arts&life

galleries

That’s It! Gallery

Love At
First Sight

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Michelle Silverstone

counts on the “that’s

it!” factor at her

recently extended

pop-up gallery.

details

That’s It! Gallery is in
West Bloomfield, inside
Orchard Mall. (248) 563-0444.

38

January 11 • 2018

M

ichelle Silverstone
would like to earn her
living as a full-time
abstract painter, but she aims at
being a practical-minded profes-
sional first.
While working as a per-
sonal trainer at the Jewish
Community Center, she still
makes time to paint but also
finds ways to network with
other artists to help them mar-
ket their diverse projects.
Silverstone established a pop-
up marketplace — That’s It!
Gallery, a showcase that opened
in October at the Orchard Mall
in West Bloomfield. Although it
was only planned through Dec.
31, its popularity has helped
the decision to extend its stay
through March 31. She chose
the gallery name because of
people’s reaction when they
connect with a work of art.
“I have been contacted by
more than 90 artists who want

jn

A painting by Ellen Stone

to show their creativity, and I’ve
been so impressed by the high
level of talent that I’ve seen,” says
Silverstone, currently displaying
multiple pieces by nine artists.
“We have realistic and
abstract paintings, wood and

metal sculptures, giclee [ fine
art digital print] projects and
photographs of varying sizes.
My phone and web pages have
been the source of bidding con-
tests on some of these pieces, all
priced very affordably.”

Silverstone, a single mom of
two living in West Bloomfield
and a member of Temple Israel,
brings merchandising and cor-
porate management skills to
her venture. She has worked for
7-Eleven and Frito-Lay.
“I generally look for artists
who have been judged into
other shows,” she says. “There
are lots of them.”
One is Joan Sterling (Joan of
Art), whose representational
images of children, animals,
landscapes and florals have
been selected for fairs in
Birmingham and Livonia.
Sterling, who lives in
Farmington Hills and is a life-
time member of Hadassah, was
trained in New York. She gradu-
ated from the State University of
New York at New Paltz and went
on to teach in Walled Lake after
moving to Michigan in 1990.
“I’ve tried all kinds of art,
including printmaking, quilt-