ARTS&LIFE
ART

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42 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 

creates a highly textured piece with gorgeous 
line work that interprets as grasses and reeds 
under water. 
The Solar Cell by Tracey Easthope imagines 
a universal religious practice that is dedicated 
to caring for our natural planet. She’s input 
humanity into the environmental equation 
wearing a celestial and fiery costume. 
Artist and co-curator Olivia Guterson’s 
How You Still Love Us calls upon her 
Jewish and Black heritage in the pat-
terns she saw in her Grandmother’s 
doilies and babushkas to African 
brooches and church hats. The work 
is remarkably precise for the mate-
rials employed. The use of negative 
space makes for an interesting com-
position as well as a place of rest. 
Her titles are portions of a haiku she’s 
written through a deep spiritual prac-
tice where she views her work as an act 
of service and a way to engage and spark 
conversation. 
Greenhouse Gases by Laura Earle pres-
ents how you might imagine gases in the 
atmosphere if you could actually see them. 
This sculpture makes the invisible concrete and 
therefore undeniable. 

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Environmentally Speaking features two 
audience participation projects hosted at the 
Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan 
Detroit. Dear Earth invites the public 
to write letters to the Earth, which are 

then placed in a mailbox. Susan Hoffman 
Fishman will create an installation out of the 
letters and video record the process.

The second involves artists across the 
country who have created cigarette box-sized 
pieces of art to reflect their thoughts and 
feelings on the state of our environment. 
These pieces will be placed in a refurbished 
vintage vending machine and will be for sale 

throughout the exhibition. Artworks will be 
documented in a book by Laura Earle.
Environmentally Speaking and Hazon 
will present a Tu b’Shevat Seder perfor-
mance, Elements of Life: Moving Together 
with Nature. This one-time presentation is 
an artistic rendition of the Holiday of the 
Trees, which occurs Jan.16, in sculptural 
and dance form. This production takes 
the viewer on a seed’s journey, fac-
ing the environmental challenges 
of earth, wind, water and fire, to 
becoming the Tree of Life, the 
foundation on which the Jewish 
faith stands. 
All the costumes are thought-
fully and intricately detailed 
using only natural materials. 
This recital is created in such 
a way the viewer is completely 
immersed in the experience. 
Both the visual art and the Seder 
performance invite the community 
to action in healing our natural world. 
Not through scary images, which most 
of us have become desensitized to, but by 
“seducing through beauty,” as Sobel puts it. 
All the artists include in their work a strong 
spiritual practice and a sense of service to 
our collective home and existence. 
“We have a narrowing window in which 
we can make lasting change,” Earle said. “I 
want to amplify insightful and hopeful voic-
es in that conversation and encourage every 
member of our community to take part.” 

 by Tracey Easthope imagines 

a universal religious practice that is dedicated 
to caring for our natural planet. She’s input 
humanity into the environmental equation 

Artist and co-curator Olivia Guterson’s 

tice where she views her work as an act 
of service and a way to engage and spark 

 by Laura Earle pres-

ents how you might imagine gases in the 
atmosphere if you could actually see them. 
This sculpture makes the invisible concrete and 

letters and video record the process.
Environmentally Speaking

will present a Tu b’Shevat Seder perfor-

Elements of Life: Moving Together 

. This one-time presentation is 

an artistic rendition of the Holiday of the 

Trees, which occurs Jan.16, in sculptural 

and dance form. This production takes 

the viewer on a seed’s journey, fac-

ing the environmental challenges 
of earth, wind, water and fire, to 
becoming the Tree of Life, the 
foundation on which the Jewish 
faith stands. 

fully and intricately detailed 
using only natural materials. 
This recital is created in such 
a way the viewer is completely 
immersed in the experience. 
Both the visual art and the Seder 

performance invite the community 

to action in healing our natural world. 

Not through scary images, which most 

of us have become desensitized to, but by 
“seducing through beauty,” as Sobel puts it. 
All the artists include in their work a strong 

 by Tracey Easthope imagines 

a universal religious practice that is dedicated 
to caring for our natural planet. She’s input 
humanity into the environmental equation 

Artist and co-curator Olivia Guterson’s 

tice where she views her work as an act 
of service and a way to engage and spark 

 by Laura Earle pres-

ents how you might imagine gases in the 
atmosphere if you could actually see them. 
This sculpture makes the invisible concrete and 

will present a Tu b’Shevat Seder perfor-
mance, Elements of Life: Moving Together 
with Nature. This one-time presentation is 
an artistic rendition of the Holiday of the 

Trees, which occurs Jan.16, in sculptural 

and dance form. This production takes 

the viewer on a seed’s journey, fac-

ing the environmental challenges 
of earth, wind, water and fire, to 
becoming the Tree of Life, the 
foundation on which the Jewish 

This recital is created in such 
a way the viewer is completely 
immersed in the experience. 
Both the visual art and the Seder 

performance invite the community 

to action in healing our natural world. 

Not through scary images, which most 

of us have become desensitized to, but by 
“seducing through beauty,” as Sobel puts it. 
All the artists include in their work a strong 

Details
Environmentally Speaking is set to open — 
free to the public — on Jan. 16 from 3-6 
p.m. at the Janice Charach Gallery at the 
Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan 
Detroit, 6600 W. Maple Road, West 
Bloomfield. Participating artists include 
Nancy Cohen, Justin Cox, Kate Dodd, Laura 
Earle, Tracey Easthope, Elizabeth Barick 
Fall, Susan Hoffman Fishman, Gina Rafaella 
Furnari, Olivia Guterson, Cynthia LaMaide, 
Trisha Schultz, Leslie Sobel, Laurie Wechter 
and Jana Dietsch Wingels. 

LEFT: Laura Earle’s Greenhouse Gases, 
reclaimed plastic, steel and video, 
11 by 5 by 11 feet.

BELOW: Olivia Guterson’s How You Still 
Love Us, oil and acrylic on birch panel, 
24 inches.

JENNIFER PATSELAS

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