M

emories of family incidents and interests 
occupy the artistic space of Recollection, 
the exhibit scheduled through Dec. 
11 at the Janice Charach Gallery in The J in West 
Bloomfield. 
Four of the artists are Peggy Stulberg, showing 
part of a family series around cars and home; Marci 
Bykat, spotlighting a message from her late mom; 
Judi Mindell, focusing on religious men sitting 
shivah for her brother-in-law; and Nancy Wanchik, 
calling attention to Doc Marten shoes.

Works by 46 artists will be featured as each piece 
brings to the eye what stays close in an artist’s 
thoughts.
Stulberg, who moved to New York after earning 
an education degree at Michigan State University, 
came back to Michigan in 2017 with her husband, 
Andrew Edelstein. She moved into a Berkley home, 
retired from a career in litigation support and 
returned to the artistry she had pursued throughout 
her school years.
One of the three realistic images she will be 

showing at Charach, “Just Us Girls,” presents a scene 
with her, her mom and sister on their Oak Park 
front porch, apparently dressed for a special event. 
“These paintings are all oil,” Stulberg said. “I work 
with acrylic for mainly more abstract work. For 
abstract, I usually paint many layers, and it dries so 
quickly that it’s easy to paint over. I can just change 
directions in an abstract painting. For me, it’s harder 
to do that in oil because oil takes more time to dry.”
Stulberg, who attended Temple Beth El and B’nai 
B’rith meetings when she lived in Oak Park, now is 
active with an artist collective, Articipate. She takes 
the classes offered there and participates with the 
other artists as they show work at various locations.
“I wanted to retire so I could paint,” she said. “I 
wanted to paint so I could retire. I love painting.”
Bykat presents an image of her mom and a mes-
sage the woman sent in the painting “Voicemail 
from My Mom, January 2019.” She explained her 
subject.
“I’ve painted trying to figure out how to bring 
voicemails, from my father and my mother, into 
the visual world that I inhabit,” Bykat said. “These 
voicemails are saved in an email file, and I wanted 
to find a way to bring them to the forefront of the 
world that I live in.
“I captured my mom in profile with very bright 
colors. I wrote out the entire voicemail on the left 
side of the painting. On the right side, I wrote a 
prayer, ‘His mercy endures forever,’ from Passover. 
It felt like an eternal gift to 
have these voices.
“The painting represents 
anger that someone is gone, 
confusion that I’ve lost my 
parents at young ages, and 
also gratitude. You’re jug-
gling a lot of emotions when 
you’re dealing with grief.”
Bykat, who lives in 
Huntington Woods and 
works in a home studio, calls 
her painting Expressionistic 
with mixed media tech-
niques. She has used acrylics, bleeding paper and 
thread sewn into the canvas. On a wider scale, she 
also works on ceramics shown at the Birmingham 
Bloomfield Art Center.
While her work has been on display at the 
Huntington Woods Library, Bykat has also been 
teaching at the Charach Gallery and for Jewish 
Senior Life. Her training was at the School of the 
Art Institute of Chicago.
A member of Temple Emanu-El in Oak Park, she 
has started to bring Jewish subjects into her work 

Charach Gallery show to feature memories 

captured in art by 46 artists. 

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

36 | NOVEMBER 7 • 2024 J
N

Recollection

“Voicemail from My 
Mom, January 2019” 
by Marci Bykat

ARTS&LIFE
ART

Marci 
Bykat

