July 25 • 2019 43
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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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