4 minute read
Expressing Their Creativity
ARTS&LIFE
ART
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF BBAC
Steve Rubin’s Vivid
Susan Shlom’s The Diva
Details
Images from BBAC: Current Students Works Competition can be seen through March 4 — 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday-Saturday — at 1516 Cranbrook Road, Birmingham. (248) 644-0866. bbartcenter.org.
Expressing Their Creativity
Local Jewish artists shine at BBAC mixed media exhibit.
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
When the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center announced winners of its 2021 BBAC: Current Students Works Competition, it was referring to projects completed by adult artists who value continuing education. Many had earlier works shown — and bought — in galleries and art fairs.
Some of the competitive student works, on view at the BBAC through March 4, already have been sold. They are among 163 varied media pieces — including paintings, prints and jewelry — on display.
Area artist Claudia Shepard served as juror to decide awards that included cash prizes, tuition certificates and gift cards for art supplies totaling more than $3,000. • One familiar honoree, Patti Tapper of Orchard Lake, shows two paintings with the winner being Peonies, an acrylic on canvas. Her artistic attention has moved through jewelry, ketubahs and quilts.
“Each of my daughters gave me flowers one Mother’s Day,” Tapper explained about the source of her imagery. “I took photos of the bouquets and painted what was shown. I love the joyful color scheme.”
Tapper, who was a painting major at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, takes satisfaction from her experiences with the professional artists teaching at the BBAC, which she describes as having an “uplifting atmosphere” for “creative professionals.” • Susan Shlom, of West Bloomfield, was recognized for The Diva, another acrylic on canvas, also colorful but showing an outdoor image with an Impressionist approach.
“This is a fall scene,” said Shlom, who has found it exciting to be able to paint, display and have someone purchase her work during COVID. “I’m very affected by nature, and I paint every day.”
Shlom, who taught English and social studies for 24 years at Hillel Day School, has shown her work at many galleries that have served Oakland County and continues taking classes because she believes “everyone needs to study.” • Jewelry holds the focus of Jodi Galperin, of Farmington Hills, whose necklace, On the Frontier, is another award winner.
“I call it raw and rustic,” said Galperin, who likes working
with leather, silver and crushed stone.
Galperin always enjoyed art but built her career in business before entering serious metalsmithing studies. She has enrolled in about two BBAC classes at a time and soon will be posting her work on Instagram.
Attention to Judaica has been strictly personal for Galperin, who has designed Star of David necklaces for her two sons and nephew. She calls the group “three-of-a-kind” works. • Photo transfer techniques enter into the winning lithograph print shown by Jacki Boyer of West Bloomfield. It is titled In the Course of Time. “I love the engineering process of making prints and never quite knowing how something is going to look on paper,” said Boyer, who studied artistry at Colorado Mountain College and whose Jewish interests have been explored through various programs offered by religious organizations.
“I’m a very visual person and always saved images that I’m drawn to. This particular image was from a newspaper years ago. It feels like enclosed or circular energy, almost its own universe of thoughts and feelings, much the same as we have been dealing with in this past unique year.” • Steve Rubin, who attended the School of Visual Arts in New York, tried his hand in commercial art but found security by building a career in equine dentistry. Maintaining his artistic interests, Rubin has sold paintings through personal contacts and enrolled at the BBAC as an ongoing outlet for his skills.
Vivid, an abstract expressionist painting made of acrylics on canvas, showcases his favored style.
“I’m unleashing feelings through the painting, and the dominant color is cadmium red,” said Rubin, of Farmington Hills, who has participated in Jewish Community Center programming apart from his artistry. • Fran Wolok, of Bloomfield Township, submitted an abstracted landscape, The Winter Stream, another image completed in acrylics. She traces her interest in paintings to being surrounded by a family of artists.
“I studied art at Wayne State University and worked as a technical illustrator,” said this member of Adat Shalom Synagogue who has volunteered at the Soul Center in West Bloomfield. “I’ve done landscapes based on scenes from Israel and last year was a winner in the Michigan Fine Arts Competition.”
Jodi Galperin’s On the Frontier
