On Being an Artist

Three Plays and a Libretto

Judith Weinshall Liberman, best known for her Holocaust-themed artwork, explores the creative process in this collection of three plays, a libretto, and black-and-white reproductions of twenty-five of her original artworks. The plays and libretto are all semi-autobiographical and express insights about writing and art that shes gained through half a century of honing her craft. In Soul Mate, which was inspired by Libermans collaboration with a gifted young composer on her first musical play, a woman in her eighties struggles to accept constructive criticism, and in the process discovers that her mentor is her soul mate. Vincents Visit tells the story of an elderly artist visited by Vincent Van Gogh, whos been dead for more than a century. Judith and Anne dramatizes an encounter between the playwright and Anne Frank. To Be an Artist integrates elements from Vincents Visit and Judith and Anne into a musical play in which the characters express themselves through frank dialogue and in twenty lyrics that provide insight into their minds and hearts. Reproductions of artwork help readers better understand the themes in each work as well as the authors insight into On Being an Artist.