interesting to me,” she says. “I started
with metal envelopes and boxes. I like
the idea of container as protection. An
empty box is beautiful with different
planes, and I like the way light hits the
forms.”
Being and Becoming, for example,
was meant to capture the beauty of
the shape itself, a functional reference
transformed and implying change.
Teicher, who lives in Dearborn with
her partner and devotes time to seven
grandchildren, has not explored Judaic
themes in her work. Her connection
with religion comes with planning
family holiday celebrations.
“It seems I work almost all the time,”
says the artist, whose sculptures are
on permanent display at the Detroit
Institute of Arts, Saginaw Art Museum
and the Dennos Museum Center in
Traverse City.
“I used to work seven days at my
studio, but now I also have an office at
home, where I make all my models. I
have three-dimensional small models,
and when I’m ready to fabricate, I go
to the studio.
“I have people do the bending for
me, and they also do the waterjet
cutting. For the large pieces, I have
fabricators. I am self-challenging and
questioning, and I avoid complacency.”
Teicher’s first big commission was
for the Bishop International Airport in
Flint, and her outdoor works include
pieces on display at the Dearborn cam-
pus of the University of Michigan and
Ferris State University in Big Rapids.
“I’m very excited about the upcom-
ing show,” says Teicher, whose work
has been seen most recently at the
Detroit Artists Market and Crooked
Tree Arts Center in Petoskey. “It’s an
example of my thinking and shows the
evolution of my growth. It’s not just
about material.
“With my earliest pieces, I was only
following the need to create, but the
ideas and visual representation of
them have come together.”
Teicher explains that she started out
thinking in terms of pictures before
thinking in terms of the ideas they
would represent. She describes that
process as starting from an end point
and working toward the beginning.
While those pictures came close
to the ideas she would associate with
them later, she now is able to forge
ahead with pictures and concepts aris-
ing more simultaneously.
From her earliest artistic lean-
ings, she never considered any of it a
hobby. As work increased in size and
moved toward outdoor projects, metal
became her preferred material. Honors
have included a Michigan Governor’s
Award for Lifetime Achievement
and two Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Awards.
“As I evolved as an artist, I became
aware of basic, essential concepts,
such as the existence of a time/space
continuum,” she says. “This awareness
resulted in my use of space as a mate-
rial. Themes used in my work flow
directly from my search to understand
and connect to the universal.”
As viewers come to know the
smaller works on display, Teicher is
planning for two projects — one for
a commercial building and one for a
local temple.
“When I was very young, I was
extremely shy so I think this whole
journey has been about finding my
voice,” she explains. “I had to find a
way of expressing myself, and it’s been
a life theme.”
*
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May 19 • 2016
39