This summer, The Welles Gallery of the Lenox Library in Lenox, MA will exhibit the one-of-a-kind weaving/mixed-media assemblages by artist Wendy A. Rabinowitz. This solo exhibit, ” YAHI OR: Let there Be Light” reflects Rabinowitz’s fascination with the concept of light in Torah (Old Testament), Psalms and other Jewish mystical and wisdom texts, beginning with Breishith 
(Genesis 1.3):
“And G’d said: ‘Yahi or, Let there be Light, and there was Light”.
Rabinowitz’s three and four-dimensional “VESSELS OF LIGHT” use a variety of forms, materials, colors and surface manipulation as she conceives her artworks as rays of light seen through a prism: though experienced as a myriad of different colors, it is all truly a single luminous ray of light. “There is no light as brilliant as the light which manages to emerge from out of darkness.” (Sefer Ha’Zohar, Vol.1, folio 32a and Vol.3, folio 47b)
She is celebrating her thirty-six years, double “Chai” ( or 18 for “Life” in Hebrew), as a Judaic artist and is dedicating her exhibit YAHI OR: “Let There Be Light” to the life, legacy and light of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, of blessed memory, who encouraged Rabinowitz’s path as Judaic artist on a group trip to Israel in 1986 and continuing thereafter and beyond.
Her artwork, which reflect themes of peace, healing, spiritual journeying, the earth, women of the Torah and life cycle events has been exhibited and is included in numerous museums, including the United Nations; the White House; Spertus Jewish Museum; National Museum of Women in the Arts; University of Judaism, Los Angeles, International Jewish Women’s Research Institute and Gallery at Brandeis University, and the International Sephardic Foundation, Haifa, Israel.
Her commissioned work includes Hadassah International President’s Plaque; Women’s League of Bnai Torah Congregation, Boca Raton,FL; the Hillel Organization, U of Cincinatti; The Edgar Bronfman Center, Williams College; Knesset Israel Congregation, Pittsfield, MA; Westchester Reform Temple, White Plains, NY.
She was a featured artist in the ABC-TV Special documentary “EMBRACING JUDAISM: Looking In, Looking Up, Looking Out”. She is included in the “Who’s Who of American Artists, 1988-2015.
The Welles Gallery of The Lenox Library, 18 Main Street,Lenox, MA
Image above: “THE BURNING BUSH: “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” by Rabinowitz
Image below: ETZ HAYYIM V’OHR: The Tree of Life and Light
Weaving/mixed-media Assemblage, 26″W x 30″L x 3″D.
