arts&life

art / on the cover

LEFT: A stained-glass and
copper Magen David is lit
from inside. THIS PHOTO: Tom
Fox works on a copper figure
in his home studio.

A Living
Museum

Local artist Tom Fox has

created a wonderland

of creativity in his West

Bloomfi eld home.

SUZANNE CHESSLER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

BRETT MOUNTAIN
PHOTOGRAPHER

30

July 19 • 2018

jn

J

udi and Tom Fox have filled
their West Bloomfield home
with more than 400 multi-media
artworks completed by one artist —
Tom Fox.
In a home studio outfitted with
specialized equipment acquired over
many years, Fox has formed glass,
copper, wood and other materials
into figurative and abstract pieces.
A retired engineer, he mechanizes
some designs to have movement.
Not far from his studio are two
rooms filled strictly with displays
of his completed works, comple-
menting pieces accessorizing the
rest of the house. With occasional
exception, artworks that leave the
residence are gifted to family, includ-
ing three children and five grand-
children.
Fox, 86, began his artistry some 40
years ago, after he chanced to read
about and then attend a stained-
glass workshop. He liked the experi-
ence so much that he started buying
his own equipment and exploring
new directions for his creativity.
“I can spend 10 hours a day work-
ing on something,” says Fox, whose
current project is a three-dimension-
al depiction of a basketball player.
“On average, I probably spend four

or five hours a day in my studio. I
have equipment for anything I want
to do.
“The basketball player will be 18
inches tall. It is being made of cop-
per pieces soldered together. I don’t
yet know whether the ball will be
held with one hand or both hands.
A basketball player is something I
haven’t done, and I try to do differ-
ent things all the time.
“I experiment with different met-
als although I have an idea before
getting started. For the basketball
player, I wanted to do a person doing
something, and I thought about put-
ting a ball in his hand.”
Fox’s collection includes nonreli-
gious functional pieces, such as fur-
niture and jewelry boxes, and func-
tional Judaica, such as menorahs
and dreidels. Jewelry can include
secular or religious symbols.
“When I was a kid, I liked to make
things,” says Fox, who was born in
Budapest, survived the Holocaust
and lived in Israel before coming to
America. “I went to a school where
we worked with machinery. I like
working with my hands and imag-
ining what I can do. I want to do
things that are unique.”
Early training came with attending