Arts & Entertainment
Left:
Jerome and Evelyn Ackerman: Warrior,
cast aluminum wall plaque with mosaic
inlay.
Below:
Evelyn Ackerman: Composition, hand-
woven wool tapestry woven in Mexico.
Motown
Modernists
One of the most prolific couples in the field of
modern American decorative arts, Evelyn and
Jerome Ackerman got their start in Detroit.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
ore than 80 exhibitors will.be
showing furniture, decorative
arts and wearables as part of
this year's Michigan Modernism Exposition,
and it's possible that there will be finds from
the projects of Evelyn and Jerome Acker-
man.
The Ackermans, who got their core artis-
tic training at Wayne State University before
establishing their base in California, have
won many sale and exhibit outlets for their
ceramic, tapestry, wood, mosaic and cloi-
sonne creations and recently noticed that
vintage pieces are available through eBay.
The exposition, on view April 22-23 at
the Southfield Civic Center, certainly will
showcase the work of designers — such
as Eames and Knoll — who served as
inspiration for the husband-and-wife
artistic duo.
"We've done both one-of-a-kind
pieces and commercial lines:' says Jerome
Ackerman, still using his ceramic talents
to complete new works sold through
California galleries. "Over the years, we
created products true to our feelings about
design and made sure that there were
many items affordable for even young
buyers:'
Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman, circa
The hunt for diverse Ackerman handi-
work, including kitchenware and rugs, can
lead collectors to two names — Jenev Design
Studio and Era Industries. These compa-
nies were established by the Ackermans to
develop business operations for the making
and marketing of their concepts.
Evelyn Lipton Ackerman, who recently
retired from the field to extend and write
about her antique toy and doll collec-
tion, believes she and her husband were
attracted to Modernism in part because
of its popularity during the 1950s as they
started their careers.
"The style expressed who we were and
how we felt about design and art:' she says.
"It became our professional passion and
main creative interest."
California Bound
The Ackermans, whose work is in the
collections of the Smithsonian's Renwick
Gallery and the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, remember their drawing
interests in childhood. They recall that
their fascination with Modernism solidi-
fied during a show at the Detroit Institute
of Arts, and they have kept to traditional
approaches.
The two artists, now in their 80s, met
while studying at Wayne State, where she
earned bachelor's and master's degrees.
After they were married in 1948, he
extended his ceramic skills while enrolled
at Alfred University in New York. During
that time, she found work in the school's
lab and helped graduate students with
drawings and photos.
"When we came to California, where my
family had moved, I knew that we could
not earn a living just by making hand-
thrown pottery',' Jerome Ackerman says.
"Most everybody taught in conjunction
with ceramics, and I had earned my teach-
ing credentials at Wayne because of that.
"I learned how to do production pot-
tery at Alfred, and we put that to work. I
spent a year developing a series of designs
and glazes, and Eveyln started decorating
some of these pieces. I would work with
clay, and she would follow up."
Jerome Ackerman took the lead in find-
ing crafts workers to make limited-edi-
tion quantities of their idea's, commercial
markets for completed projects and dis-
tributors to reach out to stores around the
country. Some items were made in distant
places, such as Japan and Mexico, for sale
MICHIGAN MODERNISM EXPOSITION
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50
April 13 • 2006
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