The Soul of the Skill

When artist Libby Klein put her work on display for the first time at the Brooklyn Market, her childhood friends were confused when they saw her. “Why are you here?” they asked.

“This is my art,” she said, gesturing to the large, bright canvas.

“What do you mean?”

“These are my paintings. I made them.” Most people didn’t believe her. They always knew Libby to be creative — an avid dancer and lover of all things pretty — but she wasn’t an artist. As a child, Libby Klein chatted to her friends with the phone on speaker, her hands busy molding clay miniatures, basketball players, ballerinas, or a likeness of someone she knew. But she was never much of a painter.

Brushstrokes with a Mission

Libby, who was born in Yerushalyim and raised in Monsey, only started painting regularly when she got married and moved to Lakewood.