Arts & Entertainment

Robert Schefman at work in his
West Bloomfield studio

am
With
Feeling

A noted sculptor
`pushes dirt"
with his brush.

9/ 8
2005

42

LYNNE KONSTANTIN
Contributing Arts Editor

A

t one time, Robert Schefman planned to go
to medical school. Certainly, his mother was
pleased.
Years later, after the Detroit native had earned
bachelor's and master's degrees in sculpture at
Michigan State University and the University of
Iowa, the struggling young artist found him-
self living, he says, on "the dirtiest street" in
New York City and working on projects for
respected artists Claes Oldenburg, Miriam
Shapiro and George Segal, among others. "I
was in heaven," says Schefman, 53. "I was a working
artist, living in Manhattan."
.
His mother? "She was crying."
At that time, almost 30 years ago, "Soho was like a
slum," he says. "I lived in the crack center of the uni-
verse. What happens on The Sopranos is nothing
compared to what went on on the steps of the
Sicilian church across the street from my apartment."
Of course, once Schefman and his wife, Christine,
became parents 13 years later, they hightailed it out
of the city to the more child-rearing-friendly haven of
Michigan's suburbs, namely West Bloomfield. "We
also knew it was a good community in terms of sup-
porting the arts," says Schefman. "We're a very arts-
connected family, and we knew there was a market
here."
He was right. Christine, a New York native, is co-
founder and director of Birmingham's District Arts

gallery (owner Mark Kahn's parents donated $3 mil-
lion to the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit; the West Bloomfield JCC is
named for them).
And the community recognized their good fortune
in seeing the return of their prodigy son. It has, for
the most part, treated him well. Schefman has taught
at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Association, has
received commissions from private and public clients,
including the Rattlesnake Club in Detroit,
Tribute in Farmington Hills, Wayne State
University in Detroit and Cooley Law School
in Lansing and, since 2003, has been chair of
the foundation department at Detroit's College
for Creative Studies. His work is in the collections of
the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Ford Arts
Center. And that's just locally.
His work has also been featured in solo and group
exhibitions all over the country. Next up, Meadow
Brook Art Gallery will host "Robert Schefman: A
Retrospective of Painting" from Sept. 10 through
Oct. 23.

ON T HE
COIF ER

-

A New Beginning

Robert Schefman has never taken a painting class in
his life. But about 20 years ago, while he was still liv-
ing in New York, the established sculptor, known for
enormous, extremely modernist steel pieces, began
shifting his art into a different direction. As a result,
he was increasingly frustrated working in his chosen
medium.
"I wanted to get more specific about content, using