I

f you think it’s time-con-
suming to order, purchase, 
prepare, cook, slice and 
serve your Thanksgiving turkey, 
imagine how Henry ‘Hank’ 
Fleischer feels after spending 
508 hours over the course 
of four months to create his! 
Albeit, Fleischer’s turkey was 
made of file folders with no 
need for an oven or refriger-
ation, but the artist did create 
it in his kitchen. Unlike the 
Thanksgiving bird, gone after 
a few days, Fleischer’s cre-

ation “lives on” as one of three 
sculptures showcased as his 
award-winning entry in this 
year’s international ArtPrize 
competition, and again at a spe-
cial exhibit at Fox Run Senior 
Living Community of Novi 
where he lives.
Adding to the impact of 
the creation, which is part of 
his mixed media “Birds of a 
Feather” trilogy, is the fact that 
the artist is 97 years old! Along 
with the turkey, the three pieces 
include a peacock and a phoe-

nix, all of which took more than 
two years to complete.
Fleischer wasn’t always an 
artist. He wroked for 53 years 
as an engineer, retiring from 
Numatics Inc. in Highland 
when he was 78, spending the 
next 12 years as a consultant. 
“When I was 84, I had done 
everything on my (late) wife 
Rhoda’s ‘honey do’ list and 
needed to find something else 
to do,
” he said. “I happened to 
be in the Gifts of Art Gallery at 
the Taubman (Health) Center in 

Ann Arbor and saw some pieces 
of art made from folded cutouts. 
I was intrigued by this and went 
home and spent six months 
folding and cutting materials, 
but it didn’t hold my attention,
” 
Fleischer said. “Then Rhoda 
suggested that I try drawing and 
putting my work into 3-D form. 
“I started working with paper, 
but it was too soft and then I 
used the cardboard that comes 
on hangers from the cleaners, 
but it was too heavy.
” Through 
trial and error, he discovered 
file folders were the perfect 
material in a medium he calls 
“architectural art.
” 
“I made smaller things at the 
beginning,
” he said. “
An owl, 
a swan, a cat, a penguin, and 
a lot of geometric forms and 
shapes.
” With smaller leftover 
folder-pieces, he would create 
jewelry for Rhoda, who he calls 
his muse. “I made her earrings 
and pendants and broaches, and 
used her clear nail polish as a 
finish,
” he said.

ArtPrize-Winning

OUR COMMUNITY

Re-purposed file folders become remarkable 
‘Birds of a Feather’ sculptures. 

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

20 | NOVEMBER 25 • 2021 

Hank Fleischer at Fox 
Run with ‘Pavo Cristatus,’ 
his majestic strutting 
proud peacock, subtitled 
‘Remembering Rhoda’s 
beauty and poise.’

Turkey

BRADEN RADTKE

