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Alchemic Abstractions
Ann Arbor artist Karen Izenberg exhibits
her paintings in a one-woman show.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
IC
aren Izenberg thinks chemistry when she paints
— not singularly the emotional chemistry
between artist and viewer but also the scientific
chemistry between artist and substances used.
In her Ann Arbor studio, also serving as a gallery and some-
times a gallery for other artists she selects, alchemy is the cur-
rent buzzword. It commands the title of her upcoming show,
"Alchemic Translations," which is set for Sept. 16-Oct. 12.
"The exhibit is recent work of mine covering the last
year and a half," says Izenberg, strictly an abstractionist in
this medium. "There are many layers of paint, and I paint
and paint until I decide the painting is finished. That can
take weeks and weeks. What pleases me most is that I see
where the paintings are coming from and where they are
now, and that progression makes a lot of sense to me."
Izenberg came up with the title for this cycle of works
after reading What Painting Is, which explores the alchemy of
paint and the process that artists go through in their studios
when they work with paint formulas. The book takes up the
magic of what happens when
these substances are trans-
formed into paintings.
"I paint without using any-
thing from real life, and I don't
even think of anything too
specific," the artist explains. "It
starts with an idea of composi-
tion, something very vague in
my mind that I don't put into
words even for myself.
"Then, it starts to become
something, and this whole
idea of the alchemy and the
mystery and paint is fascinat-
ing to me because that's kind
Karen Izenberg: "It starts
of how I operate intuitively.
with
an idea of composition,
I've started using a lot more
something
very vague in my
gels, golds, silver flakes and
mind
that
I don't put into
things like that, and it sort of
words even for myself"
ties into the alchemy. I refer
to that with some of the titles.
Transmutation 79, for example, comes from the elemental
number of gold."
Izenberg, 49, who grew up in Oak Park and Farmington
Hills, concentrated her attention on classical piano as a child
but still took occasional art classes at the Detroit Institute of
Arts. She was encouraged by her parents, Sally Sanfield, an
artists manager, and Phillip Sanfield, an art dealer.
After earning a bachelor's degree in art history at the
University of Michigan, where she took photography cours-
es, she bought a loom and taught herself how to weave.
Wall hangings occupied her attention.
"I was pretty successful, and in 1981 became part of a big,
all-media show at Cranbrook," Izenberg recalls. "I entered
other shows and did that for many years, but there was some-
"Distillation # 29, 'a crylic on canvas.
thing missing. I went into an interior design program at
Eastern Michigan University and realized that was wrong, too.
"I started experimenting with fine arts classes and took
quite a bit of painting. Fiber was just too dictated by struc-
ture since fiber artists pretty much have to stick with what
they decide to do, but I loved the spontaneity of paint and
began working with acrylics because I like the additional
way to be spontaneous. Oils take a long time to dry, and I
like to pile paint on top of paint very quickly"
After Izenberg earned her master's degree in 1996, she
opened her own studio/gallery. The first show in that space
featured her work and the work of two of her EMU profes-
sors, one a painter and the other a photographer. A series of
individual shows involving others led her to put up
"Alchemic Translations."
"This will be the first show where I've shown just my
work," says Izenberg, who has been part of group exhibits
installed at the Ann Arbor Art Center, Creative Resource
Art and Imaging Gallery in Birmingham and the Jean
Albano Gallery in Chicago, among others.
Izenberg, a member of Temple Beth Emeth in Ann
Arbor, also has been part of an "Emerging Artists" exhibit
at the Janice Charach Epstein Gallery at the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield.
Married to plastic surgeon Paul Izenberg, the artist has
encouraged all three of their children — John, 18; Lia, 16;
Jake, 14 — to paint and draw. Her current pursuit involves
computer art as it applies to collage projects, which takes
her in more realistic directions.
"One of my goals is to become more familiar with digital
imaging," Izenberg says. "I'd also like to get the paintings
out of town more."
"Alchemic Translations" will be on display 11 a.m.-
4 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, Sept. 16-Oct. 12, at
the Detroit Street Gallery, 417 Detroit St., Ann
Arbor. An opening reception will be held 7-10 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 15. (734) 994-0291.