DAVIE, Fla. - Israel "Isi" Ghelman's 30-plus year journey has taken him from art classes in Venezuela to a new art exhibit at Broward College's Rosemary Duffy Larson Gallery. 

A self-described lifelong spectator of art, the Argentinian native began exploring his creative impulses three decades ago when a friend suggested he take courses at a contemporary art museum in Caracas. Ghelman learned how to work with metals, printmaking, and more, but he kept experimenting on his own. 

"I love art. I went to museums everywhere in the world," he said. 

Ghelman has worked for 13 years as a technician in the College's sculpture studio, teaching students how to safely use equipment. He describes the College as a second home. Now, 20 pieces of his work make up the exhibit Transitions, which is on display through Sept. 26. Some of the pieces relate directly to events in his life, including Impact 1 and Impact 2, which were created after a near fatal accident in which his car flipped several times and he suffered several broken ribs. The two sculptures are made from broken pieces of cars, and walking in front of Impact 2 triggers a motion sensor that plays the sound of screeching tires and a car crashing. 

"I decided I had to do something with this," he said of the two pieces. "It's helpful. It's healing." 

Ghelman, who is Jewish, said one of his most personally significant pieces was Nisman, which depicts the scales of justice dangling from a broken Star of David sitting atop a damaged column. The piece is named for Alberto Nisman, an Argentinian prosecutor who was killed in 2015 while investigating the 1994 car bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that left 85 people dead. 

Scott Miller, Dean of the College’s Arts, Humanities & Design Pathway, said exhibits are selected by a committee and that Ghelman had to go through the same process as any outside artist submitting their work for consideration. 

"Our gallery is a teaching gallery, so we show our students what's happening in contemporary art, but it's also where you might be someday," Miller said. 

Ghelman briefly discussed some of his works during an address at the exhibit's opening reception. 

"Each piece of art has its own story, but once it leaves the artist’s hands, it begins a new journey with you," he said. 

The Gallery (Building 6) on the A. Hugh Adams Central Campus in Davie is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with extended hours on Wednesday to 8 p.m.

-BC-