Judy Robinson and Kara Snyder unite for heartfelt exhibit at JCC

An enduring bond between two Pittsburgh artists is celebrated in “Judy Robinson and Kara Snyder: The Art of Friendship,” an exhibition running now through Dec. 20 at the American Jewish Museum at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in Squirrel Hill.

The show features 21 paintings by Robinson and Snyder, who first met 16 years ago in a class at the Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media and immediately connected.

While their artistic styles differ, Snyder’s large abstracts and Robinson’s realistic canvases are paired by common themes or harmonious elements of intensity, color and form, according to museum director Melissa Hiller, who curated the exhibition.

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Written works by Robinson, an accomplished poet, accompany two paintings.

“Judy and Kara’s creative journey embodies the essence of havruta — a Jewish method of collaborative learning rooted in friendship,” said Hiller, who also serves as the JCC’s community engagement and development officer. “This practice, of engaging in deep, thought-provoking dialogue, is beautifully captured in their work and reflects the proverb, ‘Just as in the case of iron, when one implement sharpens another, so, too, do two scholars sharpen each other.’”

Robinson, who lives in Oakland, and Snyder, a Squirrel Hill resident, became acquainted while studying with their mentor Patrick Daugherty, and soon learned that they had other ties, as well.

“Judy had done a lot of poetry workshops for my mother, Ruth Buckley, who worked for the Allegheny County Library Association,” Snyder said. “And she had gone to grade school with my in-laws Edgar and (then wife) Stephanie Snyder.”

Sharing an artistic path made their connection seem bashert, or destined.

“Our friendship and camaraderie are hard to define, but I was drawn to Kara,” Robinson said. “I felt so much affection for her, and respect.”

Snyder, like Robinson, has nurtured a love of painting since childhood, but built her career in arts administration. She painted “obsessively,” she said, but only for herself until she experienced a life-altering loss of vision in 2006, the result of diabetic neuropathy.

“It was a very depressing, trying time,” Snyder recalled of a “journey” that required multiple surgeries and learning new ways of navigating the world.

It also prompted the decision to delve into painting full time.

“I had to give up my administrative job, but I didn’t want to face the darkness and drop into nothingness, so painting became my purpose…my lifeline,” she said. “Through painting I learned that I can express myself and let go of the results, which is a great attitude to have just in life, if you can swing it.”

Snyder developed an array of adaptive strategies, including the use of an industrial headlamp and powerful video magnifiers. She labels paint tubes and jars with Braille and other tactile markers, such as rubber bands and tape, to identify colors.

Forays into nature with her guide dog, a yellow lab named Petals, provide inspiration.

“I trust Petals so much that I can unwind when I walk and have a free mind,” she said. “Silence and meditation in nature are where I find peace. When I’m painting, I reach the same place, which is to be fully present.”

Daugherty’s mentoring and Robinson’s friendship provided crucial encouragement.

In 2012, a visit to Yad Vashem–The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem took Snyder’s work and relationship with Robinson to a new level.

“I came back from Yad Vashem completely changed, and told Judy, ‘I have to paint this,’” recalled Synder, who converted to Judaism in 2003. “That led to a whole series of paintings in a solo show (at Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media). At the same time, Judy was writing ‘Blue Heart,’ a book of poems about the Holocaust, and she wanted me to do the cover.

“The Jewish bond between Judy and me continued to grow over the Holocaust, and so did our creative response to it, which can be healing for both the artist and the viewer.”

Robinson calls Snyder “remarkable, just plain remarkable,” and “a pure, kind, gentle soul” who has been an inspiration for Robinson’s poetry and visual art. An interpretation of one of Snyder’s abstracts appears in Robinson’s “Everyday,” a still life featured in the show.

Other works include Robinson’s “Maya,” a portrait, and “Song for the End of Lithuanian Jewry,” which is paired with her poem “Liar.” Snyder’s “Painting with Patrick ‘Model Study’” pays homage to Daugherty, and her “Guides: A Charles Bonnet Hallucination” references her blindness; it is accompanied by Robinson’s poem “What Kara Knows.”

“We’ve had many different kinds of collaborations and they have been positive for both of us,” Robinson said. “Melissa picked up on our deep connection and was able to pair the paintings in an insightful way. She is brilliant.”

Organizing the show involved a similar bond, as Hiller enlisted help from Jen Panza, an independent curator who once interned for her.

“I wanted to bring in someone who was a thought partner with me in the same way that Judy and Kara work together, and who has become an important friend,” Hiller said. “This brings us full circle.”
Museumgoers have found the exhibition “energizing and welcoming,” she said. “Both Kara and Judy have followings, so people are delighted to see their artwork, but they are also delighted that the exhibition is about the two of them.” PJC

Deborah Weisberg is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.