JANUARY 11 • 2024 | 51

her artistic work has appeared 
at the Detroit Artists Market 
and Wasserman Projects in 
Detroit. Her performance art 
duo, Tzarinas of the Plane, was 
named a 2015 Kresge Visual 
Arts Fellow. 

MITCH COPE
Cope is showing at least one 
large pencil drawing, the new-
est artistic form he has been 
working on, and he thought 
the form would fit in with the 
theme of the show.
Snider and Cope have 
known each other for many 
years as fellow artists, and 
they attended the College 
for Creative Studies together. 
Cope went on to get a mas-
ter’s degree at Washington 
University in St. Louis.
“These current pieces are 
a little bit different from 
things I’ve done in the past,
” 
said Cope, 50, who lives in 
Southfield. “They represent 
getting back to some of 
the basics of drawing and 
painting. I’ve done a lot of 
different kinds of work.
“These specifically represent 
a shift in my life and trying 
to find a grounding and 
something beautiful to look at 
partly because of everything 
else going on in the world as I 
faced divorce. I was trying to 
find some peace and beauty 
amid a lot of ugliness. 

“It was really focusing on 
the idea of the lily and how it 
grows out of muck. It’s this 
beautiful flower that grows out 
of the mucky bottoms of rivers 
and ponds and symbolizes 
regrowth and regeneration.
” 
Cope, whose mother’s 
family is Jewish, is glad to be 
represented in a gallery with 
ties to Judaism.
“I’m getting back to thinking 
about Judaism and my family 
that’s Jewish,
” he said. “It’s 
interesting to think about 
that and meditating on that. 
The drawings are meant to be 
meditative.
”
Although this is the 
first time both artists have 
displayed their work at the 
Charach Gallery, Cope has 
shown his pieces at the Detroit 
Institute of Arts and the 
Museum of Contemporary 
Art Detroit (MOCAD). His 
awards include a Kresge Arts 
Fellowship, a Creative Capital 
Award and juried award from 
ArtPrize 2012.
“We have long admired the 
work of Clinton Snider,
” said 
Natalie Balazovich, gallery 
director. “The opportunity 
to host him in curating an 
art show that calls together 
such exciting and provocative 
Detroit area artists and takes 
on pressing modern issues 
is an especially meaningful 
opportunity.
” 

Details
The free Beyond 
Typography exhibit is 
being shown Jan. 14-Feb. 
21 in the Janice Charach 
Gallery in the West 
Bloomfield J (Jewish 
Community Center). 
There will be a reception 
1-4 p.m. on Jan. 14. 
Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-
4 p.m. Sunday-Thursday. 
charachgallery.org.

An oil on canvas by Faina Lerman

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