July 25 • 2019 43
jn

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Third Career

Ziskin’
s colorful glass art brings joy.

V

iewers of Bonnie Ziskin’
s 
sculptural artwork can 
sense she’
s happy.
Her projects — whimsical glass 
faces, mixed media abstractions 
and glass tableware — express a 
bright mood through both color 
and design.
Ziskin, 71, first expressed her 
artistic instincts last year, after 
home projects expanded into art 
fair displays juried into some 10 
events, all with the travel help of 
her husband, Alan, a 
retired clothing manu-
facturer.
Ziskin makes 
her debut trip to 
Michigan, appear-
ing July 27-28 at the 
Orchard Lake Fine 
Art Show in West 
Bloomfield. 
While her two chil-
dren were young, she 
worked as an account-
ing assistant. At 57, 
when her husband 
became a golf enthusi-
astic, she went back to 
school in preparation 
for surgical nursing.
“We spend part 
of the year in 
Minneapolis and part 
of the year in Naples, 
Fla.,” Ziskin says. “Our 
Florida home was 
decorated with white 
walls and white leather furniture, 
and I decided we needed some 
color but didn’
t want to pay a lot. 
I was confident I could do some 
colorful artwork myself, and now I 
can’
t stop.”
Ziskin learned glass techniques 
at a workshop, bought supplies and 
mapped out her ideas in two stu-
dios, one in each of the cities where 
she lives. While her overall themes 
are whimsical, she often has a small 

Jewish star or chai included. 
These began after the Pittsburgh 
synagogue shootings as she wanted 
to assert her religious devotion. 
“The star and the chai are there 
because that’
s who I am,” she says.
Ziskin began showing her work 
four months after beginning proj-
ects, mostly to family but also at a 
country club, where there was an 
art display. The experience provid-
ed her first inkling that others liked 
what she was doing. 
That success led to 
applications for juried 
shows. Patty Narozny, 
who produces and 
directs many art 
fairs beyond events 
in Naples and West 
Bloomfield, became 
Ziskin’
s mentor and 
explained how to set 
up a booth. In West 
Bloomfield, she will 
be among some 130 
diverse artists joined 
by food vendors and 
live musicians.
“I have small plates 
that sell at low prices 
for people who want 
to buy something but 
can’
t afford the larger 
works,” says Ziskin, 
who also makes glass 
bowls as functional 
dining table center-
pieces. 
Ziskin, a member of the Women’
s 
Cultural Alliance of the Jewish 
Federation of Greater Naples, says 
part of her courage to enter the art 
world came after two successful 
battles against lung cancer. 
“I could try art because I no lon-
ger have a fear of failure,” she says. 
“People walk into my booth, leave 
with a smile and leave me with a 
smile. That means my mission is 
accomplished.” ■ 

COURTESY BONNIE ZISKIN

Details
The Orchard Lake Fine 
Art Show, Saturday-
Sunday, July 27-28, 
at Powers and Daly 
roads along Orchard 
Lake Road, just south 
of Maple in West 
Bloomfield. $5 for those 
14 and older to support 
the nonprofit Institute 
for the Arts & Education. 
(248) 684-2613. 
hotworks.org.
Thank 
you 
for 
your 
many
 
years 
of 
patronage!
!

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