Above: Michelle Sider of Huntington Wbods painted two murals in the toddlers
play room at the Jewish Community Center. She's shown with her sons,
Benjamin and Eli, both 4, and, in the back, Joshua, 7. The murals are pictured
below.

Huntington Woods artist Michelle
Cider turns a JCC playroom from
drab to delightful.

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
AppleTree Editor

ichelle Cider saw something she didn't like. Nothing.
The toddler gym at the Jewish Community Center in Oak Park
was, in a word, "drab," she says. "The carpeting was old, there was a
display cabinet with ancient trophies — nothing for a cheerful little

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playroom."
So Cider, who lives in Huntington Woods, decided to make a change in the form
of two large murals. An artist with a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University
of Michigan, she was certainly well equipped to tackle the problem. The only ques-
tion was: when to paint?
Cider and her husband, Bill, are the parents of Joshua, a second-grader at Hillel
Day School of Metropolitan Detroit, and had recently welcomed into their family
twin sons, Eli and Benjamin. What better time to begin a huge project than after
you've delivered twins only months earlier?
Cider laughs. She knows the timing was a bit odd. But she was determined.
She began by asking children what kinds of things they would like to see on play-
room walls, then decided to make one mural showing Noah's Ark, another with a
Mitzvah Train. Each car illustrates different mitzvot (commandments), including
honoring Shabbat and respecting parents.
So, with those little boys, just how long did it take to make the mural?
"Forever," Cider says. "I would have an hour once every two weeks to work."
Fortunately, she had help. A long-time volunteer at the JCC, Congregation Beth
Shalom and Hillel, Cider painted on panels donated by another unstoppable volun-
teer — JCC board member Todd Sachse of Huntington Woods. The completed
panels were recently installed by the Center's Building Services Department. It was a
lot of work, but also a lot of pleasure, Cider says.
"I'm totally in the kid phase with my children," she says. So all that painting was
"actually a lot of fun." ❑

3/29
2002

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