JULY 22 • 2021 | 37

ARTS&LIFE
ART

at California Polytechnic 
State University in San Luis 
Obisbo. 
“I saw batik artwork, felt 
connected to the warmth of 
the fabric and taught myself 
how to work with it. I kept 
doing art shows while I was 
studying, and art took over.”
Amit uses white cloth 
as his sketching base for 
designs completed in pencil. 
On the designs, he moves 
from light to dark colors by 
separately dying the fabric 
in layers and covering each 
layer of color with hot wax 
to maintain a particular hue. 
After each layer of wax dries, 
he is able to move on to the 
next color.
Amit, who traveled 
his work to about 25 art 
shows annually before the 
pandemic, is making his 
second visit to the Orchard 
Lake Fine Art Fair, but his 
ties to Michigan are much 
deeper. Daughter Shawni 
Strzelecki studied special 
education at Michigan 
State University, and his 
grandson, Eli, summers at 
Camp Tamarack.
His other daughter, Karen, 
has followed through with 
her dad’s original career 
direction by becoming a 
floral designer, while his 
wife of 48 years, Linda, 
handles the business side of 
the artwork.

“My studio is at the 
back of my house near the 
clothesline where the waxing 
dries,” Amit said. “I always 
bring new projects to the art 
fairs and have begun adding 
collage to some pieces by 
using archival papers. I 
love seeing the reactions of 
people going to art fairs as 
I keep doing what I love to 
do.”

MULTI-MEDIA ART
For Nidy, artistry became 
a way of supporting herself 
through college before it 
transitioned into a career. 
She made jewelry and 
stained-glass designs and 
moved into multi-media 
processed into wall pieces.
“I have pictures in my 
head of the way each 
piece will look when it’s 
finished,” said Nidy, 52, a 
single mother of two grown 
children. “For one group of 
work, I take a thin sheet of 
clay, draw on top of it and 

Details 

The Orchard Lake Fine Art 
Show runs Saturday-Sunday, 
July 24-25, along Powers and 
Daly roads, west of Orchard 
Lake Road and south of 
Maple. $5. hotworks.org. 

continued on page 38

AMOS AMIT
AMOS AMIT

BELOW: Amos Amit’s Noah’s Ark and a colorful floral piece. 
FACING PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM: Kari Nidy’s Tree of Life. Amos 
Amit’s Tree of Life.

