PEOPLE

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

Assistant Editor

W

ith one stroke of
her pen, Laurie
Greene-Blume
can create an entire open-air
mall, a new drugstore or a
prayer book.
Blume, of West Bloom-
field, is a graphic designer
and illustrator and one of 10
Detroit artists who make
architectural renderings in
Detroit. Her projects have
included everything from
coordinating an exhibit of
toilet seats to painting an
image of her husband on the
beach to serving as art direc-
tor on Shir Shalom's new
prayer book The Fifth Direc-
tion.
The idea for the prayer
book originated with Shir
Shalom Rabbi Dannel
Schwartz, who compiled,
edited and wrote the text. He
approached Blume to serve
as art director "because I
knew the quality of her
work," he says.
Rabbi Schwartz and
Blume reviewed numerous
texts and discussed the copy,
then he turned the art work
over to her.
"This was my first book,"
Blume says. "I think it turn-
ed out pretty well."
Trained in graphic and in-
dustrial design, Blume held
a number of positions before
settling down three years
ago as a freelance artist.
Working with a Macintosh
computer, she counts among
her latest projects creating a
real estate logo and design-
ing a brochure for the new
National Council of Jewish
Women group, Hakol.
Blume takes her design
direction from the client,
which means working the
gamut of tastes and ideas.
"One person could love a
technique," she says. "The
next one will say 'This is the
worst thing I've ever seen.' "
The key word in describing
her work is creativity,
Blume says. "You always
have to be creative. You just
have to keep coming up with
ideas and working with it."
Constantly trying new
ideas was her method when
Blume began designing The
Fifth. Direction, the title of
which refers to a passage in
the Midrash calling for Jews
to "find and honor the fifth
direction" beyond the four

Laurie Greene-Blume in her studio: "You always have to be creative."

AN ARTIST IN BLUME

Laurie Greene-Blume has designed
and drawn buildings, painted fire
hydrants and beaches, and created
a new prayer book.

points of the compass. The
fifth direction is "the one
that leads to the soul."
The cover of The Fifth
Direction is black, with a
design of thin strips of color
— teal, violet, pink and red.
Inside, each section of the
prayer book contains draw-
ings and prayers highlighted
by a color from the cover art:

Readings for Kabbalat
Shabbat are in red; the
Torah service section is in
teal.
Blume selected teal for the
Torah service because the
color, like the Torah, repre-
sents the tree of life, she
says.
Blume began work on The
Fifth Direction cover art

with a watercolor painting,
which she cut into strips.
She then arranged the strips
into a vertical pattern of an
abstract design.
She spent three months on
the project, which included
deciding on the art work and
colors for The Fifth Direction
and designing the graphics.
The Fifth Direction was

not just a product of Blume's
creativity — it was an in-
spiration, as well. As she
worked on the prayer book,
Blume became interested in
having her own bat mitzvah.
She has been studying
Hebrew since September,
saying her courses at Tem-
ple Shir Shalom are like no
Sunday school classes she
has known before.
"I've probably learned
more this year than I did my
10 years in Hebrew school,"
she says.
Her projects are varied,
but Blume's style of working
remains consistent. The
granddaughter of a textile
designer and the daughter of
parents who both love ce-
ramics, Blume rises early
and works virtually non-stop
throughout the day.
Classical music flows from a
living room stereo where the
dog sleeps in his usual spot.
"That's the dog's couch,"
Blume says.
She may spend her after-
noon making drawings from
an architect's plan of a
supermarket in Atlanta or
designing the logo for a new
business in Birmingham. If
she has time, Blume will
work on her real passion
—painting.
Her hallways and studio
are filled with paintings of a
fire hydrant, her husband
and slick-looking cars. She
liked the latter because of
the challenge of painting the
deep shadows on the walls
and in the background.
"It may not have meaning
for anybody else," Blume
says of her car painting.
"But that's what art is."
Art also is hard work —
especially for those working
freelance.
"It's emotional," she says.
"You really, really have to
be tough. You always have
to be marketing yourself."
Blume's next project is a
children's prayer book she
will be designing with Rabbi
Schwartz. She also has nu-
merous paintings just
waiting for her brush or pen-
cil and designs which have
yet to even find their form.
Sitting near cans filled
with artists' pencils and
pens in Blume's studio is a
gefilte fish \\Trapper. Blume
doesn't know what she plans
to do with it yet, but she's
sure something is bound to
come up.

❑

THF 11FTRnIT

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