SUMMER PLEASURES

On The Art-Fair Circuit

Artists and art
shoppers enjoy
Michigan's summer art
fairs from Up North to
Huntington Woods.

SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

rtists Shari Cohen and
Stephanie Pollack have
different talents, but
ey share a common
bond with thousands of people
who have never brushed paint
along paper or shaped metal into
sculptural forms — a love for sum-
mer art fairs.
Cohen, who resides in Walled
Lake, and Pollack, who grew up
in Huntington Woods and now
lives in Florida, travel the art-fair
circuit and meet the people choos-
ing their handiwork.
Ms. Cohen's jewelry and Ms.
Pollack's paintings are displayed
side-by-sideNvith one-of-a-kind pot-
tery, glassware, wooden figures
and countless examples of per-
sonal creativity. Their displays are
often outside, where the backdrop
can be the greenery of a park or
the shimmery water of an inland
lake.
Almost 100 seasonal exhibitions

Ai

Visitors at the Ann Arbor Art Fair have
the opportunity to speak with artists.

and sales, spread throughout the
state, are listed by the Michigan
Council for Arts and Cultural Af-
fairs in a directory, Michigan Art
Fairs 1996, but there are many
more — some with commercial
sponsors, others setting aside pro-
ceeds for special causes and most
with food and live entertainment
Whether art appreciators are
looking for a single-afternoon ex-
cursion or a vacation route filled
with opportunities for decorous
finds, Michigan is abundant with
art-fair moods and mementos.
"It's nice to be in contact with
the other artists and the people
who come to the shows," said Ms.
Cohen, who will have a booth at
the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair
sponsored July 24-27 by the
Michigan Guild of Artists and Ar-
tisans. (The Ann Arbor event
brings more than 500,000 visitors
each summer.)
"I love the Ann Arbor event be-
cause it feels very kinetic with so
much going on. I love it when
shoppers come back year after year