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10/1
1999
84 Detroit Jewish News
-6000
Multimedia Expressions
Marcia Freedman is a painter who enjoys investigating other materials.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
A
rtist Marcia Freedman usual-
ly works big, but in October,
she also is showing big.
Examples of Freedman's
artistry will be part of four separate
exhibits.
Her 48 inch x 48 inch painting
Metamorphosis V, part of a series, will be
included in the "Body and Soul" exhibi-
tion at the Paint Creek
Center for the Arts in
Rochester, while
Metamorphose IV joins
works by three other
artists at the Sherry
Washington Gallery in
Detroit. Her sculpture
Pod Form will be dis-
played as part of "Flora
Botanical" at the Belle
Isle Conservatory, and
her textile piece Gently
Used will be in "About
Potholders" at the
A.C.T. Gallery in Detroit.
At Paint Creek and the Washington
Gallery, Freedman's muted earth tones
done in oils on panel imply a single
figure referencing the human condi-
tion. For Belle Isle, she's used a mixture
of acrylics and oils in shades of crim-
son, ocher and deep purple to form a
sculpture built of layers over particle
board and a chicken-wire form. At the
A.C.T. Gallery, the artist has made
three-dimensional masks out of recy-
cled clothing.
Freedman's multimedia expressions
go hand in hand with her job as a
Detroit teacher. She explores a variety
of styles with her students at Western
International High School, where she's
been assigned since 1981.
"Teaching keeps me on my toes,
and I think I nurture the kids in the
same way that they nurture me," says
Freedman, who also has taught draw-
ing at Wayne State University, where
she received both bachelor's and mas-
ter's degrees. "I'm a painter who likes
to investigate other materials."
Freedman remembers that she
always liked to draw and paint and
grew up in a household that encour-
aged her interest. Her uncles were
architects, and so is her brother,
Larry Rockind.
"I made a serious commitment to be
a professional artist as an adult after I
received a bachelor's degree in art educa-
tion," Freedman says. "My commitment
remains intense."
Married to accountant Stanley
Freedman and the mother of three
grown sons, David, Mark and Jeffrey,
Freedman has time alone every day after
school, when she works in her Detroit
studio. She's had the space, which is
quiet and close to Western, for eight
years.
"My work is an
investigative
process using
organic form as a
metaphor for inter-
nal landscapes and
external percep-
tions," Freedman
explains. "Rooted
in the tradition of
the figure, it focus-
es on psychological
inwardness, rela-
tionships and the human condition.
"Often built of many layers, it is rich
in surface and filled with energy. It is a
system of mark making, repetition and
process between self and materials,
revealing an inner dialogue and personal
history yet remaining ambiguous and
indistinct."
Throughout the '90s, Freedman's
works have been shown in single and
group exhibitions in and out of
Michigan. The Cary Gallery in
Rochester, Detroit Artists Market and
Macomb Community College in
Clinton Township are among the nearby
centers that have invited her to be an
exhibitor. Out-of-state displays have
been at the Rutgers University campus
in New Jersey, Gwenda Jay Gallery in
Chicago and the A.I.R. Gallery in New
York.
"I've been invited to be part of
these shows either by people who have
seen my work or my slides," says
Freedman, a member of Congregation
Beth Shalom. "Every time I show, I
Above left:
"Metamorphosis
V," oil on board,
on display at the
Paint Creek Center
for the Arts.
Left.
Marcia Freedman
in her studio:
"Rooted in the tra-
dition of the figure,
bny work] focuses
on psychological
inwardness, rela-
tionships and the
human condition,"
she says. Her work
is on display at
four metro Detroit
locations during
October.