Joyce Gilbert papers

Joyce Kramer Gilbert was born and grew up in New York City. She graduated from The High School of Music and Art and Beaver College (Arcadia University) with a degree in Early Childhood Education. She married Robert David Gilbert in 1957, and they and their three children moved to Houston in 1967.

She began her career with the Jewish Community Center in 1968 as a Nursery School teacher and subsequently was the Director of Children and Youth, Day Camp Director, Outreach Director and the Director of Early Childhood. In 1979 she left the JCC and worked as an Epidemiology Field Worker for a number of years. In 1981, she started her collaboration with the artist Judy Chicago and worked with her on The Birth Project, the Holocaust Project and Resolutions as well as individual pieces. She sat on the board of Through the Flower, the non-profit that supports Judy Chicago’s work for approximately 15 years. She continues to design and execute needlework projects, mostly of Judaic subjects. In 1984 she traveled to the then Soviet Union to bring aid to the refusenik community through the auspices of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. She directed Houston Action for Soviet Jews and served as a Vice President of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. In Houston Joyce has served on the Boards of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, the American Jewish Committee from which she received the Susman Award in 2002, and Congregation Brith Shalom for which she was President from 1993-1995. In 2005 Joyce was Chair of the Book and Arts Fair of the ERJCC and continues to be active on committees there.