Art Fairs In Season
Birmingham springs forward with the first major fair of the year,
featuring fresh jewelry, Judaica and more.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
B
oth unfamiliar and familiar
Jewish artists will showcase their
fresh works to be seen around the
state as this year's crop of art fairs
begins to sprout.
Coming up this weeke id on the open-air
scene is the Birmingham Fine Art Festival, a
20-year tradition now showcasing the
designs of some 300 artists. While the
paintings, pottery, photos and other forms
fill Shain Park, music groups, food vendors
and children's activities will add to the air o f
entertainment.
Co-produced by the Birmingham
Bloomfield Art Center (BBAC) and the
Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber, the festi-
val will give youngsters, under the direction
of art instructors, a chance to create original
silk scarves, pinch pots, personalized treas-
ure boxes, hand puppets, sun prints and
other artistic Mother's Day gifts.
Fair sponsors will offer giveaways, includ-
ing a package of classes at the BBAC.
Ann Arbor photographer Diane Aronoff
brings her colorful flowers to the festival for
the first time.
"The flowers in my own garden were the
motivation for my photography," says
Aronoff, who works with a manual 35 mm
camera. "I get interesting effects from
water."
Aronoff likes to capture details. For exam-
ple, she will take petals, put them on top of
shells, float them in a pool and then shoot.
Her subjects are popular — tulips, violas
and even dandelions.
Aronoff found encouragement for her
work through members of the Ann Arbor Art
Association after learning techniques from
readinab on her own. She went on to take
classes at Washtenaw Community College,
where she studied how to print her photos.
"My studio is my back yard, and I use all
natural light," explains Aronoff, who is rep-
resented by the River Gallery in Chelsea.
Also new to the festival is another Ann
Arbor artist, jewelry and Judaica designer
Idelle Hammond-Sass. Working with sterling
silver or 14-karat gold, she gives a feeling of
texture and patterns. Drawing then etching
on brass, she rolls heated silver and gold into
the brass to make patterns on the metal.
"I use the patterns for details rather than
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having them on an entire piece," says
Hammond-Sass, vvho is represented by the
Selo-Shevel Gallery in Ann Arbor. "I studied
painting at the Art Institute of Chicago, and
the jewelry came later. A friend showed me
some jewelry she had made and demonstrat-
ed techniques, and I went on to take classes
and workshops, including studies at the
Penland School of Crafts in North
Carolina."
For the past year, Hammond has created
mezuzot. One design, 12 Elements, has 12
pieces to represent the 12 tribes. A commis-
sioned work was a Torah pointer given as a
gift to a religious instructor. Using silver
oval tubing, she put black onyx on the
pointer, added turquoise and amethyst
stones, the teacher's favorites, and structured
the piece to close and be worn on a chain.
Illinois jewelry artist Barbara Sucherman
returns to the state with a new line, which,_
Clockwise from top left:
nodturner Mitch. Wolok uses
rosewood in his new designs.
Photographer Diane Aronoff
brings her colorful flowers to
the festival for the first time.
Barbara Sucherman introduces
a frosted look to her sculptural
designs with marine colors
dominating many of the pieces.
Jewelry artist Marcy Feldman is
showing pendants for Mother's Day
"Boxology”: Richard Rothbards
Star of David boxes, just like
other boxes in his line, can be
customized so that the interior-
is a diorama that captures a
person's interests or marks an
important event.
she calls her "Ocean Collection." Inspired
by a trip to Hawaii in November,
Sucherman introduces a frosted look to her
sculptural designs with marine colors domi-
nating many of the pieces.
"I used sterling silver and fused glass to
give a luminous look," says Sucherman, also
represented by Selo-Shevel. "The large pen-
dants, earrings, pins and necklaces are
abstract forms with a somewhat figurative
quality."
Nancy Finesilver, an Ohio pottery artist
who has brought her work to Michigan over
several years, will be showing some new
approaches to her. functional and decorative
bowls, vases and platters. Oven-safe,
microwave-safe and dishwasher-safe because
of the high-fire porcelain clay she prefers,
Finesilver's table pieces suggest flowers and
emerge anew with shapes and glazes that
demonstrate a tendency to experiment.