52 | SEPTEMBER 12 • 2024
J
N
ARTS&LIFE
ART
H
untington Woods-based mixed media
artist and Jewish community member
Michelle Sider is returning to ArtPrize
with two pieces of artwork that showcase Jewish
themes and messages.
The Grand Rapids international art competition
takes place annually and features artists across all
mediums. Last year, Sider was a finalist, and this
year she hopes her artwork will shed important
light on growing antisemitism and the centuries-
long Jewish struggle to survive.
When ArtPrize begins Sept. 13, Sider’s work,
“From Darkness to Light,” will be displayed in the
light-filled atrium at Uccello’s in downtown Grand
Rapids. It features two new glass mosaics, with
each telling a unique story about Jewish life — and
Sider’s own history.
‘BALANCING ACT’
This piece represents today’s complicated times.
Dark skies and turbulent waters symbolize the
looming threat of antisemitism as a stranger walks
a tightrope over the void. Evoked by the events of
Oct. 7, 2023, a day that will forever live in Jewish
memory, Sider, whose son lives in Israel and fought
in the army, faced a fear she had never known.
“My son was fighting terrorists, and it was
overwhelming,” she says. Meanwhile, her other
son was experiencing campus antisemitism. It was
a life she never imagined possible for her kids.
“Something broke open in me. As a mom, it was
too much.”
Sider, 64, turned to the canvas to navigate her
emotions. “My world was upside down,” she
explains. “I felt like there were storms around me
and the sands were moving underneath me.”
It’s this feeling that inspired “Balancing Act,”
a painted and glass mosaic that portrays the
sensation of trying to stay balanced on a tightrope,
or lifeline. “This piece also captures glimpses
of light, so there’s a lot of texture,” says Sider,
who is known for creating this particular paint-
and-glass combination. “I think it’s the most
autobiographical piece I’ve ever done in glass.”
‘ANNA’
Complementing “Balancing Act” is a second
piece, “
Anna,” which is modeled after an original
photograph of Sider’s great-grandmother, Anna
Gurovsky, who left Russia in search of a better life.
Taken in 1909 just before escaping the Jewish
pogroms of Odessa, the photograph is Gurovksy’s
final glimpse of life in the former Russian Empire.
One year later, she was granted passage on a boat
to Romania as a wedding gift, and from there she
made her way to Canada.
“
Anna,” Sider says, is the calm strength that
counteracts the turbulent message of “Balancing
Act.”
“I had a great relationship with my great-
grandmother,” Sider explains. “She was a sweet,
loving, wonderful woman who taught me how to
make grilled cheese sandwiches and apple strudel.”
Yet, behind the grandmotherly feel, was a
courageous woman that Sider looked to as a role
model.
At age 12, Gurovsky ran away from home to
escape a cruel stepmom — a story Sider says is
not unlike that of Cinderella. She went to live
with a poet brother who wrote about the pogroms
in Odessa. When he was arrested as a dissident,
Gurovsky would visit him in jail and smuggle
out his poetry writings in her bloomers. For that
reason, Sider turned Gurovsky’s skirt into a mosaic.
Glimpses of Leon Trotsky’s writings can be
seen in the backdrop of “
Anna,” and the clouds
are reminiscent of the photo studio backdrop
seen in the original 1909 photo of Sider’s great-
grandmother.
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
‘From
Darkness
to Light’
2023 ArtPrize finalist
2023 ArtPrize finalist
Michelle Sider pays homage
Michelle Sider pays homage
to her Jewish heritage and
to her Jewish heritage and
the events of Oct. 7.
the events of Oct. 7.
Michelle
Sider