… but this one’s glass sculpture can stay, say family
Jason Blair ran a glass-blowing business and tutored barmitzvah pupils
A SYNAGOGUE has decided it will not remove a glass sculpture created by an artist who was later convicted of sexually abusing a teenage girl.
After Jason Blair, 47, was jailed for seven years in June, Mill Hill United Synagogue, in North West London, held internal discussions over whether to remove his artwork from the outside of its building.
A jury convicted Blair, a father-of-two from Mill Hill, of five counts of sexual assault against a single victim, who was aged 13 and 14 at the time.
The piece — two glass doves in the shape of a Chai — was commissioned by a family of members in memory of a relative.
Paul Charney, the chairman of Mill Hill United Synagogue, said that in meetings over the summer it was determined that the family, who have not been identified, do not wish for it to be removed.
The shul’s board also approved the decision to keep it in place. Mr Charney added that no shul members have
directly expressed concern over the decision to continue to display it.
He said: “Everyone involved is very happy to keep it up. The family do not want it taken down and the synagogue board have said there is no issue.
“If [the family] want it to be replaced with something different, that would be different. If they said to us that they want to commission something else, that would be fine. But if it is removed, it will not be because of Jason Blair.”
Although the synagogue will not remove it on the grounds of Blair’s conviction, one possibility is that it is removed for health and safety reasons. Problems with the adhesive and apparatus used to mount it to the wall have resulted in pieces of glass falling down. A sign warning members of falling debris has been on display “for months”, according to Mr Charney.
A decision on whether to fix the mount or remove the piece altogether has yet to be made.
If it is removed it will not be because of Jason Blair’