...INITI•10,••••■•

WARREN'S

PRESCRIPTIONS OF
FARMINGTON HILLS

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

A

interest in his work continued further,
as Oxman created a third menora, A

cut, ground, polished, laminated and
finished with an ultraviolet curing adhe-
Festival of Light III: A Celebration of
sive. Totally nonfunctional and colored
Family, for the 1996 holiday season.
to produce optical tricks, Hutter's vases
Michael Monroe, curator-in-charge
reflect the influence of Cubism,
of the Smithsonian Institution's
Constructivism and architecture.
Renwick Gallery of the National
Kuhn's sculpture, Pastel Skies, is
Museum of American Art, worked
made from colored glass that has been
with the first lady to choose exhibiting
ground, polished and laminated.
artists from all over the country for the
Dominant in his work are precise
White House collection. They tried to
cubes of crisp geometry with inner
have a broad range of artists represent-
cores made of several hundred tiny
ed at different points in their careers,
pieces of cut and polished glass lami-
and all works in the collection were
nated together and then embedded in
donated by the artists or their patrons.
transparent and refractive crystal.
"The criteria for inclusion were
It took sculptor Oxman, 32, several
determined by the architecture, the
months to complete his menora for
historical settings and the furnishings
the White House Collection of
[of the White House], with careful
American Crafts.
consideration given to the color, tex-
"Menoras, other religious objects,
utilitarian pieces and
some nonfunctional
Sculptor Zachary
works have been part
Oxman, right, his
of my collection," he
wife Janna, left, and
says. "All my work
President and Mrs.
has emotion and
Clinton celebrate the
light 3 , and most of the
lioht
artist's third White
sculpture is figurative.
House menora at a
"There's a sense of
holiday party.
movement, even with
my abstract work,
and my personality
ture and scale of the period rooms,"
comes through. I don't jump and
Monroe explains in the catalogue that
dance around, but I feel very blessed in
accompanies the show "The selected
life to be able to do what I do for a liv-
craft pieces respond, each in its own
ing and have the family that I have. I
way, to the preexisting style and ambi-
try to make people feel or reminisce
ence of the historical spaces."
about happy times, celebrations or
Sidney Hurter and Jon Kuhn, two
coming together with family."
Jewish glass artists whose work has
Oxman's artistry builds on family
been exhibited at the Janice Charach
successes.
Epstein Gallery in West Bloomfield, are
His mother, Laney, a ceramicist
among those represented in the White
whose work also was selected for the
House Collection of American Crafts.
White House, contributed Feminine
Hutter's White House Vase #1 was
Nostalgia — a vessel form of whiteware,
formed from plate glass that had been
with underglaze pencils, stains, enamels,

bronze, marble and granite
menora displayed in the
lobby of the White House
sparked an idea for a
Christmas gift commissioned by first
lady Hillary Clinton for the president.
The menora, titled A Festival of
Light, created by Zachary Oxman, is a
happy work depicting five dancing men
whose arms hold aloft the candlehold-
ers for the eight nights of Chanuka.. It
had been chosen to be among the
pieces in the White House Collection
of American Crafts, which celebrated
the Year of the American Craft in 1993
and placed contemporary American
crafts in the formal public rooms of the
White House through 1994.
A Festival of Light and 71 other
pieces from the White House
Collection — done in glass, ceramics,
metal, wood or fiber — are currently
part of a traveling exhibit stopping
through Oct. 22 at the University of
Michigan Museum of Art in Ann
Arbor. Currently under the auspices of
the Smithsonian Institution's National
Museum of American Art, they will
have a permanent home at the Clinton
Library when it is built and be avail-
able on loan to other museums.
In 1995, Oxman, the youngest
artist represented in the White House
Collection of American Crafts, was
commissioned by Mrs. Clinton to cre-
ate a bronze peace dove with matching
cufflinks to commemorate the
Bosnian Peace Accord, which had just
been signed. "My design was an
unconventional look for a peace dove.
This one was sheltering the branch
with its wings as opposed to the typi-
cal breast-out, wings-back [appear-
ance], and she really liked
the idea, says the artist,
whose body of work
includes both religious and
Ceramicist Patrick D ragon, whose colorful bowl is part of the White House Collection
non-religious pieces.
of American Crafts, has been part of the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair since 1986 and this
"There wasn't a lot of
year
will be demonstrating his skills as well as showing his latest works.
time for me to sculpt, and I
In its 41st year, the annual outdoor display of all kinds of artistry runs 10 a.m.-9
remember one evening fax-
p.m. Wednesday-Friday, July 19-21, and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, July 22. The show
ing designs back and forth
and sale actually combine three separate fairs spanning 26 city blocks, featuring 1,200
with the first lady. It was a
artists and attracting 500,000 visitors.
really neat experience."
The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair is the smallest and most selective. The State Street
At the same time,
Area
Art Fair features the work of contemporary artisans. The Ann Arbor Summer Art
because A Festival of Light
Fair,
organized
by the Michigan Guild of Artists and Artisans, is the most diverse.
had moved on to an exhibit
Besides
watching
the demonstrations at the three fairs, young people can test their
at the National Museum of
artistic abilities by visiting the Artful Kid Zone, where projects are supervised by
American Art, Oxman was
instructors from the Michigan Art Education Association. Activities run 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
invited to create another
with family entertainment following between 4 and 5 p.m.
menora, A Festival of Light
Participants can- choose from making wearable art (head gear), prints, jewelry (beaded
II, for display in the White
necklaces and pins), paper cutouts, Japanese fish paintings and sculpture constructions.
House during the 1995 hol-
Information about the works of art, street entertainment and visitor amenities can be
iday season. The Clintons'
found on the Web — vvww.annarbotorg or www.artfair.org — or by calling (734) 994-5260.

Ann Arbor Art Fairs

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