Arts I Life Fine Fibers For 33 artists at Charach Epstein Gallery, fiber is LISA BRODY Special to the Jewish News made FAST made FRESH made RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU Buy 1 Entree Get 1 Entree not FREE ith an other coupon expires 11 /5/04 FIND A QDOBA CLOSE TO YOU FARMINGTON HILLS 33224 W 12 Mile Rd. at Farmington Road next to Blockbuster & Farmer Jack 248-324-2185 SOUTHFIELD 25243 Evergreen Rd. at 10 Mile in Park Place Shopping Complex 248-799-8210 BIRMINGHAM 795 E. Maple Rd. at Woodward next to Kroger 248-988-8941 OTHER LOCATIONS 10/15 2004 76 ROYAL OAK ROCHESTER HILLS FLINT GRAND BLANC EAST LANSING www,Adoba.com O nce a traditional and functional part of a woman's life, taking needle and thread to fabric has now become an art form reflecting the diversity and creativity of fiber arts. The Janice Charach Epstein Gallery at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield has been at the forefront of showcasing textile art with one of the largest and most prestigious annual fiber exhibits in Michigan. This year the show, which debuted Oct. 14, is tided "Without Boundaries: Contemporary Fiber" and will be open through Nov. 25. The exhibit features fiber art from 33 fiber artists from across the country and Israel. These artists stretch the bound- aries of traditional fiber arts, finding new meaning and expression while incorpo- rating quilting, weaving, hand dying, knitting, lace making, beading and bas- ketry into unique forms. The artists combine many forms of these fiber arts, and gallery goers will see quilts, weav- ings, tapestries, baskets, sculpture, jewel- ry, clothing and handmade paper. Several of the artists are well known to lovers of the textile arts, and their new works are eagerly anticipated. Sylvia Nelson, gallery director and curator of "Contemporary Fiber: Without Boundaries," also enjoys showcasing new artists, some of whom are showing their very first pieces of art. Shary Cohn of West Bloomfield has long loved quilting and crafting and is showing her work for the first time, with three shadowboxes and a vest in the exhibit. "With my shadowboxes, I am manip- ulating materials to create a pleasing composition," says Cohn. "By manipu- lating fabric — sewing it in different ways such as couching, sewing in differ- ent directions, maneuvering fabrics -- it is three dimensional versus flat." Cohn used a totally different tech- nique to create her chenille vest — cut- ting the fabric, washing it, making it fluffy and turning it into a piece of wearable art. Another first-time exhibitor is Marla Schindler of Oak Park, who created a chuppah (canopy) for her son's wedding this past August. "It is a memory chup- pah," she says, featuring photo transfers of the bride and groom, parents, grand- parents and siblings; metallic fibers; embroidery; and hand beading." It was Schindler's first attempt at quilting and was met with great acclaim from the bride and groom, who will hopefully incorporate it into future life- cycle events. "It is an art quilt that is a crazy quilt," notes Schindler. Ruth Ann Prag Carter of Farmington Hills created a 14-inch by 16-inch quilt as a memorial to her Jack Russell terrier Hot Rod, who died shortly after a walk during which Carter found a large sycamore leaf perfectly frozen on the ground. "I carried him and the leaf home," she says, and it became the centerpiece of the quilt, with a leaf in brown-orange- gold fabric against a golden background with swirls, reminding the artist of wind blowing. Autumnal in feel, she says, it is sad and somber. It was a way of saying goodbye to him," she notes, calling the • quili "bittersweet." bttersweet." Anita Sudakin of Birmingham creates wearable articles of clothing, as well as quilts, out of fabrics -- including recy- cled fabrics -- using free-motion machine embroidery on a sewing machine. A new technique involves lace making using regular colored sewing thread stitched onto a dissolving base. "I make sure all of the threads inter- lock, like weaving, and then the unit> is immersed in water, whereby the base dissolves leaving beautiful handmade lace," explains Sudakin. She then creates shawls or uses the lace as edging on other fabric. A highlight at this year's show will be renowned quilt curator Merry Silber of Southfield speaking on "The Quilts of Kindertransport" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28. There are three of these quilts, now on permanent display at the Indianapolis Institute of Art after hang- ing in the Holocaust Museum hi Washington, D.C. Dr. Hanus Grosz is a psychiatrist, who, along with his brother, was spirited with many other children from Berlin to London in 1939 after the German's Kristallnacht pogrom. The majority of the children never saw their parents again. Dr. Grosz's daughter Anita persisted in encouraging her father to talk about the experience, and finally he decided to pursue other survivors of Kindertransport through the Internet and the Mormon Church, which keeps genealogy records. Forty survivors responded in the first year, and 1)r. Grosz's wife, Kirsten, who was able to sew, suicestecl they create a. memorial. The Groszes sent a 10-inch by 10- inch piece of muslin to each of the 40 survivors and encouraged them to use anything from photographs to patch- work, appliques, embroidery or even crayon -- to remember. These squares became the "Quilts of the Kindertransport." "I have been lecturing for 35 years, but I have never had responses like this," notes Merry Silber. "I've had more sur- vivors come up to me at lectures, includ- ing four in California. They say they did not want to ever talk about their experi- ences, but because of the quilts, now they will." Other artists participating in the show include Lynn Aleman, Barbara Altwerger, Celia Block, Alice Bronston, fielen Bruck, Stacie Gerson Chappell, Marilyn Kaczander Cohen, Shary Cohen, Aniko Feher, Lynn Feldman, Ellen Firestone, N. Amanda Ford, Sheila Groman, Marilyn Henrion, Jan Jacobs, Muriel Jacobs, Susan Knott, Anna Kocherovsky, Julie Langensiepen, Ruth Ann Carter Prag, Sherri Roberts, Marla Schindler, Ann Schumacher, Lola Sonnenschein, Ellen Stern, Anita Suclaldn, Patti Tapper, Nancy Waldman, Carol Watkins, Karen Willing, Carol NIcinernan and Laura Witherspoon.. El "Contemporary Fiber: Without Boundaries" is on display at the Janice Charach Epstein Gallery at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield through Nov. 25. The exhibit is free and open to the public. 'An Evening of Coffee, Culture and Conversation" will take place 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28 (note date change). Renowned quilt curator Merry Silber will give a presentation and lecture on "The Quilts of Kindertransport." No charge, but reservations are required. Call the gallery at (248) 432-5448 or e-mail: gallery@jccdet.org 11.111111111111111M111111111111111111111111.111111111111111M