Thursday, October 1, 2026
For Glen Head resident Betsy Schreiber, communication, storytelling and painting culminated in a recent art exhibit at Sid Jacobson Jewish Community Center. Her work has been on display since December.
The exhibit features acrylic paintings with some of her own poetry placed throughout. Her painting style involves both abstract and realism.
“Each piece tells an entirely different story,” said Jaime Teich, associate executive director of marketing and communications and curator of Sid Jacobson JCC ArtSpace. “which is interesting to the eye and just showcases a wide variety of her talent.”
Schreiber said that combining these art styles was attractive to her because it allowed her to send viewers a message, but the art would still land differently with each.
“I like giving them enough information so they could see what I’m doing or what message I’m communicating,” she explained. “But then I want them to be able to fill in the rest of the information themselves.”
After getting a master’s degree in speech language pathology at Emory University, Schreiber incorporated art into her career. She said that there were not many supplies for speech language pathologists to use with their patients at the beginning of her career.
“I wanted to create certain materials for them,” Schreiber said. “so I did collages and all kinds of things, so that they would have materials to work with.”
Schreiber and her husband, Carl, have four sons. Between working and raising her family, she could not dedicate much time to art. As her children got older, she began taking classes with different teachers across Long Island.
This is Schreiber’s first formal solo exhibit, and she said she is “very excited” to have her work on display.
Included in exhibitions JCC’s artSPACE has hosted are paintings, photography, collages and sculptures. Teich said that they aim to showcase a variety of artwork and styles.
“Betsy’s work was such a contrast to the artist that we had here previously,” she said. “and told such a different and beautiful story that it made a lot of sense for us to have Betsy here.”
Schreiber noted the different ways in which artists approach their craft and emphasized what she tries to communicate.
“I think that artists tell the truth and artists are fortune tellers,” she said. “They tell the future, and artists are an unusual group of people. Some of them just paint what there is in front of them, but others paint a story. I hope to paint a story in a lot of my work.”
Teich said that the reaction to Schreiber’s exhibit has been positive. She added that as a community center, part of the JCC’s goal is to encourage people to connect with one another.
“They’re standing there and really taking the time,” Teich said. “There are conversations. You can see two strangers talking about a piece that they happen to be looking at at the same time, and so that’s driving connection.”
Schreiber is set to display work at the Gold Cost Public Library in the spring.
