Artistic
Interpretations
Local artists and designers are asked
to create their own sukkahs.
JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER
he painter made hers by cutting up one of
her paintings and then weaving it back to-
gether.
The architect who helped design the
soon-to-be-built Lubavitch Synagogue Cam-
pus in West Bloomfield used trees taken
from the site of the future buildings.
11111 The artist who works in fabrics designed
silk panels for hers.
More than a dozen local artists, architects and de-
signers were invited to assemble creative sukkahs for
the Janice Charach Epstein Museum Gallery at the
Maple/Drake Jewish Community Center.
'We thought it would be interesting to ask local ar-
chitects and artists to design a sukkah," said Sylvia
Nelson, director of the museum gallery. "What we got
was a very different and beautiful collection."
The exhibition, along with explanations of the
sukkahs and samples of the designers' everyday work
will remain on display in the gallery through Sept. 22.
The piece that has drawn remarkable attention is
the sukkah made from cracked car windshields, old
metal bars and blocks of concrete.
"We believe in breaking down an idea to its very
essence," said Randnll Harder, who worked on the pro-
ject with friends Douglas Scott Woodward, Steve C. Li,
Greg Jancarik and Bryan Koehn. Together, this group
of architects calls themselves Architects Assylum. "We
don't have a Jewish religious background. What we do
understand is originally the sukkah was built by peo-
ARTISTIC page 16
A Last-Minute Sukkah
JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER
W
ith all the rush that can be
associated with the holi-
days, finding time to build
a sukkah can be difficult.
With so few days left before the feast
of booths, which begins Monday, it's
easier to say "next year." But it's
not too late to build a sukkah
in time for the holidays this year.
Most of the local Jewish book-
stores needed orders for pre-fabri-
cated kits last week, but there are
other quick, easy and relatively in-
expensive solutions.
John R Lumber in Madison
Heights sells pre-fabricated and pre-
drilled wood panels. A sukkah made
with materials purchased here can
be built in four-foot increments.
"We can show you how to build
a sukkah and anchor it, and once
the holiday is over the sukkah can
be stored and reused next year," said
Bruce Katz of John R Lumber. "It's
no problem to get a sukkah built in
a day. We have a sample in the store
if someone wants to see what it looks
like. If they want, we can send some-
one out to put it up."
Another last-minute sukkah so-
lution would be to assemble a screen
house or screen tent without in-
stalling the top. This can be pur-
chased at a sporting goods or
outdoor furniture store.
Another alternative is purchas-
ing PVC tubing at a local hardware
store. Purchasing the tubing and the
joints can produce a sukkah in no
time. Once the tubing is attached in
a box shape, tarps with holes could
be tied on to the sides as walls.
Weights, like sandbags, would be
necessary to hold the tarp down if it
can not be tied to the bottom.
No matter from what a sukkah is
made, it must have a few common
elements. Each sukkah must have
at least three sides and the sky must
be visible from inside. The top of the
sukkah needs to be covered with
s'cliach tree branches or anything
else that grows out of the ground. CI
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Top: Gerri Beckwith's sukkah is observed by Ed Foon and
grandchildren Joel and Ashley Danto.
—
Above: Cathy and Risa Lichtman examine Michael Walk's design.
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