Arts ig Entertainment
CHESS MATES
from page 23
Art and Antiques magazine this year
named the Deans among the top 100
art collectors in America.
Connecting
"I played chess as a child and teen,"
says Dr. Dean, whose family initiates
each acquired chess set by using it in
actual play for one game. "We started
our collection with a filigree set my
wife spotted at a boutique in Israel.
"During a later trip to London, we
went into a store that sold nothing
but chess sets, and we really got into
the artistry. Through our travels and
seeking out games with interesting
designs, we met other collectors."
Dr. Dean, active with the American
Academy of Family Physicians, came
up with the idea for a similarly organ-
ized group of chess set collectors, and
he became the founder and first presi-
dent of Chess Collectors International.
The first meeting, held in 1984,
brought 50 people from around the
world to Florida. The second meeting,
held two years later in London,
attracted 200 people. By 1990, the
group had 3,000 members, meeting
every other year in places such as
Paris, Vienna and Florence. Next year,
the gathering will be in Berlin.
"I love history, and I've learned
about the history of chess and the evo-
lution of board games," explains.
Dr. Dean, who also collects paint-
ings. "I've tried to emphasize the
importance of chess as an art form
with 32 pieces of sculpture.
Although war is a theme for the
chess pieces, I think of the chess
sets as a harmonizing influence on
world peace."
Dr. Dean will talk about the his-
tory and significance of the game
when he addresses a "Coffee,
Culture and Conversation" event to
be held at the gallery.
He has taught the game to his
four grown children — Keith, a
Lubavitcher rabbi; Randy, a child
psychiatrist; Stephen, an attorney;
and Laurie Amir, a social worker.
Now, he is trying to pass along chess
skills to 12 grandchildren.
"My wife has a great interest in art -
and has been a docent at the Detroit
Institute of Arts," says Dr. Dean,
whose interest in chess developed dur-
ing a summer at the since-closed
Camp Farband. "She has been equally
involved in the [chess] collection, and
we have accumulated these sets as a
couple.".
Dr. Dean, who grew up in Detroit
and earned bachelor's and medical
degrees at Wayne State University after
graduating from Central High School,
The Deans, named this year among the
top 100 art collectors in America by Art
and Antiques magazine, pose in the
"chess room" of their home.
has been a member of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek for 50 years. He says
chess has been recognized as appropri-
ate for the Sabbath because it is made
up of fine materials and in harmony
with people dressing up to observe the
Weekly holiday.
"I hope visitors to the gallery will
enjoy seeing sets of different origins
and materials," Dr. Dean says. "We
have donated more than 100 sets to
various museums, including the World
Chess Hall of Fame in Miami and the
Maryhlll Museum of Art in the state
of Washington." ❑
"The Art of the Game: Chess Sets
from the Collection of Dr. George
and Vivian Dean" and the photos
and videos of Dale Sparage will be
on view Aug. 11-Sept. 25 at the
Janice Charach Epstein Gallery at
the Jewish Community Center in
West Bloomfield. There will be an
opening reception 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 11. Dr. Dean will
give a lecture on the significance of
the sets 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8.
Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Mondays-Thursdays and 11 a.m.-
4 p.m. Sundays. (248) 432-5448.
Photographer Dale Sparage captures the essence behind the image.
T
wo photo exhibits and two videos — all
by the same artist as she explores feminist
issues — will fill the second level of the
Janice Charach Epstein Gallery Aug. 11-Sept. 25.
Dale Sparage, whose work has been shown at the
Toledo Museum of Art and the Palm Springs
Desert Museum, will be represented by 43 images
divided between "Portraits' of Women" and "Girls
in Wonderland," both featuring posed and cos-
tumed models at different age levels.
_
Sparage's video project Voices in My Head offers
interviews about feminism intertwined with pas-
sages from Alice in Wonderland. Another video
spotlights the artist explaining her work.
"The images I make are a way of working
through traditional stereotypes, such as angel and
vamp, that still exist today," says Sparage, 51, who
was an abstract painter before moving into photog-
raphy.
"When I shoot, I set up almost like a theater,
where I cast a model and come up with various
outfits and props that symbolize stereotypes.
Maybe if we are confronted with the elements that
hold us back as women, we can work through
them to find our essential selves."
8/11
2005
28
Sparage, based in a home studio in Bloomfield
Hills and alternating between color and black-and-
white techniques, developed her series as she
thought of women from her own era and the cul-
tural influence on adolescents, including her
daughter, Regine.
"Digital photography has brought more artistry
to camera work," says Sparage, who tries to con-
nect physical appearance to a person's inner world.
"The picture showing a woman with a veil has to
do with hiding feelings, emotions and one's actual
self."
Sparage, who has taught drawing at the College
for Creative Studies in Detroit, became interested
in camera projects after watching a photographer
make slides of her paintings. She recruits friends as
models.
"A lot of what I do involves working out my own
issues, and that has to do with being Jewish," says
Sparage, who was confirmed at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek and later affiliated with Temple Shir
Shalom. "As I moved into portraits, I was drawn to
more color because that can be more expressive." ❑
— Suzanne Chessler
Dale Sparage: "Tess with Mask," from
"Girls in Wonderland"