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Mon.-Thurs. 11:30-9:30, Fri. & Sat. 11:30-11, Sun. 12-9:30 642-8386 4067 W. Maple Rd. Just East of Telegraph THE GPEAT WALE SERVING YOUR FAVORITE EXOTIC DRINKS & CHOICE COCKTAILS PRIVATE DINING ROOM • BANQUETS • PARTIES • BUSINESS MEETINGS Your host . . . HENRY LUM Businessmen's Luncheons • Carry-outs • Catering 476-9181 (Drakeshire Shopping Center) • 35135 Grand River -1,1111 .. ■ HOA KOW INN Specializing In Cantonese, Szechuan & Mandarin Foods Open Daily 11 to 10:30, Sat. 11 to 12 Mid., Sun. 12 to 10:30 — Carry-Out Service — 13715 W. 9 MILE, W. of Coolidge • Oak Park • 547-4663 KABOB GRILL Authentic Lebanese Cuisine I CARRY-OUT & CATERING AVAILABLE 29702 SOUTHFIELD AT 12 1 /2 MILE (In Southfield Plaza) 557-5990 MON.-THURS. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. FRI. & SAT. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. CLOStD SUNDAYS DINING OUT IS BETTER AT A JEWISH NEWS RECOGNIZED RESTAURANT 76 FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 1990 tiles, deepens the colors and gives the paint a glossier finish. "It does come to life" in the kiln, she says. Since the colors Hecht paints on the tiles change in the kiln, there is some of what she calls "educated guesswork" involved in her art. "It's not such an exact science that anybody can know exactly (how a piece will turn out). There's a lot of unknowns. You can fire the same thing with the same paint twice and it will not necessarily come out the same way." The transition in the kiln is even greater for those who fashion their own tiles. But Hecht says, "I really have no desire to make my own tiles. I don't think my work is about pottery. It is painting. It's kind of a meshing. It's fired painting. It's not about the clay. It's about the glaze and the brushstrokes and the col- ors and the composition." Since she began with tiles, Hecht has not worked in another medium. "There's a richness to the surface," she says. "It's more towards oil painting, but it's different. I can build up the surface," using several coats of overglaze in certain parts of a piece, to give it a three- dimensional effect. "For me, it opened every- thing up," she continues. "All kinds of possibilities. There are tons of ideas that I haven't had a chance to try yet." Hecht's home is filled with her work, including sculp- tures and paintings from her pre-tile days. Her intricate patterns liven her kitchen and bathroom. More personal work, such as pictures of her husband, sons Benji and Sam, and the family dogs, appear in rooms throughout her Bir- mingham home. But it's Hecht's commis- sions for others that keep her busy these days. She is asked to perform a variety of work, ranging from small design patterns to large portraits. Some of her customers know what they want, while others are wide open to suggestions. "It runs the gamut," Hecht says. "I usually help them think it through." As a hobby, she likes to ad- vise clients on other aspects of room design that will com- plement her work. Of her most famous clients to date, Lee Iacocca "was very pleasant to deal with," Hecht says. After describing the type of work he wanted in his Bloomfield Hills kitchen, he required Hecht to lay out specifically what she wanted to do. Hecht works on a new piece. "I'm not a sales person. I frequently felt that I was my own worst enemy in that department. But here is the ultimate salesman. And to analyze what he wanted and do it to his satisfaction was very gratifying." Although Hecht has displayed her work in many art shows in recent years, she still has trouble when others try to categorize her pieces. "I call them paintings, because they're not about ceramics. I end up falling through the cracks some- times with shows because I really can't enter a ceramics show and in some realms it's got to be oil or watercolor or they won't consider it a pain- ting," Hecht says. "I've never been on a trend in art. It's not about that to me. It's not easily labeled. It's very individual." Another problem is that with so many commissions, Hecht does not own much work she can show. Partly as an answer to that dilemma, she occasionally takes time to work on something of her own. "I don't care if it's saleable," she says. "It can be personal. It has to be from the heart. Every now and then I have to do something that's totally without regard to other peo- ple's needs." But, she says, working to please other people's needs does not inhibit her creativity. "I enjoy the parameters. It's just that sometimes I need no parameters. But I find it very challenging to have to come up with a solution for a poten- tially very restrictive situa- tion and do it right. I find that to be very challenging even though a lot of artists, I think, would find that to be a total nightmare. "To me art is about com- munication. Even when I'm at the point where I don't want to paint another basket of flowers, once I'm in the middle of it, I don't quit until it's a work of art. So it becomes very gratifying even if I'm not that excited when I get started." Hecht considers all of her work art. "That's why I can be just as happy working on a kitchen as I can working on a picture for a show. Although Hecht says that she will not work exclusively with tiles for the rest of her life, she adds that she has not taken tile art "to the limit" yet. "I'm not tired of it and I don't think I will be for years." Her work will soon be featured in two books, one of which, The Guild, is a sourcebook for architects throughout the country, meaning that Hecht is likely to remain busy for as long as she wants. "I'm doing pieces that I'm happy with and that other people are happy with," she says. "You have a concept; you see it come to life. And it real- ly does enrich people's lives. That means a lot to people and it means a lot to me." ❑ String Quartet Plays Mozart An all-Mozart concert to be performed in Holland by the Lafayette String Quartet will be previewed at Oakland University 8 p.m. May 6 in Varner Recital Hall. Later in May, the quartet will play the same selections at the Mozart Week Festival in Zeist, Holland. The Lafayette was the only American quartet invited to perform at the festival. There is a charge. For infor- mation, call the box office, 370-3013.