989 show.

Focusing her artistry on everyday natural and man-made objects, Elise used this exhibition to examine the role symmetry plays in nature and in its interaction with the structures around it. The abundance of symmetrical patterns in even the simplest surroundings speaks expressively for both the subject and the artist.

Effrat Levy

Leon Family Gallery Hall of Remembrance

The Hall of Remembrance features the names of over 1500 Israelis who have lost their lives on or since October 7 at the hands of terrorists interspersed with prints of art by various Israeli artists who have used their art as a way to take action, tell the stories of individuals, call for political action, and foster unity.

Laura and Fred Gross
Joanna Homrighausen
Ellen Rostov Hundley
Connie Jacobson

Jaffe Family Fund
Carol and Joel Jason
Betsy and Ed Karotkin
Jodi and Jay Klebanoff
Teresa Knecht and Marc Lindgren
Anne and Edward Kramer
Abbie and Steven Laderberg
Robert Lehman
Caren and Stephen Leon
David Leon
Sandra Porter Leon and Miles Leon
Betty Ann and Scott Levin
Joan London
Nancy Loewenberg and Richard Marten
Robin and Matthew Mancoll
Ronni Marcus
Marcia and Burton Moss
Stacie and Marc Moss
Heather Nevins
Nelson Noriega
Andrew Nusbaum
Dr. Holly Puritz and Dr. Stephen Wohlgemuth

Poole Brooke Plumlee PC
Lisa and Howard Roesen
Judith Rosenblatt
Sara Jo and Joel Rubin
Shikma and Danny Rubin
Terri and Lonny Sarfan
Laure and Richard Saunders
Beth Scharlop and Roger Schultz
Lynn Schoenbaum
Deborah and Peter Segaloff
Patricia and Herman Shelanski
Sandy and Norman Sher
Lynn and Sadie Sher Cohen
Leslie and Lawrence Siegel
Helen Sissel
Sonia Stein-Bonnie
Lawrence Steingold
Renee and John Strelitz
Myrna Teck and Allan Zeno
Tidewater Jewish Foundation
Dr. Alan and Jody Wagner
Alice and Eric Werner
Helen and David Wolfe
Amy and Frank Zelenka