Prudence Bernstein

SUZANNE CHESSLER

Special to the Jewish News

S

eptember's terrorist attack in
New York City is the subject
of two abstract paintings by
Jewish artists in the 55th
annual "Michigan Water Color Society
Exhibition," running May 25-July 21
at the Ella Sharp Museum in Jackson.
Linda Mendelson, society president,
is showing L.C. 9-11, while Deborah
Friedman will be represented by

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Collision I.
More than 60 pieces were juried for
the show by Warren Taylor, a watercol-
or instructor at Midland College in •
Midland, Texas. In addition to selecting
the award winners, to be announced
June 9, Taylor has chosen 35 paintings
to go on tour to the Birmingham
Bloomfield Art Center (BBAC) in
Birmingham (Aug. 2-23), Ambleside
Gallery in Grosse Pointe (Sept. 6-28)
and the Paint Creek Center for the Arts
in Rochester (Oct. 1-31).
In connection with the show, Taylor
will give. a slide presentation at 7 p.m.
Friday, May 31, at the BBAC, 1516 S.
Cranbrook, Birmingham.
Mendelson, a Southfield resident
who teaches at the BBAC, is retired

fanciful Fiestafeatures ny designs with brig t thlors.

Waterco
Views

Society's annual exhibition shows
the range of the watercolor medium.

after 32 years of teaching college-level
courses at the College for Creative
Studies, Wayne State University and
the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
President of the Water Color Society
since 1999 and a board member since
1986, she heads the committee that
arranges the annual exhibition, sched-
ules lectures and publishes the organi-
zation's newsletter.
In Mendelson's work, L.C. 9-11, the
initials L.C. represent the phrase "life's
challenges."
"My painting reflects life experiences
while challenging conflict and turmoil,
which must be resolved with a sense of

hope," she says. "I've
painted with cadmium
yellow as symbolic of
life, spirituality and
hope, and contrasted
that with violets, blues
and black."
Linda
Mendelson attributes
Mendelson
her sense of spirituality and
life values to her Orthodox
upbringing, although she has not main-
tained strict religious observance. She has
done a watercolor series, Kaddish, which
includes Hebrew lettering.
She is currently represented in the
"Couples" show at the BBAC, and

also has shown her work at the Detroit
Artists Market, University of Michigan
Museum of Art, PaineCreek Center
and the Flint Institute of Art.
"I like watercolors because they
allow for spontaneous application,"
Mendelson says. "Through careful
timing, it's possible to build up won-
derful color transparency."

Interpretations In Watercolor:- •

Friedman, another BBAC instructor, --.
presents two opposing shapes edged in
orange in her 9-11 piece, titled Collision I.
"My work has become totally
abstract, and it's mostly about relation-
ships," explains Friedman, who worked
as a freelance studio illustrator early in
her career. "I use a lot of huge shapes."
The artist, who lives in West
Bloomfield, has been a member of
Hadassah and ORT. She recently won
first place in the "Painting as an
Abstraction" show at the Paint Creek
Center, and also has exhibited at the
Buckham Gallery in Flint and the
Janice Charach Epstein Gallery in
West Bloomfield.
Stanley Rosenthal, who heads the
printmaking studies program at
Wayne State University, will be