Late artist's work steeped in peace, healing, 'common ground'

BERKSHIRE EAGLE
By Clarence Fant

Artist Wendy Rabinowitz worked in mixed media, such as metals, fabric, paper, papyrus and silk.

PITTSFIELD — For Judaica textile artist Wendy A. Rabinowitz, her work represented peace, healing, the earth and women's issues. "We can meet on common ground through our art," she told The Eagle in 2006. "When darkness appears, just watch for the light." Rabinowitz, who died in a traffic accident Tuesday at 72, grew up on Chicago's south side, where she liked to watch the sun rise over nearby Lake Michigan. Her father, Sam Rabens, was an accountant who had changed the family name; her mother was Geraldine Bielsker, a homemaker. For more than 30 years, Rabinowitz worked at her Living Threads Judaica studio at the East New Lenox Road home she shared with her husband, Jeffrey Borak, arts and entertainment editor of The Eagle. [More]