88 | SEPTEMBER 14 • 2023 

fiber-based work,” she said.
“My color palette is an abstract articulation of a 
physical experience. I use color and form to ground me 
back in the body. Color helps me connect back to the 
thing that I’m exploring.” 
Although pieces were not juried into the show, they 
were curated by Melissa Webb, a Cranbrook alum, and 
Kip Parks, an artist in Hamtramck and Fibers Studio 
coordinator at the U-M Stamps School of Art and 
Design, where Shulman works in development and 
alumni relations.
 “
Any Fiber Club member could submit a few pieces 
for consideration, and the curators worked with each 
artist to pick the right piece,” she said.
Because there are no 
fees associated with Fiber 
Club membership, the 
show is being funded 
with $1,300 awarded 
by CultureSource, a 
nonprofit alliance in 
southeastern Michigan.
“Landing back in 
Michigan, I saw a need 
to create a community in 
Detroit that could exist 
outside of an institution,” 
Shulman said. “I got this 
off the ground from my 
network of people I knew 
in the city who expressed 
an interest in fiber arts. 
Twenty-five people 
showed up for our first 
meeting.”
Raised in a Jewish 
household and having a 
bat mitzvah, Shulman, 
35, said that joining people together is her reflection of 
religion.
“Where I connect to my religion is my community 
connection,” the artist said. “My culture in community 
was taught to me from a very early age. That is how I 
move through the world. I want to connect and pull 
people together.”
Shulman also is joining with other artists as she 
exhibits two fiber works in celebrating the remodeling 
of the Downtown Synagogue. Her two wall hangings 
are titled “Totem v.2 (Innards)” and “Totem v.3 (Rib 
Cage)” in the show of many artists that is up until Nov. 
1.
Shulman lives in Detroit with partner, Drew Davis, a 
ceramicist and teacher. She explained that her two dogs 
provide exercise she misses after stopping her rowing 

Details 
Mending the Net can be seen at Convent Detroit, 13301 Mound 
Road, noon-4 p.m. Sept. 15-17, 22-24 and by appointment. The 
closing reception runs 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28. An open Fiber 
Club meeting is 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, at Convent Detroit. 
fiberclubdetroit@gmail.com.

Different views of “Heavy/
Hollow v.1”

continued from page 86

ARTS&LIFE
ART

commitments, an important part of her interest in sports.
“I’m attracted to fiber because it’s responsive and (represents) the 
mark I can make,” Shulman said. “It’s expressive and malleable. There’s 
something about moving backwards and forwards with the material 
without cutting and erasing it. The feelings fiber brings are generative and 
experimental and open.”
As Shulman thinks about her work and the group, she has developed 
a hope for Fiber Club members, whose work in the show is not directly 
for sale. Instead, interested visitors will be told how to get in touch with 
artists.
“I am interested in how we can use this organization and huge 
community we’ve created to resource these artists,” she said. “They are 
part of this community in ways they need. Everything that’s been done is 
based on the generosity of our members.”