Ivy, a jewelry artist whose 
diverse pieces have been 
featured in various outdoor 
art festivals over many sum-
mers. 
A metalsmith who still has 
clients, Solomon was trained 
at the Western Iowa Tech 
Community College.
“My wife developed a 
complicated and unique 
jewelry technique,” he said. 
“I went to the shows with 
her and started casting some 
of the sterling silver pieces. 
I then started doing her 
photography, which is how 
I wound up doing what I’m 
doing now.”
Solomon, who had his 
bar mitzvah at the former 
Congregation B’nai David in 
Southfield, was accepted into 
five earlier shows this year, 
and he has three more shows 
to go before the end of the 
year.
“Artistry brings joy to my 
life,” said Solomon, who 
grew up in Southfield and 
lived in California during 
the 1970s. “It’s a compulsion to do it, 
and there’s variety in doing it. I love to 
make things, and I love to fix things.”

BEAUTIFUL GLASSWARE
Rebecca Silverman, a glassmaker who 
specializes in actual glassware, will 
be among the 100 artists and 30 local 
authors at the Funky Ferndale Art Fair. 
This will be her first year at the event, 
where she also will have other kinds of 
containers and decorative pieces. 
“This will be the first show I do with 
only glass,” Silverman said. “I wire wrap 
(making jewelry and objects with the 
use of wire cording), but I haven’t been 
doing that in the past couple of years. 
“The first time I ever saw glass 
blowing was on a fifth-grade trip to 
Greenfield Village. I remember being 
really fascinated. I didn’t have anoth-
er exposure to glass until I was about 
19 and in college at Michigan State 

University. I got a job in a local shop 
where they sold glass, and I got so 
interested.” 
Silverman learned skills while work-
ing at Epiphany Studios in Pontiac, 
where she continues to work. Although 
she earned a degree in elementary edu-
cation, she only taught for a short time 
and moved into glass.
“Artistry brings joy to my life,” said 
Silverman, who also uses equipment at 
House Cat Glass in Ferndale to form 
her fair displays. “It’s my happiness. 
It’s fun for me to work on glass. I go to 
work excited because it’s an extreme 
passion. I feel lucky that I have that.”
Silverman, who participates in pro-
grams at the Lamplighters Preschool 
in Royal Oak sponsored by the Chabad 
organization and attended by her son, 
will make Jewish objects on special 
orders. She has made kiddish cups and 
ritual washing cups for holiday events. 

“I have a line of starry night-inspired 
glassware, which is blue like Van Gogh’s 
painting of a starry night,” she said. “I 
think that, at least in the glass commu-
nity, is something that I’m kind of rec-
ognized for.” 

SEPTEMBER 15 • 2022 | 47

Details
Common Ground Birmingham 
Street Art Fair
10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 17 
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 18
Around Shain Park in Birmingham
theguild.org

Funky Ferndale Art Fair
3-7:30 p.m. Sept. 23 
10 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Sept. 24 
11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 25
9 Mile and Woodward, Ferndale
funkyferndaleartfair.com

COURTESY OF STEVE SOLOMON

Selected works by 
Steve Solomon

