arts & culture
Beth Or’s Olitsky Gallery
Reopens After Three Years
F or the fi rst time in almost
three years, Congregation Beth
Or will reopen its Olitsky Art
Gallery, a symbol of the reconvening of
the Beth Or community in the Jewish
New Year.

Th e gallery, which opens on Oct. 14
aft er Friday night Shabbat services, will
display the works of two local artists:
Karen Liebman, who has operated the
gallery for the past seven years, and
Cyndi Philkill, a non-Jewish mixed
media collagist.

In past years, gallery openings coin-
cided with onegs held aft er Shabbat
services as a way to schmooze with the
visiting artist and other congregants.

Aft er three years of online and hybrid
services, the reopening of the gallery
following in-person High Holiday ser-
vices will mark the return of an oppor-
tunity to build community.

“I defi nitely wanted it to follow Yom
Kippur because that would get people
used to coming back again — we’re
so happy to see people fi nally coming
back again,” Liebman said.

Liebman and Philkill’s contrasting
styles will be put in conversation with
one another, with Liebman favoring
watercolor and acrylic landscapes and
Philkill depicting a series of portraits
constructed out of paper, paint and
other materials.

“My work is basically based on my
travels,” Liebman said.

Th ough she has 15 years of experience
in painting to her name, Liebman’s art
philosophy is that she always has more
to learn. Th is will be the second time in
the gallery’s 33 years that Liebman will
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display her works.

Also a seasoned artist, Philkill com-
bines more traditional mediums, such
as oil pastels, with found objects. For
the past several years, she’s created col-
lage portraits based on hospice patients
she visited as a hospice volunteer coor-
dinator. “I became very interested in trying
to capture older adults and people that
were in their lives,” Philkill said. “And
not in a morbid sense, but in a sense
that I wanted to bring attention to the
fact that they are so vibrant, they still
have dreams and hopes and passion
and wisdom in their lives.”
Philkill describes her art as “rep-
resentational” but not abstract. Her
mixed media collages aren’t of specifi c
people but rather a patchwork of per-
sonality traits and interests.

With Liebman’s pieces contrasted
with hers in the gallery, Philkill has
already found ways to interpret her
pieces with new meaning. She consid-
ers both the works to be landscapes,
though Philkill calls her pieces “people
landscapes.” Both works are “puzzle-like,” com-
bining diff erent planes or components
to create a coherent image, Philkill said.

Th e two artists only began to under-
stand the similarities of their works
aft er deciding to combine them for the
gallery opening.

“Th at’s the beauty and the power of
art: to create community, to start dis-
cussion,” Philkill said. “And we’re both
really hoping this exhibit will facilitate
that here at Beth Or.”
Liebman and Philkill met through
ARTsisters, a Philadelphia-based col-
lective of women artists founded 12
years ago. About 25 members meet
monthly to provide feedback and sup-
port to the cohort.

“Sometimes, as women and as art-
ists, we can feel a little alone and iso-
lated,” Philkill said. “Th at sometimes
it’s harder to get recognized and fi nd
venues to exhibit.”
Beth Or’s Olitsky Gallery has become
a similar outlet for artists to fi nd an
audience. In 1989, Beth Or member Norma
Jarrett approached the then-new Rabbi
Cyndi Philkill’s “He Always
Made Me Laugh”
Gregory Marx about creating an art
space at the synagogue.

“You need patronage in order to get
into an art gallery; you need money
for an art gallery,” Marx said. “And
Norma said, ‘We have this space. Let’s
show people’s work, both from the local
community and beyond.’”
Th e gallery became a way to both
support local artists and bolster syn-
agogue attendance. On Friday nights
aft er Kabbalat Shabbat services, Beth
Or held gallery openings; the syna-
gogue attracted both new congregants
and art lovers. A designated gallery
space even survived the synagogue’s
move from Spring House to Maple
Glen in 2008.

In March 2020, the gallery, like the
synagogue, stopped receiving visitors.

Th e once-vibrant art space mirrored
the emptiness of the synagogue sanc-
tuary and most other buildings at the
onset of the pandemic.

“We had this beautiful space with
bare walls and wires hanging down
where they used to be pictures. It
almost looked like an empty warehouse
... it looked schwach,” Marx said. “Th e
building was empty; there was no art.”
As Beth Or resumes their tradition
of mingling art and religion, Marx
hopes the gallery will once again be a
microcosm of synagogue life, this time
vibrant and reinvigorated.

“What does it mean to me?” Marx
said. “Th e return to life and beauty
and celebration of art, hopefully bring-
ing people in and sharing not only in
the sacredness of time but also in the
beauty of space.” JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Courtesy of Karen Liebman
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER