Hailey Laws spent her first winter term at Oberlin tracing flowers onto wooden panels.

"I traced the same flower over and over again, about a thousand times," she says. "I dream about flowers now."

The first-year student from Los Angeles was one of a group of nine students who undertook an innovative winter-term project titled "The Lost Historic Wall Painting." In addition to tracing, the project required participants—who included mathematics, science, history, and art students—to become sleuths of architectural details, masters of mixing colors, and experts in 18th-century painting techniques—all in 10 days.

Sponsored by Rian Brown-Orso and Sarah Schuster, professors in the art department who organized the project, the students immersed themselves in reconstructing a half-size replica of part of the south cupola (ceiling) of the Gwozdziec Synagogue in Poland. Built in 1731, the building was among many wooden synagogues destroyed during the Nazi invasion of Poland during World War II.

Rick and Laura Brown, the guest experts who ran the project, are professors of sculpture at the Massachusetts College of Art and founding directors of Handshouse Studio, a nonprofit organization in Norwell, Massachusetts. The studio educates students in history, science, and the arts through innovative, hands-on reconstruction projects of lost historical objects. The Browns' work has been featured on the Discovery Channel, television stations in England and France, on the PBS program Nova, and in National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines.

The Browns spent two semesters working with students at the Massachusetts College of Art figuring out the colors and dimensions of the south cupola. Before arriving in Oberlin, they had determined exactly how the wooden ceiling pieces fit together, verified the accuracy of the Hebrew script on the ceiling, and delved into the history of these sacred buildings.

Using this prior research, as well as several key books on the subject and photographs of the synagogue taken by students in the 1920s, the Oberlin crew went to work. They arrived at the art department early in the morning and sometimes heard lectures about the synagogues, their history, and the meaning of the iconography. After a short break for lunch, it was back to bending over the paintings. Despite the intensity of the work, a relaxed mood prevailed. Students chatted and music played in the background.

Day by day, they painstakingly traced and retraced designs onto wooden panels. Day by day, they mixed and remixed paints and, using 18th-century painting techniques, replicated the elaborate designs of the ceiling. As they worked, the intricate tapestry of symbols—including deer, unicorns, turkeys, symbols of the Zodiac, Hebrew script, and a myriad of flowers, swirls, and arabesques—came to life in rich shades of beige, rust, blue, and brown.

"This has been a really unique opportunity," says first-year student Glennon Beresin, who hails from Boston, near the Browns' studio. "I had heard that Laura and Rick do really amazing things. Working on this ancient synagogue has been like putting together the pieces of a puzzle."

"What these students are doing is reviving what was," Rick Brown says. "It's a very profound experience. It's amazing to think the entire ceiling is being replicated by students."

The Oberlin students' work will be exhibited at the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, where it will be displayed facing the Browns' earlier reproduction of the north cupola of the Gwozdziec Synagogue; at the conclusion of that exhibition, it will become part of an international touring exhibition. It may return to Oberlin for display at a later date. The Browns hope that one day all the pieces of the Gwozdziec Synagogue ceiling, as well as its altar, will be reconstructed so people can experience the structure in its full luster.

The Browns' replica of the Zabludow Synagogue, another historic Polish structure destroyed by the Nazis, was displayed in Mudd Center last year, along with photographs and drawings of the Gwozdziec Synagogue. This was their fourth visit to the Oberlin campus.

National Yiddish Book Center exhibit Handshouse Studio