I

I

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ittle Bo Peep has found her
sheep and Humpty
Dumpty has a Band-Aid in
Sara Frank's version of
Mother Goose. Frank, a West
Bloomfield artist (shown right), recent-
ly completed a 3-by-5 Mother Goose
tile mural at the new West Bloomfield
Township Public Library
"I wanted to use the nursery rhyme
characters in a new way," says Frank,
whose colorful mural depicts Mother
Goose flapping her wings and reading
to all of her subjects. The mural con-
sists of ten individual tiles connected
in a jigsaw fashion instead of the tra-
ditional grid-like tile pattern.
Frank's foray into commercial tile
design began as a hobby eight years
ago. A flutist, with a degree from the
University of Michigan in 1971, Frank
decided to study at Pewabic Pottery in
Detroit as a change. She began to pro-
duce tiles for tables, fireplaces and

backsplashes and exhibited her work at
local galleries, like the Arnold Klein
Gallery and the Andy Sharkey Gallery,
both in Royal Oak. She recently pre-
sented Isaac Stern with a special limit-
ed-edition commemorative tile, com-
missioned by the University Musical
Society of Ann Arbor.
The West Bloomfield Library com-
missioned Frank after seeing her
work in an Emerging Artists exhibit at
the Janice Charach Epstein
Museum/Gallery. "At first the library
wanted everything for children, and I
wanted to focus on one aspect,"
explains Frank. After many drafts,
Frank chose Mother Goose for the
children's section.
In addition to the mural, other
Mother Goose tiles are scattered
throughout the room for young library
visitors to discover. Copies of the
individual tiles are sold exclusively at
the library as a fund-raising project.

•

Left: Little Bo Peep tile is just one of a

dozen nursery rhyme tiles scattered

--Carla Schwartz

PHOTOGRAPHY

BY JOHN SOBCZAK,

LORIEN STUDIO

1 2 • JULY 2000 • STYLE AT THE JN

throughout the West Bloomfield

Library children's section.

Right: This 3x5 Mother Goose mural

consists of individual tiles

connected in jigsaw puzzle fashion.