}
Doge Two-S
THE SUMMER DAILY
Thursday, July 19, 1973
PROFILE OF THE ARTIST
Pickles to sweeten local bazaar
DiOy -'noo by I EK 1 wirM/\K I-H
Pickles and her work
Art Fair Supplement Edited by Debra Thal
Sculpted walls & ceilings will take you
back to Old Bavaria. Those were the days
when foaming steins of German draft
were served by jolly Biermeisters and
fun was had by all
Come, visit a new place teeming with
all those Bavarian traditions.
Come visit the NEW HEIDELBERG
RATHSKELLER
Heidelberg
Rathskeller
215 N. Main o 663-7758 Q Plenty of Parking in Rear
By FRED LaBOUR
there are many roads to the Ann Arbor Art Pair and one of
thrm begins in Buffalo.
Buff lo never makes anybody's list of 'favorite towns because
it's so tough and dirty and cold and people who carry drugs
always get arrested there, but a quarter century ago Buffalo pro-
duced a baby girl named Natalie Silverstein and began redeeming
itself.
1IS. SI'VERSTEIN grew up fast in Buffalo, tasting the
s'btte ecstacies of a Lake Erie port metropolis, copping a diploma
from a fancy private girls' school, and developing an intuitive
sense of art as it relates to things you can hold in your hand.
She was later to parlay this sense into a living wage, relying
primarily on natural speed to insure that when in fact she became
a woman and an artist she'd have something to sell.
It was in Ann Arbor itself that Ms. Silverstein went to college,
studying the art of great masters and doing some nice work her-
self. Perhaps her most efective medium during this time was
etching and she produced a series of prints dealing with the Old
West which present a vision fairly embryonic yet unmistakable
and precise.
She dabbled in acting at the University, making her film debut
in an historical piece called "Adrift in Illinois" with a perform-
ance so unusual that one speech department film professor called
it "some new kind of acting." Regular people also enjoyed her ap-
pearance although some were unsure if it was all right to laugh.
Natalie quit being known as Natalie at about this time by
unwillingly assuming the name Pickles. She never really liked
that name much but it fit so tightly that it still endures, although
I don't think she ever signs her art "Pickles." I think she signs her
art "Natalie Silverstein."
AT ANY RATE, Ms. Silverstein graduated and decided that the
thing to do was study copper on enamel which she did. In
a surprisingly short time her grasp of the process was extensive
and little plates and pendants and things to hang on the wall
began coming out of her workshop. She did some graduate work
in jewelry in Ypsilanti and started achieving the technical facility
to clearly transfer her own profound and ironic humor to little
blue doo-dads for the art lover's coffee table.
No one will dispute that Ann Arbor is kind to the student butt
Natalie finally had enough. She added up her points on the immi-
gration form, loaded up the yellow Chevy, and headed for Toronto
and a life on Oriole Gardens. She has a sunny workshop there
with a lot of plants and seems to be hitting her stride.
The Ann Arbor Art Fair is one of many for Ms. Silverstein
as she travels in the warm weather hustling her art. She is
becoming more successful each year, selling, eating, winning
prizes. In Milwaukee just last month she picked up an award
for $750 to go with the $250 from Flint and with orders building
up she has her hands full.
LUCKY FOR HER to find in Toronto a valuable technician
and faithful companion in the person of Alan Offstein, respected
jazz aficionado and critic for Coda Magazine. Alan, a very
mellow ticket-taker at the 99c Roxy, performs the difficult feat
of being his own man and Natalie's too. He cuts the copper and
carries heavy junk around for her and is what you might
call a constant inspiration. It seems to be a case of noninstitution-
alized nic folks doing good work.
People bitch about the Art Fair, calling it a suburban circus
and a great. sweltering bazaar where rich boobs can drop a
week's salary on somebody's over-priced version of a clipper
ship constructed of tuna fish cans. It's too big and it's too hot
and they're right, but I figure if it brings people like Natalie and
Alan to town, it must be okay.
PEEAK, GROG!
ACTION is a groing movement of volunteers but to help people
help themselves. It's the Peace Corps and VISTA, helping people
overseas and right down the street. Please dor't crawl under a rock.
Get intoACTION today
1800-424-8580 T
I
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342 E. LIBERTY
& 769-8030 FREE DELIVERY
D PIZZA (by the slice too!)
GRINDERS DINE AT OUR
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HAM or SALAMI Sandwiches
Bring This Ad In for One FREE Ice Cold Beverage 4