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Unusual Jobs
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BERKLEY

SCHOOLS

175 _____
YEAR

1840-2015

Where personal excellence is
achieved through a powerful
community, a true culture of caring,
and extraordinary resources.

•

Established in 1840, the Berkley School District has
provided excellence in education for 175 years.
Berkley alumni are invited to celebrate this milestone
anniversary on October 2, 2015, 4-7 pm in Anderson
Middle School's Gym.

•

Berkley High School, ranked one of the top High Schools in the
United States by Newsweek, offers 24 Advanced Placement
courses, with 63% of seniors taking at least 1 AP course.

•

Berkley Schools offers a robust music and fine arts program
from Kindergarten to 12th grade — and in 2015 was named
a Best Community for Music Education by the NAMM
Foundation, for the 4th year in a row.

•

Norup International houses both the MYP and PYP
International Baccalaureate Programs.

•

Berkley Building Blocks offers high quality early childhood

infant, toddler and preschool programs.

www.berkleyschools.org I 248.837.8000

ENGAGE. INSPIRE. ACHIEVE..

Rated #1
In Best Purchase Experience
in the Midwest
2013 and 2014

Jeff Stewart

Assistant New Car Sales Manager

Serving the Community Since 1969

248-636-2736

CONGRATULATION

GLASSMAN SUBARU

A division of

Glassman Automotive Group

HYL111131:11

SUBARU

Serving Our Community For Over 45 Years!

28000 Telegraph Rd • Southfield • (248) 636-2736 • (800) 354-5558

12

September 24 • 201:

Chana Finman,
center, at a recent
press event at the
Barnes Foundation
museum in
Philadelphia with
daughters, Hinda and
Aidel Finman.

immersed In Art

C

hana Finman loves art and
is thrilled her job allows
her to spend every available
moment studying it, teaching about it
and visiting museums.
Married to Rabbi Herschel Finman,
host of Jewish Hour, Michigan's only
Jewish radio show, she created a way to
become a part of a special segment in
his program.
"I travel to seek out arts and culture
for the show, but with a Jewish angle,"
she said. "Sometimes I find it in the art-
ist; sometimes I see something Jewish
in a specific art piece or even in the
building it houses. Last spring and sum-
mer, I must have interviewed at least
a dozen museum professionals about
exhibitions:'
At the Whitney Museum of American
Art in New York City, Finman viewed
the Karin Kalimnik exhibit.
"One of her pieces is based on the
1960s British TV show, The Avengers,"
Finman said. "It made you feel 14 and
cool. She's Jewish, and her family was
dear friends with my family. When I
was a child, we went to her family's
Passover seder:'
Also in New York, Finman went to
the Neue Galerie. "I viewed Gustav
Klimt's Woman in Gold, Portrait of
Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Upstairs they had
an exhibit of Russian and German art.
There was too much anti-Semitism in
Russia. The Jews had their own muse-
um in Odessa. The Germans bombed it
specifically, and these pieces somehow
survived. Chilling. I was floored:'
Finman has been immersed in vari-
ous forms of art and culture her entire
life.
"My grandfather was a poet; my fam-
ily was musical," she said. "I started
taking art lessons as a kid. I was always
creating and had all the support from
educator parents. I grew up playing in
the Rodin Museum, walking through

the legs of the [Auguste Rodin sculp-
ture] Burghers of Calais.
"I came into a Chabad change at
16," she said. "But even though I had
to quit orchestra and public singing, I
continued to do what was OK. I made
art shows for women, studied art and
worked in a major gallery in Israel;
then, when we lived in Australia, I
made a major show for Chassidic artist/
activist Baruch Nachshon."
Locally, Finman has taken many
classes at the Birmingham Bloomfield
Art Center and at Oakland Community
College and has taught in area schools
and given private lessons. For 15 years,
she has run the Art Studio of Oak Park
in her home's garage, dining room and
gardens.
"My students are mainly Orthodox
teenagers," she said. "I share everything
and try to give them a true deep learn-
ing, art experience'
For a decade before beginning her
work for the Jewish Hour, Finman's
alter-ego surfaced as Annabelle the
Clown.
"It began as a favor to friends to
help their Jewish kids' events and then
became a real career," she said. "I did
local Jewish organizations and some
crazy gigs at the Palace, Cobo and for
fundraisers for charities. I enjoyed the
engagement part the most: playing with
kids, teens, grownups and especially
seniors:'
In addition to providing material and
subjects for her husband to present,
Finman also is on air about four times a
year talking about offbeat Israeli religious
historical spots and specific art events.
Her job continues to be an adventure.
"As I make my calendar, flights,
accommodations for press events, I get
very excited," Finman said. "I do enor-
mous prep work. But I am always sur-
prised at the event upstairs or around
the corner that I didn't plan for:'

❑

