You don’t have to be a great artist to create art, says Julie Wohl.
A Jewish educator, author and artist, Wohl serves as director of congregational learning at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation. She is also founder of The Studio at BHC, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary of operations.”
Jmore recently spoke with Wohl, a Detroit native and married mother of two sons who came to BHC three years ago to direct the congregation’s religious school.
Where’d the idea of a congregational art studio come from?
I like creating spaces for people to explore Jewish tradition and ideas through creative experiences. Before I came to Baltimore, I brought Jewish learning and art projects to congregations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylanvia, Virginia and Florida.
I called it my ‘Traveling Art Beit M’Drash’ [house of study]. People studied together and created individual pieces. Then, we collaged them together to make a larger communal piece. My dream was a space where people could regularly create art around Jewish texts and ideas and create community.
How did you make that dream a reality at BHC?
I realized right away that BHC was the perfect place to try out my art studio idea. Art permeates BHC, from the sculptures on the front of the building and the stained-glass windows in the Hoffberger Chapel to the ner tamid [eternal light] and needlepoint ark cover in the sanctuary, as well as the changing exhibits in the Hoffberger Gallery.
I knew art activities weren’t for everyone, but BHC is large enough that there might be enough people who embraced the idea. And the clergy and staff are so supportive. When I told Rabbi [Andrew] Busch I’d like to do something with the arts, he just said, ‘What do you need?’ That’s been my experience here — total trust. And there was an old, unused art room from back when BHC had a day school.
Response to the studio?
There are people who have been doing this with me for two years and haven’t missed a session. And every month, we also have new people — some return, some don’t.
We have BHC members and non-members, Jews and non-Jews, teens and octogenarians. We’ve had professional artists and people who regularly make art, but we also have many people who walk into the room and the first thing they say is, ‘I’m not an artist.’ But everyone’s welcome.
We also invite other organizations into the studio for specific projects, including the Holocaust Survivors Social Club, The Associated’s Young Adults Division and others.
There are local organizations in the community that already offer art classes. Are you in competition with them?
Not at all. I’m not being an art teacher. I’m being a Jewish educator using artistic experience to help people explore Jewish texts, traditions, values.
The act of creating art is a kinesthetic, participatory experience that allows participants to think with a different part of their brain, to look at ideas in a different way. It’s one thing to read a text or even chant it. It’s another to translate it into your own creation.
In an art class, the finished work, the technique, and mastery of the media are the most important elements. Here, the art is a means to greater understanding.
What happens during a typical art studio session?
Each session is built around a specific topic — theme and medium. And each session follows a four-step approach.
First, we read or encounter something. Second, we talk about it. Third, we translate it through our hands into something. And fourth, we talk about and reflect on what we’ve created. Often, you don’t realize some of the things you’ve done until afterwards when you reflect on it.
What do participants think of the experience?
At our closing session, one of our participants said that she is so grateful for the program because it’s so gentle. She said when she first started coming, she was focused on ‘getting it right,’ but she’s learned to just do what’s right for her. She said she’s discovered that it’s not about doing something the right way but finding meaning in the material and in community.
For information about The Studio at BHC, email jwohl@baltimorehebrew.org.
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