Arts & Entertainment
Heavy Metal from page 37
Earrings by David Bacharach, whose art fair items include mezuzot, challah knives and dreidels.
Fair, the South University Art
Fair, the State Street Area Art Fair
and the Ann Arbor Summer Art
Fair.
"I'm strictly a copper guy,"
says Bacharach, 59, whose work
is in the collections of the White
House, American Craft Museum
and the Arkansas Arts Center
Museum. "I find that it's very
reactive, and I can get more
colors with copper than other
metals."
Bacharach cuts copper into
strips, weaves the strips into
sheets, fuses the sheets with sil-
ver and a soldering process and
cuts his forms out of the sheets.
He adjusts colors with heating
techniques.
"I always have new items
for the art fairs and include
mezuzahs, challah knives and
dreidels," explains Bacharach,
whose Judaica has been shown
in "L'Chaim: A Kiddush Cup
Invitational" at the Jewish
Museum in San Francisco and
"Contemporary Artifacts" at the
National Museum of American
Jewish History in Philadelphia.
"I started doing craft shows in
the early 1970s, and I do com-
mission work," says the metalist,
whose jewelry is carried at the
Detroit Gallery of Contemporary
Crafts in the Fisher Building. "I
began with sculpture because
there is something about manip-
ulating the forms."
Bacharach, who studied
biochemistry at Case Western
Reserve University in Cleveland,
is a self-taught artist.
"I was attracted to the metal
weaving process because of its
spontaneity," says Bacharach,
who has worked with themes in
quilt-like patterns. "When I begin
a new piece, I don't have a defi-
nite idea of what that particular
object is going to become."
Jewelry From Israel
Vagner travels to Ann Arbor for
the second time with contempo-
rary rings, necklaces, bracelets
and earrings. They are made
from gold and sterling silver with
very few stones.
"The more we do jewelry, the
more we find out that simplic-
ity is best:' says Vagner, 45, who
learned about jewelry from his
when the fair season ends.
wife. "I have many clients in
"I meet a lot of people as I
the Detroit area because I have
travel from fair to fair;' Vagner
shown my jewelry at events
says. "The Jewish community
hosted at Congregation Shaarey
has been very supportive of my
Zedek."
work."
Vagner, who carries
a camera phone so he
can see his family in
Shoham, Israel, has 14
fairs on this summer's
schedule. He markets
the couple's projects
in America and Israel
with 15 years of col-
laboration behind him.
"My wife and I work
on designs together,
and we like geomet-
ric forms:' explains
Vagner, who studied
drawing and sketching
and did silk screens
before meeting his wife
and sharing in jewelry
projects. "We like each
piece to be elegant and
sharp. We do not do
Judaica."
The couple main-
tains a home studio
so they can stay close Jewelry by husband-wife team Mick
to their three children. Vagner and Nurit Asher-Vagner: "The more
The family will be
we do jewelry, the more we find out that
together in California simplicity is best," says Mick.
Daughter-Dad Collaboration
Book looks at Jewish Ann Arbor.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
R
ichard Adler and his daugh-
ter Ruth took a bus tour of
Jewish sites in Ann Arbor,
which led to a father-daughter writ-
ing project that extended
the content of that ride and
resulted in Jewish Ann Arbor
(Arcadia; $19.99), a photo
history. Although father and
daughter are pursuing scien-
tific professions, they share
a commitment to religion, an
interest in history and the
ability to work together. Their
project, from idea to publica-
tion, took less than a year.
"That bus tour gave me
a sense of the Jewish corn-
40
July 13 • 2006
munity, but it did not put the places
in perspective," says Richard Adler,
58, a microbiology professor at the
University of Michigan-Dearborn. "It
seemed like there would be a niche for
this sort of book."
The first step in compiling material
had to do with
gathering pho-
tos of people,
religious places
and events. The
book team got
images from
the past from
the congrega-
tions, libraries
and people
active in the
community.
Other family
members, particular-
ly younger daughter
Rose, did some cam-
era work to help with
the project.
As they put the
images together,
dad did the writing
and daughter did
the editing. They
moved from the
early Jewish settlers,
such as members
of the Weil family,
to later notables, such as Jonas Salk.
They explored the establishment of
the Beth Israel Congregation, which
includes the Adler family; Temple Beth
Emeth; and the Ann Arbor Chabad.
Census records and other docu-
ments also are included.
"I think all the pictures
make this book a fun
read," says Ruth Adler,
22, a recent Kent State
University graduate who
wants to be a geology pro-
fessor specializing in the
study of ancient climates.
"I think that young people
will like it because it has to
do with the common con-
cern of finding identity, and
a part of doing that is con-
necting with the past."
Both Adlers were able to bring past
experiences to this project. Richard
Adler has written for academic pub-
lications and did a book on another
special interest, sports, with Baseball
at the University of Michigan. Ruth
Adler has done research while fulfilling