Round Bottom Floor Vase
Bowl in Movement with Flower
ceramics resplendent with colorfully
detailed surfaces.
This summer will offer the first
time Markiewicz has shown her work
anywhere in Michigan. She has been
juried into the Orchard Lake Fine
Art Fair, in its 16th year, running July
28-29 and returning to the area west
of Orchard Lake Road and south of
Maple Road in West Bloomfield. Road
construction had required a change in
locale in previous years.
“I think of my style as very distinc-
tive with carvings, textures and embel-
lishments,” says Markiewicz, 67, who
has been extending her approach
since 1983. “I roll out clay, rip it into
little pieces, carve or press in texture
and build from a flat base. I color each
work, fire it in a kiln, paint and stain
after that firing.”
Applying her techniques, she also
adds other materials, from antique
lace to woodblocks, collected in her
travels around the world and mixed
in with the clay. The patchwork fur-
thers her ambition that no two pieces
are alike.
Markiewicz, who will be bringing 30
projects to this area, has tried to make
mezuzahs in her style but ultimately
considered them too heavy for appro-
priate placement. She comes to the
state after strong customer responses
in other fairs sponsored by Hot Works,
which stages the annual Orchard Lake
Fine Art Fair.
This year’s event will have some
165 juried artists in a variety of
media that include paintings, glass,
fiber, wood, photography and jew-
elry. Submissions will be eligible for
awards totaling $2,500. A separate
Youth Artist Competition for stu-
dents will have chances in awards
totaling $250 and be part of a dedi-
cated display.
Making the fair experience more
complete, food will be offered by
Iridescence, Noodles, Jackson Five
Catering and Sweet Water Tavern,
and music will be performed by
the One Love Reggae Band, Sheila
Landis Trio and Hot Metal Groove.
Over the course of 10 years in a
row, this event has been voted among
the Top 100 Art Fairs in America by
Sunshine Artist magazine.
“Milton Bellin, my uncle, was the
first Jewish graduate of the Yale
University School of Art in the 1920s,”
Markiewicz recalls. “He was a WPA
[Works Progress Administration
developed by President Franklin
Roosevelt to enlarge employment] art-
ist and painted what he saw — cow-
boys, mines, wine country. After he
died, I gave his work to museums.
“He was a great influence on me
and, in fourth grade, I knew that I
wanted to be an artist. When I turned
12, I started painting clowns and
things for kids’ rooms.”
Markiewicz, who earned her mas-
ter’s degree in art from Southern
Connecticut State University and also
studied at Penland School of Crafts
in North Carolina and Massachusetts
College of Art and Design, planned
to become a jewelry artist. When
gold and silver became too costly, she
switched to ceramics.
“As soon as I started with ceramics,
my work sold immediately,” she says.
“I reached 50 to 60 galleries around
the world and even was represented at
High Point, N.C.
“After a recession, galleries started
closing in the late 1980s, but I sold my
work when a lot of artists weren’t even
working. I went to more retail shows
and enjoyed meeting the people.”
Markiewicz says her artistry and
business keep her going seven days
a week. She takes pride in being able
to lift 50 pounds of clay and taking
her work to about 20 fairs a year.
Transported in a van, her projects
remain intact with the help of bubble
wrap.
“Art consumes my life,” she says. “It’s
what I’m most comfortable doing. My
studios are comfort zones.” •
Dining
GUIDE
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Issue date
August 2, 2018
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July 26 • 2018
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