Arts Entertainment HIGH TECH from page 75 Banquet and Party Room Computer Enhancement Renee Gruskin, of West Bloomfield, likes exploring different media. Her computer work follows painting on silk scarves, which she has sold to retailers, and portraits for Children's Hospital. "I take pictures with a regular cam- era and then use software to paint and enhance," explains Gruskin, who has shown photography done in Israel during an earlier show at the gallery. "The computer offers so many pos- sibilities, and I think it can help bring out the best in a photo by changing and adjusting colors and sharpening certain segments." Sunday Best, a photo of a man sit- ting on a doorstep in China, has been altered by adding color to the back- ground and using sepia tones for the man. The artist has made the person more separate and added detail to his itk400: , • 248-548-5005 Book your special occasion now Restaurant Serving The Community for 39 years paTTy GRIFFM 26Th ann PROGRAM SUBJECT TO CHANGE aRBOR FOLK FESTIVAL TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR ONE OR BOTH NIGHTS I CHARGE BY PHONE:134363.TM This year at the Michigan Theater! Tickets also available at Michigan Union Ticket Office, Herb David Guitar Studio, Borders Books & Music on Liberty in Ann Arbor, and all Ticketmaster Outlets V V A FUNDRAISER FOR TaJ mahaL Kate & Anna McGarrigle California Guitar Trio Jim Lauderdale Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer Ellis Paul Billy Jonas Bob Franke Rachael Davis Emcee: Patty Larkin 1/10 2003 76 ,eforWon0agry, THIS PROGRAM IS MADE POSSIBLE BY FORD MOTOR COMPANY os.frkto Ate.-AvorsfArtAAA AAY10[1.0, 1.00111M.1 /OA NI AA, 0 CD 0 LTD ;7 ' Technical Backround Michelle Hegyi, who has 10 pieces in the show, brings a technical back- ground to her artistry. A graduate of the State University of New York in Buffalo, she earned her degree in math and came to Ann Arbor to work as a computer software engineer. Hegyi's early interests in art cropped up again after she began raising her children, and she studied with local artists. She describes her work as abstracted landscapes about people and relationships. "I like working with the com- puter because I can try so many different options," says Hegyi, who was born in Israel. "I paint on the computer using a tablet and a pressure sensitive pen. I look at the screen while Working with the tablet." Hegyi, whose work has been shown at the Washington Street Gallery in Ann Arbor, the ARC Gallery in Chicago and the Ella — Leslie Sobel Sharp Museum in Jackson, has a new series for the West Bloomfield show. Equilibrium was planned to depict balance in life's quests. surroundings. "My paintings using real paint "I accented his weather-beaten look, inspire my digital work, and my digital and I think the feeling is more real in paintings inspire my paintings using some ways and more artistic in oth- traditional mediums," Hegyi says. ers," says Gruskin, who became inter- "I started painting using a computer ested in computer techniques after see- long before personal computers and ing a demonstration. painting software existed. I wrote a The artist, who has studied at the computer program to randomly assign College for Creative Studies and sizes, angles, colors and placement to Oakland Community College, will be exhibiting travel images as well as pup- filled ellipses, and then painted them accordingly with real paint." pets and floral designs. With two other artists, Leslie Sobel and Lynda Cole, Hegyi founded the Art Alchemists, a local digital-artists Eye For Detail collective. Steve Tapper, known for his jewelry designs, will be showing two photo- graphs and a sculptural piece Figurative Images enhanced by computer intervention. Sobel, also part of "Technical Techniques: "I like extracting everyday realities Artists Exploring Recent Technological and making them into new designs," Advances," is showing nine mixed media says Tapper, who has shown his photo- pieces, some framed conventionally and graphic images in another group others presented as scrolls. exhibit at the gallery. "All my images in this show. are figu- "Because I work full time, any rative but have been abstracted in opportunity to share is special to me, some way," Sobel says. "They have and I want to continue to be part of dancer components, even the one the creative community." that's a self-portrait." When Tapper works at the comput- "I use the computer to let me merge and manipulate ideas in ways I could not do with traditional media alone." 22812 Woodward at 9 Mile Rd., Ferndale MI (248) 548-5005 Fax 248-548-1310 wwwcomospizza.corn Jeffrey Gaines Erin McKeown Josh Ritter Jeff Lang The Waybacks Billy Jonas Seth Bernard Emcees: Nerissa & Katryna Nields er, he creates multiple prints, repeats patterns and experiments with crop- ping and extending portions of them. Details are at the heart of his interest. "I'm very observant, and I hope to open eyes to a world that most people might just pass by," Tapper says. CROWNF Cranmer Whole Foods Market Communication. Inc.