The Studio at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation recently reached its one-year anniversary in operation as a space for congregants to come together and create art, explore Jewish text and make connections.
The Studio was created by Julie Wohl, the director of congregational learning at BHC, as she was looking to incorporate art into her teaching, something she’s been doing for her entire career.
“For the last 10-plus years, I was running [workshop] programming around the country called Jewish Learning Through Art,” Wohl said. “That’s the background I brought when I came to BHC. As soon as I came here three years ago, I immediately was looking around and wanting to figure out how to take those workshop experiences and create something ongoing at BHC.”
Wohl said that BHC was incredibly supportive of her venture, and she eventually got a grant from the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation that allowed her to take an unused space in the BHC building and turn it into an art studio.
Wohl said that the funding opened new possibilities for their art projects and that most of the work at The Studio is done with adults, an age group typically less involved in art.
The process of creating The Studio took a whole summer, as synagogue leaders had to identify a proper space to turn into a studio.
Wohl said they found half a room that had previously been used for art programming and that there was a movable wall to the second half of the room, which at the time was a storage area.
“We spent an entire summer cleaning it up, we got it painted, we bought a little bit of furniture, but mostly what we had to do was get rid of stuff to make the existing room work,” Wohl said.
Wohl said that some of the items they added were already in the building, but they had been in storage. She said they brought in art tables, shelving units and more before starting programs in the space.
In the year since it got up and running, The Studio has been used for a variety of art programs, including a painting project with BHC camp kids, a printmaking workshop and glassblowing.
Wohl recounted a recent experience in which members of the Holocaust Survivors Social Club and their caregivers gathered around a table in The Studio and created large wooden hamsas while talking about superstition, luck, imagery and symbols in their lives.
“They all come from different countries, and they all have different things they talked about. These 80- to 90-year-old people talked about their mothers and talked about what their parents taught them to be afraid of. But [they also spoke] about luck and about supernatural things that we don’t always think about as being Jewish but come deeply from Jewish tradition and Jewish cultures,” Wohl said.
Wohl added that the group created a range of pieces during that session, and it emphasized what The Studio can provide as a space to create regardless of artistic experience or ability.
As an artist, Wohl sees art as a way to enhance the study and practice of Judaism.
“I believe very deeply in the power of art as a way of deepening learning and understanding. I have used it in partnership with studying Jewish text or learning about Jewish traditions. It accesses a different part of their brain and it allows for a more personal opportunity to make meaning and to really connect deeply to the ideas in a way that just reading them on paper doesn’t always do,” Wohl said.
And for Wohl, the sessions have been a place for her to connect with congregants across generations.
She added that they have sessions once a month alongside other scheduled programming, and there’s a consistent group of around 15 to 25 people ranging in ages from 12 to 95 each month.
“To me, the opportunity to do what I love with people who are joyful and interesting and want to be there, and to be able to do it regularly instead of as a one-time thing, is a total dream come true,” Wohl said.
After a year of success, Wohl said she’s excited to continue expanding upon The Studio and its programming.
“I think I’ve only just begun to explore what else we can do with the space and with a committed group of people who I know will show up and be excited about whatever we do,” Wohl said.
