N Fine Arts

Taking A Look At
The Local Art Scene...

An With A Splash

SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

D

iversity becomes the focus when
three watercolor shows open Jan.
19 at locations within Detroit's Uni-
versity Cultural Center.
"The Michigan Water Color Society: The
Founders and Their Legacy" runs through Feb.
15 at the Scarab Club. "The 50th Annual
Michigan Water Color Society Exhibition" goes
through March 9 at the Detroit Institute of
Arts (DIA). "Water, Water Everywhere" con-
tinues through Feb. 28 at the Center Galleries.
On the first day, all three exhibitions will
be open between 1 and 4 p.m.

have rooms full of paintings from which to
choose. Their complementary careers span 30
years, dating back to studies at Wayne State
University, where they both earned master's
degrees.
Besides being featured in many exhibitions
independently and together, the two have cu-
rated and juried numerous shows and won
grants and awards.
Last year, he received the DIA Graphics
Arts Council Award in The 49th Annual Michi-
gan Water Color Society Exhibition.
"It's really nice that the 50th show is at the
DIA because the first one
was here," said Mary Ann
Wilkinson, acting curator of
20th-century art, who juried
the show with Samuel
Sachs, DIA director, and
Ellen Sharp, curator of
graphic arts.
`The show runs the gamut
from traditional to experi-
mental uses of watercolors."
Artists from throughout
the state were invited to en-
ter.

Patient Subjects

Images of flowers and veg-
etables set against Oriental
rugs and patterned scarves
dominate the platinum and
palladium photographs of
Wendy Holmes, whose works
are in the collections of the
Toledo Museum of Art and
the Biblioteque Nationale in
Paris.
Through Jan. 31, Holmes'
photos will be displayed at
the Pierce Street Gallery, 217
Pierce, Birmingham. "Still life
has always offered me sanc-
tuary; it is the most patient
of subjects," the artist says.
(810) 646-6950.

Wendy Holmes: Sweet Daisies, palladium
photograph.

Left: Don Mendelson: Southwest
Siting, watercolor.

Below: Linda and Don Mendelson:
Contemporary directions.

"Our goal is to show the wide
range of work that is being done
in watercolors," said Linda
Mendelson, who is curating the
Scarab Club show with her hus-
band, Donald.
"People often think of water-
colors as only still life paintings,
but watercolors are far more flex-
ible. There is a great variety of ap-
proaches and subjects."
The Mendelsons — artists, col-
lege professors and Society board
members — personally demon-
strate the contemporary direc-
tions watercolor artists have
taken. While both create abs Li act
images, their themes and techniques vary.
"Linda's work explores a tapestry of monu-
mental and organic forms within a spatial am-
biguity of color fields," explained Mendelson,
who compares his wife's transparent style to
his more textural approach.
"My paintings contrast primitive world im-
ages with the computerized space technolo-
gy of today."
As the Mendelsons track down 40 or 50
paintings to demonstrate the work of Society
founders and those who followed, they are
planning for their own works to be shown.
With studios in their Southfield home, they

Industrial Contrasts

Four watercolorists will be represented at
the Center Galleries - - Jerome Ferretti, who
uses large-format watercolors accompanied
by ceramic brick sculptures; Brian Kremer,
who applies gouache to wood-carved sculpture;
Ann Mikolowski, who does waterscapes and
landscapes; and Mary Brecht Stephenson, who
paints still lifes.

e

For individual show information, call
each location — The Scarab Club, 217
Farnsworth, at (313) 831-1250; the DIA at
(313) 833-7900; or Center Galleries, 15 E.
Kirby, at (313) 874-1955.

Laura Hoskins works with industrial media such
as glass, concrete and pipe to create contrasts in Laura Hoskins:
Eclipse, glass and
characteristics and textures. Using her materials as concrete
table
symbols, she represents the conflict between what (viewed from above).
is earthly and what is spiritual. Hoskins is one of
four artists whose urban-based works will be on display through Jan.
15 at the Heritage International Gallery, 275 Iron Street, Detroit.
Rose DeSloover shows a series of drawings with spirals as symbols.
Marcus Amick evolved his painting technique from a fascination with
street graffiti. Joe Crachiola photographs the urban landscape. (313)
393-3900.

Suzanne Chessler is a freelance writer who compiles and writes our

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