Local Artist Shows Paintings Of Women Making A Difference In Hampton Bays

When Judith Lepore Schreiber of East Quogue was riding a subway through New York City recently she read a sign that prompted her to think of her favorite five people—all of whom she recognized were men.

The realization inspired Ms. Schreiber’s latest show at the Hampton Bays Library, called “Heroines: Living Women Making a Difference in Our World.” The exhibition includes 14 paintings that honors living women in the world who are making a difference.

“I think it’s really relevant right now because women’s rights, and women all together, are being questioned,” Ms. Schreiber said. “And I felt it was important to put out there what women are doing.”

The only woman featured in the series who is not alive is Mildred Dresselhaus, the first female professor emerita of physics and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ms. Dresselhaus, who was known as the “Queen of Carbon” in scientific circles, died on February 20 at age 86—after she was already painted. Before she died, she and her family saw the painting, Ms. Schreiber noted.

Other well known figures in the gallery include Cecile Richards, the chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood; Katherine Johnson, a retired NASA scientist who dedicated herself to STEM research; and Malala Yousafzai a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize winner.

“They are all women who have broken barriers,” Ms. Schreiber said of her paintings.

The exhibition, which can be viewed throughout the month of May at the Hampton Bays Library on Ponquogue Avenue in the hamlet, also includes a series of environmental paintings and sculptures from the artist’s subway series.

“It’s really quite a special exhibit,” said library director Susan LaVista.

Though Ms. Schreiber’s work has been shown all over Long Island she noted that she is proud to have it shown off this month in her community, especially one as close to her heart as the paintings of women making a difference.

“I paint because of my very deep feelings about what is going on in the world,” Ms. Schreiber said.