Judith Zonis Listernick

“Painting for me is a process during which all outside thoughts and ideas are lost. Paradoxically, it is through this process that the emotional current, which passes through my life, finds expression.”

As a contemporary female Jewish artist, Judith Zonis Listernick has spent over 60 years creating art by focusing on “process not product.” Her journey becomes clearer when she describes her experience as feeling “like a miner who digs and digs and finally discovers a ripple of gold streaming down his shovel.” This artistic expression has been on display throughout the decades at prestigious art shows and exhibits such as: DeCordova Museum, Harvard Medical School, Guild of Boston Artists, Boston City Hall, Cambridge Art Association, University of Massachusetts, and many others. Throughout her artistic career, Judith has been the recipient of many major national awards.

Ms. Listernick has said that “some might find the artistic life impractical” since it may, “in so many who try it, yield no tangible rewards.” For Judith, “it is through this process that the emotional current, which has passed through my life, finds expression.” Her creative path has involved an exploration of innovation through novel techniques. These techniques are revealed in her paintings, as are the “echoes or motifs from the natural world” that can be found in many of her works.

Judith’s initial creative influence was her father, the late Dr. Jonathan Zonis, a physician at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston. Dr. Zonis, originally from Yedenitz, Moldova, was a painter of fine art who specialized in creating seascapes in oils on canvas. Judith’s mother, Frances Zonis, also painted and did crafts including designing and fashioning lampshades. Although Judith’s preferred medium is watercolors, much of her work also captures the mood, magic, and strength of the ocean. Judith’s passion for artistic experimentation includes the study, in recent years, of Chinese Brush Painting.

Her creative skills have been explored and refined through continuous study and involvement in many methods and disciplines throughout her career. This lifetime of dedicated post-graduate work across the country followed a degree from Simmons College (1956).