She's Baaack!
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Sheila Kasselman, chairwoman of the first
Birmingham Art in the Park fund-raiser, has returned to run
the 20th anniversary of the event.
STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER
N
obody can chronicle the
growth of Birmingham's
Art in the Park juried art
fair better than Sheila
Kasselman.
Ms. Kasselman served as
chairwoman of the first Art in the
Park, held in 1974. She's also
chairwoman of the 20th anniver-
sary event, which is scheduled for
Sept. 10 and 11 in Shain Park.
Art in the Park is the major
fund-raiser for Common Ground,
a Royal Oak human services
agency which offers a 24-hour cri-
sis line, victim assistance, a legal
clinic and crisis intervention ser-
vices for children, teens and
adults.
Common Ground has a staff of
20 professionals and more than
200 volunteers. It has served
more than 450,000 persons from
Oakland County and surround-
ing areas since its inception in
1971.
"Our goal this year for Art in
the Park is to raise $100,000 for
Common Ground. That would be
a record," said Ms. Kasselman, a
financial counselor who special-
izes in insurance, investments
and pension and employee bene-
fit planning for small businesses
and non-profit corporations. She
is president of the Endowment
Group in Troy.
Ms. Kasselman owned a small
art gallery in Birmingham and
she was the fund-raising chair-
woman on the Common Ground
board of directors in 1974 when
she came up with the idea for the
art fair.
"We raised about $5,000 the
first year and that kept Common
Ground open," said Ms. Kassel-
man. "Since then, Art in the Park
has become a major event in the
area and one that is well-received
in the art community."
After helping launch the art
fair, Ms. Kasselman remained
chairwoman of Art in the Park
for a couple of years. She dropped
her involvement so she could de-
vote time to starting her business,
but she returned in 1993 to run
the Art in the Park silent auction.
'We'll have 160 to 165 artists
this year, the maximum number
we can get in the park," said Ms.
Kassehnan, a West Bloomfield
resident. "It's been that way for
'art,
the last 5-10 years. We had about
half that amount during the ear-
ly years.
"In addition to the art on dis-
play, food and souvenirs are sold
and we get donations from pa-
trons. The idea is to keep costs
down and raise as much money
"Our goal is to raise
$100,000 for
Common Ground."
Sheila Kasselman
"My job as chairwoman is
more coordination work than
anything else because things run
so smoothly," said Ms. Kassel-
man. 'The committee works year-
round on Art in the Park,
although the tasks get more in-
tense the final three months."
The 20th anniversary festivi-
ties feature a Birmingham Art in
the Park Gala which will be held
6:30-9:30 p.m. Oct. 7 at Habitat
Galleries in Pontiac.
Renowned glass artist Dale
Chihuly will make an appearance
at the gala and there will be an
exhibition of his work. In addi-
tion, Mr. Chihuly has donated a
piece for the Art in the Park's
silent auction. [I]
as we can for Common Ground."
About 15 people are on the Art
in the Park committee, Ms. Kas-
selman said, including two Com-
mon Ground staffers who were
assigned to the fund-raiser for the "mg.*
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