‘Nature’s Midrash’ Art by Sheila Sondik
Opening: Friday, September 12, 2025, at the oneg following 6:15 p.m. Shabbat service
Artist Talk: 2 p.m., Sunday, October 19, 2025 in the Social Hall
By Emily Weiner
“Nature’s Midrash: Art by Sheila Sondik” will be the fourth exhibition in the Programming Committee’s series showcasing the work of visual artists who are members of CBI. Paintings, original prints, and quilts will be on display in the foyer and social hall September 12, 2025, through February 2026.
The 6:15 p.m. Shabbat service on September 12 will include remarks about Sheila’s art, and we will celebrate the opening of the show at the oneg. A not-to-be-missed exhibition-related event will be a free Artist Talk at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 19.
The exhibit includes prints produced on an etching press in Sheila’s Silver Beach studio. She works in many printmaking techniques, including collagraphy, etching, monotype, and chine collé. Recently, she has added to her repertoire mokulito, a Japanese wood lithography technique. There are also sumi ink and watercolor paintings on crinkled Japanese paper, as well as the quilts she made for the b’nei mitzvah of her two daughters.
Sheila’s subject matter has always been inspired by the natural world, although she is not interested in replicating what she sees. She also has been greatly influenced by the Chinese Literati painters of the 11th century to the present, who aim not to depict nature realistically, but to filter through their consciousness the landscapes they have observed. Sheila considers her own art — within this tradition of subjective, personal, interpretive expression — to be the visual equivalent of Midrash. She made that connection while recently listening to one of her favorite poets, Alicia Suskin Ostriker, at an online poetry conference discussing her book, The Nakedness of the Fathers: Biblical Visions and Revisions.
Sheila’s art has been shown in solo exhibitions and invitational and juried art shows in galleries and museums in several states, and in Japan and South Korea. Most recently her work was in the 2025 “Women Rising” juried exhibition presented by the Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival in Bellingham, the 2023 Whatcom Museum National juried show, and the 2024 “Ink, Paper, Scissors” three-person exhibition at Dakota Arts Gallery in Bellingham. Dozens of other exhibitions are listed in her resume on her website, https://sheilasondik.com/
One of Sheila’s most influential mentors was her ikebana flower arranging teacher, Soho Sakai. Her critiques were astounding as she walked around the class making the slightest modifications of students’ work — often by removing something — that completely transformed them. Looking at various series of prints displayed on the walls of Sheila’s printmaking studio, it was clear to me how deeply she absorbed those lessons in the power of slight modification.
Sheila is also an award-winning published poet. Her poetry has appeared in CALYX, Raven Chronicles, The Floating Bridge Review, Frogpond, and many other journals and anthologies. Her two chapbooks are Fishing a Familiar Pond: Found Poetry from The Yearling, published by Egress Studio Press in 2013; and Lighting Up the Duff published by The Poetry Box in 2024. Haiku Northwest’s 2024 anthology Glimmering Hour includes both her paintings and three haiku. Links to selected poems are on her website. Perhaps she will read a few poems during her Artist Talk.
As a child, Sheila drew constantly, wrote poetry, and admired her aunts’ paintings and poetry. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from the California College of Arts and Crafts, a Teacher’s Certificate in the floral art of Sogetsu ikebana, and is a longtime student of Chinese calligraphy.
Growing up in Hartford, Conn., Sheila and her family attended a Conservative synagogue. While she and her husband, Dr. Paul Sarvasy, were living in the San Francisco Bay area, they attended Kehilla Community Synagogue. Sheila’s introduction to Bellingham was in 2003, when she attended a retreat of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, held at Western Washington University. Their younger daughter attended Western, and Paul and Sheila followed her to Bellingham in 2008.
Our curator for the exhibition of Sheila’s work is CBI member Inka v. Sternenfels, who has worked closely with Dr. Ashley Mask on previous CBI art exhibitions. Inka worked as Assistant Curator at the Esther M. Klein Art Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, where she started an outreach program for underserved schoolchildren. She also founded and ran the PNI Gallery, in the Philadelphia Inquirer building.
Art displayed during the exhibition series is not for sale through CBI, but if you are interested in purchasing artwork, contact Sheila at ssondik@gmail.com.
The Programming Committee is continuing to contact other CBI artists and scheduling subsequent exhibitions. We know of several artists we hope to include, but with CBI membership expanding so fast we want to be sure we don’t miss someone — so if you are interested in participating please contact the Programming Committee co-chairs: Emily.Weiner@bethisraelbellingham.org and Melissa.Schapiro@bethisraelbellingham.org