PASSIONS

Cowin/fed from page 19

Name: Suzy Friedman

Residence: West Bloomfield

Family: Husband, Steve: daughters Liza, 15, Abby, 12. and Katie, 9

Art: Clothing, pillows, purses with vintage themes

Suzy Friedman has created a charming collection of purses and shirts and

aprons with vintage themes: little boys and girls playing in the sand, flow-

ers whose little heads quietly tip. So how did this gentle artist start out?

"I majored in psychology and criminal investigation," she says. Then

she did some work in financial investments. Then she became a make-up

artist, supporting her husband through medical school.

When her first child was born. Friedman became a full-time homemak-

er. But sorting laundry and mopping the floor doesn't require much cre-

ativity, which positively overflows in Friedman. "I'll find a copper pipe

and say to my 9 year old, 'Let's build a trellis,'" she says.

Friedman is partial to 1940s memorabilia and has transformed table-

cloths laden with large poppies and other flora and fauna into colorful

dresses for her girls. Old shirts become big, soft pillows.

Friedman is always open to trying new crafts, she says. She loves

attending bead shows, going antiquing and even removing a forlorn object

from the oblivion of a trash heap. "I just saw a chair in my neighbor's

yard," headed for the garbage. "I asked her if she minded if I took it."

"My home is so full of strange objects," Friedman admits, and usually

her family is not just tolerant, they're delighted. Though when

Friedman's at her most creative, it can get to be a bit much.

"My kids have come to terms with the fact that they're wearing old

tablecloths," she says. "Now they're even making their own projects. My

husband tells me he's very proud of me, but every now and then he asks,

`Could you just put some of this stuff in the basement?"

Name: Missy Spickler

Residence: Bloomfield Hills

Family: Husband, Eric: sons Teddy. 21. Michael , 16. Matthew, 14

Art: Photography

Missy Spickler has been known to approach families she doesn't know,

children in the middle of a jump. Something catches her eye and she

needs to take a picture, immediately.

"I see things other people don't see," she says. "And I always have a

camera with me."

Spickler may have caught the photo bug from her father, Morris

Plotkin.

"He had an instamatic camera — you remember those things with

the four-sided flash cube at the top? He used it all the time," she says.

"He wasn't a professional, but he was always taking pictures."

Today, Spickler is a popular guest at weddings, family get-togethers

and b'nai mitzvah celebrations, where she always takes plenty of pic-

tures. She also takes the photos for the yearbooks at her sons' schools.

"Sometimes, I'm just walking along on a road and I see a lonely

flower, so I'll pour a little water on it and take a picture. Or I'll see a

child getting out of the pool. I love to take pictures of little kids and

babies."

Unlike her father, Spickler takes high-tech photos. She uses a digital

camera, has taken a course in Photoshop (a computer program with

which the user can redesign original photos) and has top-notch equip-

ment.

Often, Spickler's photos are affixed to cardstock and become birth-

day and holiday greetings for friends. "I always sign them," she says,

smiling. "Just in case I ever get famous."

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MARCH

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• JNPLATINUM