Cup for ‘Blessings’: Story and Purpose Behind New Sculpture in Downtown Coral Springs

By LEON FOOKSMAN

PublishedMarch 14, 2022 at 6:30 PM

CORAL SPRINGS, FL – The new sculpture of a colorful cup arrived last week at the Coral Springs ArtWalk with a purpose.

For artist Yitzchok Moully of Hillside, NJ, his 8-foot-tall fiberglass piece covered in acrylic paint called “Overflowing Blessings” is an opportunity for each viewer to describe what he or she is grateful for.

“The cup is a vessel to hold our blessings,” said Moully, a rabbi-turned artist who is known as “pop art rabbi” in Judaic art circles.
Moully’s sculpture is one of four new temporary art pieces that are expected to be on display in downtown Coral Springs for the next few months as part of the city’s public art program. Read more here.

“Overflowing Blessings” had a following before it arrived.
Coral Springs resident Nechama “Natalie” Gutman has already visited the sculpture with her family and intends to reflect on it regularly.

“There’s a message behind it. It’s so meaningful,” she said.

Moully will have an interactive art demonstration at the Coral Springs Festival of the Arts on Sunday – allowing visitors to pour paint on an uncolored 2-foot version of the cup once they say what they are grateful for.
“I like to create elaborate blank canvases that have people come up and share their blessings,” he said.

Growing up in Melbourne, Australia and spending his formative years in Hasidic Brooklyn, the father of six served as a youth rabbi in Basking Ridge, NJ before becoming a full-time artist in 2014.

Since then, he has designed art across the world, pieces steeped in spiritual beliefs that reflect his upbringing and experiences.

Much of his work is aimed at “bringing light into dark places in our lives,” he said.

“Overflowing Blessings” is one of them.
The piece, which took him six months to create, represents the Jewish custom of saying a blessing before drinking a cup of wine during holidays and milestones.

“A lot of people say they see a cup half-full or a cup half-empty,” he said. “I see it overflowing.”

“Overflowing Blessings” will be displayed for a few more months on NW 31 Court and then Coral Springs residents and city administrators will decide which of the four temporary art pieces will be purchased for permanent display.

Gutman hopes Moully’s piece will be selected.

“It’s so different and beautiful,” she said.

Moully will be doing the presentation at the Coral Springs Festival of the Arts from 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.