exhibit

arts&life

Art Town

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Birmingham brings

back its celebration

of Michigan artists.

details

Our Town Art Show & Sale runs
Oct. 19-22 at the Community
House, Birmingham. The opening
night party starts at 5:30 p.m. for
benefactors ($250) and 6 p.m.
for friends ($75). The free public
show and sale runs 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Friday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-noon
Sunday. (248) 644-5832;
communityhouse.com.

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October 12 • 2017

M

ichelle Sider lives in Huntington
Woods, but her entry into this
year’s Our Town Art Show &
Sale — her fourth — was created in Israel.
Sider, who has taught art at the Frankel
Jewish Academy, designed a floral mosaic
in honor of an Israeli teacher who helped
her refine techniques.
“Last winter, I decided to take art
classes in Israel and was inspired to make
the piece titled Edna,” Sider says. “I’m
retired from teaching, and I like the way
she taught me how to use glass to give the
effect of brush strokes — to do that, I use
smaller shards and tweezers.”
Our Town, in its 32nd year at the
Community House in Birmingham, kicks
off with a preview party and sale on
Thursday, Oct. 19, and will be open to the
public Oct. 20-22.
This juried, all-media show spotlights

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the talents of Michigan artists. Visitors
will see paintings, pastels, sculptures,
glassworks, fiber, photography, mixed
media and jewelry. Thirty-five percent of
the proceeds from sales will be used to
fund children’s programs and services at
the Community House.
Two years ago, Sider won honorable
mention for a pastel image. Her work
in various media results from studies at
the University of Michigan, Wayne State
University and the College for Creative
Studies.
“I mostly painted until 15 years ago,
when I became interested in mosaics,”
says Sider, a member of both Young
Israel of Oak Park and Congregation Or
Chadash to have different religious expe-
riences.
Sider, who works out of a home studio,
has shown work at the Crooked Tree