arts & entertainment
One City Four Fairs
Meet some Jewish artists whose work will be on display
at this year's Ann Arbor Art Fairs.
Suzanne Chessler
I Contributing Writer
booth filled with Judaica will
be one of the attractions at this
year's Ann Arbor Art Fairs,
scheduled July 16-19 throughout the
University of Michigan campus and the
downtown area of the city.
The event, actually consisting of four
fairs arranged in the same timeframe, will
present more than 1,000 juried artists in a
wide range of media, including painting,
drawing, glass, sculpture, mixed media,
jewelry and more.
Buyers and browsers — as well as the
artists themselves — will enhance their
experiences with creative demonstrations,
related activities, entertainment and a
variety of foods.
Nachshon Peleg, along with Stavit
Allweis and Bruce Holmberg, will be rep-
resented by all kinds of jewelry, with and
without religious symbols, and Jewish arti-
facts, such as mezuzahs and menorahs.
Their projects fall under the name
Seeka, which, they maintain, joins high-
tech with fine art and also finds custom-
ers through commercial outlets, such as
Tradition! Tradition! in Southfield.
"This will be our third year in Ann
Arbor among some eight years going to
festivals," says Peleg, who studied at the
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in
Israel, as did Allweis.
"Our pieces are very colorful. We hand-
paint designs [on stainless steel] using
acrylic and metallic paints before adding
beads and pieces of chains:'
The three, who met and continue work-
ing in New York, have similar artistic
responsibilities but do not go to art fairs
together. That responsibility is divided
among the men, who have planned for
Holmberg to be at this year's State Street
Art Fair, now in its 47th year.
"We travel in a minivan with bins that
fold down," Peleg says. "We each need two
different personalities (as an artist and a
businessman) to go to art fairs, where the
creativity is set aside for a time although
A
we do get artistic insights from the people
we meet:'
Adam and Sarah Spector, whose pot-
tery and tiles will be shown at the South
University Art Fair, have done Judaica in
the past but are focusing on other artistic
directions this year.
They will showcase functional pottery
and wall pieces with carved relief patterns,
often joining stainless steel with porcelain.
"We're interested in the Arts and Crafts
movement and Art Nouveau," explains
Adam Spector. "We make new pieces while
referencing historical work:'
The couple, based in a home studio
in upstate New York and using the busi-
ness name Spector Studios, met at Alfred
University, named after the New York
town in which it is located. While his
focus was pottery, hers was tile. They came
to collaborate on whatever they do.
Pewabic Pottery in Detroit is among the
outlets for their work.
The two started their own business after
graduation and have been in Ann Arbor
over many summers. They have traveled
the art-fair circuit for about 12 years,
using a big van to transport their bubble-
wrapped items.
During the colder months, they teach at
the Turk Hill Craft School in Fairport, N.Y.
"A sense of geometry and symmetry can
be seen in our work," Spector says. "Our
palette of glazes, which mixes soft satin
matte colors with slick glossy effects, was
planned to emphasize the relief patterns:'
Generally, the Spectors make a model
from clay and a plaster form from the
model as they launch each piece. They
freehand-carve designs into the plaster
and emboss clay into their designs.
It is safe to use the finished pottery in
ovens (not the broiler), microwaves and
dishwashers.
"We've gotten great ideas from people
we meet at the art fairs," Spector says.
"Another artist once suggested that we
do more pieces for the outdoors, such as
flower bowls and birdbaths, and those
have been very successful:'
Natalia Margulis takes traditional fabric
skills into new spheres for the Ann Arbor
Street Art Fair, the original creative show-
case among the four as it notches up a
history that reaches back 55 years.
Essentially an embroidery artist,
Margulis has done designs with Jewish
symbols on tablecloths for personal use.
For the public, she sews realistic designs
that incorporate many types of stitching
to capture scenes from nature.
Her subjects — whether landscapes,
flowers or leaves on the ground — reflect
her background as a biologist trained in
Russia. Her family moved to the United
States in 1993.
"I take photos or sketch what I see and
then reproduce all that with fibers and
embroidery," Margulis explains. "I like
traveling to the summer fairs because I
can talk to the public about the work and
find new places to photograph for other
projects:'
Margulis, married to biologist Michael
Margulis, lived in Kalamazoo for a few
years because of his employment with
a pharmaceutical firm. When he found
work in New Jersey, they moved.
Painting was the first artistic interest of
Margulis, who went on to design clothes
that included needlework.
"I made a gift for a friend, and people
asked me to make similar gifts for their
use," she explains about the start of her
professional artistry. "I taught embroi-
dery in the United States, and a student
brought me information about art fairs
and suggested I look into them:'
Margulis has won many prizes for her
work and is very happy that collection
of prizes includes one in last year's Ann
Arbor event. She limits her travels to
about five shows a year in the 15 years
she has participated in the summer show-
cases.
"I love structure and details," Margulis
says. "People will have to look closely at
my work before they realize the structure
and details have been done with threads:'
More than 500,000 people are expected
to circulate among this year's artistic
offerings.
❑
Above: Nachshon Peleg, Stavit Allweis
and Bruce Holmberg of Seeka join
complementary skills in fine art and
industrial design in works of Judaica
and jewelry at the State Street Art Fair.
Adam and Sarah Spector's tiles and
functional pottery will be shown at the
South University Art Fair.
At the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair,
embroidery artist Natalia Margulis
takes traditional fabric skills into new
spheres that reflect her background as
a biologist trained in Russia.
The Ann Arbor Art Fairs run July
16-19 on the U-M campus and along
the downtown streets of the city.
Hours are 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday-
Friday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday.
It is recommended that people park
offsite and use available shuttles.
(800) 888-9487; http://artfairs.
visitannarbor.org .
JN
July 10 • 2014
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