Dayan Vishovski, whose aunt
is famed abstract expressionist
Hayuta Bahat.
“I collect plastic from pack-
age wrappings because I have
an urge to fill things up, and I
use these package coverings
for my compositions. There’s a
void I have to fill because I feel
misplaced from Israel. I fill the
plastic with glass.”
Even though the necklace
is abstract, it reminds her of
Charlie Brown, and that’s how
she came up with the title. As a
finished work, the shape of the
part that goes around the neck
seems to replicate the shape of
the head of the cartoon charac-
ter. Adornments remind her of
Charlie’s ears.
“I believe the connections I
find in all forms are unique for
me,” she says. “In my work, I use
a lot of parts and sections that
are not connected, and then I
connect them in my mind and
through what I build.”
The exhibit, which was
organized in 1983, was reinsti-
tuted in 2015, and is juried by
Ferdinand Hampson, founder
and president of Habatat
Galleries in Royal Oak. His gal-
lery is the oldest and largest
gallery in the United States
devoted exclusively to artists
working with glass.
Albert Young, glass artist and
sculptor operating Michigan
Hot Glass Works in Detroit, is
helping to organize the exhibit
and will be showing his work.
Herb Babcock, chairman of the
College for Creative Studies
Glass Department for 40 years,
also will be represented in the
display.
In addition to Dayan
Vishovski, the exhibit will
display works by Jewish artist
Alice Frank, as well as Maxwell
Davis, Alli Hoag, Ian Zapico
and more.
Dayan Vishovski, born in
Chicago, was in America as
her parents earned advanced
degrees at the Illinois Institute
of Technology and the
University of Chicago. She
was still an infant when they
returned to Israel.
“I always wanted to be an
artist,” says Dayan Vishovski,
who teaches Hebrew at the
Frankel Jewish Academy. “I
studied design at the Bezalel
Academy of Art and Design in
Jerusalem and got a master’s
degree in art history at Tel Aviv

University. I taught high school
students for a while.”
The artist also studied at the
School of Visual Arts in New
York and recently earned a
master’s degree at Cranbrook
Academy of Art.
For her Cranbrook gradu-
ation project, she did a large
sculpture called Spaces in
Between.
“The piece speaks about the
relationship between arts and
crafts,” she says. “I try to stretch
and emphasize the relationship
between the sculpture-object
and its usage.
“Although the pieces in the
work are mostly non-wearable,
I believe they still speak in the
jewelry language and whirl
between these spheres.
“I use jewelry techniques
and methods in an artistic lan-
guage — such as a line, spot,
shape and color — to create a
3D drawing or a composition
and build a narrative implanted
within. I also try to integrate
texture and distorted perspec-
tives within the scenes of the
casted parts to suggest endless
patterns covering spaces.”
Dayan Vishovski has shown
her work at conferences
sponsored by the Society of
North American Goldsmiths,
Cranbrook events and the
Mercedes Benz Gallery
in Farmington Hills. She
also has been represented
through exhibits in Israel, the
Netherlands and Italy.
Dayan Vishovski’s interest in
glass developed while she was
at Cranbrook. Although there
is no glass department at the
school, students could take
their own directions.
“When I put the pieces
together, it feels like they had
to be put together,” says the art-
ist, married with three children
and active with Keter Torah
Synagogue.
Although Dayan Vishovski
works with precious metals,
she also brings in scrap to con-
nect with the glass. Sometimes,
the scraps recall what they
once were, and sometimes they
are reminiscent of the form.
“Similar to my work, I feel
like we’re all components try-
ing to find our way in the world
and trying to find connections,”
she says. “Eventually, I hope
we all are suited together with
what we had to be.” •

ABOVE: Ronit Dayan
Vishovski’s Spaces in
Between was her graduation
project at Cranbrook.
RIGHT: Charlie Brown, Ronit
Dayan Vishovski

FACING PAGE
TOP: Subjective Perceptions
by Alexandria McAughy
includes fake hair, snake
skins, dead bugs — and
glass.
BOTTOM, FAR LEFT: A glass
tile by Alice Frank
LEFT: Color Ladder by
JB Wood

jn

March 23 • 2017

37

