arts & entertainment

Stop And Take A Look

Photographer Joel Geffen shows his photography
in West Bloomfield and Ann Arbor.

Suzanne Chessler
I Contributing Writer

V

iewers are not expected to rec-
ognize some of Joel Geffen's
photographic images. He often
captures colorful close-ups in nature and
architecture, which can appear as abstrac-
tions.
Examples of his most recent projects
will be introduced Saturday and Sunday,
July 26-27, at the 12th annual Orchard
Lake Fine Art & Craft Show in West
Bloomfield. He will be joined by many
other juried artists with specialties that
include paintings, clay, glass, sculpture,
wood, fiber and jewelry.
"My abstractions are similar to what
people see in paintings, sculpture or other
art forms:' says Geffen, who also will have
a solo exhibition, "Dreaming:' running
Aug. 17-Sept. 28 at the Kerrytown Concert
House in Ann Arbor.
"In painting, artists create pure abstrac-
tions by starting with blank canvases and
adding shapes, lines or patterns to create
compositionally pleasing images.
"With photography, the start is the
real world. Although I photograph rela-
tively small pieces of something large, I'm
emphasizing shapes, patterns, colors and
composition, as painters do:"
Geffen's images might be parts of plants,
sections of waterways or segments of fire-
works. On occasion, he puts backgrounds
out of focus to encourage thinking about
what is central to the frame.
"The images reflect that I'm very fasci-
nated with the world and that I'm curious
about details:' he says. "I was trained first
as a forester and archaeologist. Both are
detail-oriented and emphasize recognition

of shapes and patterns.
"In Liquid Sunshine, I photographed
rain on a window against a brightly col-
ored background. I chased drops and rivu-
lets down the glass, quickly responding to
what was occurring and capturing patterns
of water and color as they rapidly formed
and dispersed:'
Geffen's photographic work devel-
oped between and among other profes-
sional pursuits. With a doctoral degree
in religious studies from the University
of California Santa Barbara, he has
taught related courses at Michigan State
University in East Lansing and Henry Ford
College in Dearborn.
The camera artist has served as a docent
for the Florida Museum of Photographic
Arts in Tampa. Among the featured lumi-
naries he studied and presented to visitors
were Dianora Niccolini, Andy Warhol and
Duane Michals.
Geffen, who graduated from the Digital
Imaging Program at Lansing Community
College, does his picture processing in a
studio that is part of his Ann Arbor home.
"I have a monitor that renders colors
extremely accurately, and I have a pro-
fessional large-format printer:' Geffen
explains. "I use 100-percent cotton archi-
val papers, and the inks hold pigments
that won't change color. I also do my own
framing and matting:'
Geffen, born in Florida and raised on
his grandparents' farm, followed along
with their attention to the natural world
and was affected by their strong commit-
ment to Judaism.
"I don't photograph Jewish subjects per
se, but based on my grandparents' respect
for religion and their appreciation for
the created world, my images take part

Haiku Reeds

in that:' he says.
"Jewish themes are
expressed through
the way I was raised,
not through picking
a particular topic:'
Also influential
Joel Geffen
was the work of the
photographer's late
father, Gerald Geffen,
a seascape painter.
Geffen, who has lived in Ann Arbor for
about 12 years, has his work displayed at
Northside Galleries in Fort Wayne, Ind., and
participates in the recurring Sunday Artisan
Market in the Kerrytown area of Ann Arbor.
He also conducts photography
workshops in his home and at distant
venues, with schedules posted on his
website, joelgeffen.net. Upcoming top-
ics will include "Introduction to Seeing
Artistically" and "Seeing Color:'
"Sometimes, I work in terms of portfoli-
os," he says. "There's a theme in mind, and
I'll work toward that theme. Most of the
time, I am simply responding to what's in
my environment. I carry a camera almost
all the time.
"If I see something that catches my eye
— and the lighting is good and the pat-
terns interesting — I'll stop and work with

Los Globos

Wegner's Dream

it. My art reflects the fact that my eyes
pick up the play of light off surfaces:'
Geffen, featured artist in the 2013 anni-
versary issue of UN.sung Magazine, has
one image in the permanent collection of
Lansing Community College. Last year, he
participated in the Ann Arbor Art Fair.
At the Orchard Lake Fine Art & Craft
Show, the size of his images will range
from 16 x 20 inches to 5 x 6 feet. With the
Kerrytown exhibit, part of the proceeds
from sales will support the venue.
Geffen, 58 and single, spends free time
pursuing interests in line with the ones
shown in his artistry. He enjoys camping
and traveling.
"My goal is to show people the beauties
of the world, the small gems:' he says. "I
photograph things most people typically
walk by without noticing. My work is
designed so that people stop and take a
look a little more closely:'

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Joel Geffen's photography can be
seen at the Orchard Lake Fine Art
& Craft Show, running 10 a.m.-6
p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sunday, July 26-27, along Powers
and Daly roads, south of Maple and
west of Orchard Lake Road in West
Bloomfield. $5/free 12 and younger.
hotworks.org .

Geffen's solo exhibition runs Aug.
17-Sept. 28 at the Kerrytown Concert
House, 415 N. 4th Ave., in Ann Arbor.
Hours:10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-
Fridays, during public concerts and
by appointment. There will be a
reception 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept.
10. (734) 769-2999; kerrytown.com .

was ordered.
Likewise, the new WGN show
Manhattan, which premieres at 10 p.m.
Sunday, July 27, is inspired by the
Manhattan Project, the famous World
War II program to build the first atomic
bomb. However, the whole cast of main
characters is entirely fictional.
The real lead scientist on the
project was J. Robert Oppenheimer
(1904-1967). In the TV series, a
character called Frank Winter is the
leader.
The other fictional characters
include Glen Babbit (played by Daniel
Stern, 57), a scientist who is a men-
tor to other scientists, and scientist

Charlie Isaacs, who is described as
"this working-class Jewish kid from
St Louis, who just happens to be
probably the greatest mind of his
generation."
Playing Isaacs is Los Angeles-born
Ashley Zukerman, 31, whose Jewish
parents (I believe his mother is from
Israel) raised him in
Australia, where both
parents teach comput-
er-related subjects at
an Australian univer-
sity. Ashley has a long
track record of big
parts in Aussie plays
and TV series.

Jews

Nate Bloom

Special to the Jewish News

At The Movies
Scarlett Johansson, 29, is the titular
star of Lucy, an action flick in which

she is forced to be a drug mule for
Asian gangs. But injected with a
serum that allows her to use "all her
brain power," she turns against them
– able to absorb information instantly,
move objects with her mind and
ignore pain. Opens Friday, July 25.
Brett Ratner (Rush Hour), 45,
directs Hercules (July 25), a new flick
about the ancient Greek demi-god
with rock-hard muscles, with Dwayne

68

July 24 • 2014

JN

Johnson ("the Rock") in the title role.
Date change: And So It Goes,
directed by Rob Reiner, 67, and star-
ring Michael Douglas, 69, as a self-
centered realtor whose estranged
son leaves a granddaughter he never
knew existed on his doorstep, now
opens on July 25.

On The Tube

Chicago cable super-station WGN has
ventured into original drama program-
ming with two quasi-historical series.
Salem, a show inspired by the
famous 17th-century witch trials in
Salem, Mass., premiered last April and
did well enough that a second season

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