Sherrill Berman Children's Art Program

Today in the gallery we had artist in residence Lesley Serri here making stained glass seder plates with the 4th, 5th and 6th grades at Temple Israel's religious school. The children had such a great time with their creations. Many made traditional seder plates, while some got really funky creative with theirs. Everyone had such a good time! Thank you again to the Berman Family for allowing us to bring these amazing free programs to the children in our community!

Irwin Alterman lecture

This past Sunday, we had a wonderful lecture at the Charach gallery. Irwin Alterman, the guest curator of the current exhibit, (The Fifth Question, Why so Many Haggadot?) spoke to us about his outstanding collection of Haggadot. He spoke of the history of the Haggadah, the things that made Haggadot different from one another, and the things that all Haggadahs must have. He even told us how a 5 year old would be able to tell if it was indeed a traditional Haggadah. Irwin also spoke of the illustrations, including depictions of Hitler as the Evil son, and how the Prague Haggadah illustrations are still commonly used today. (thanks to not having a copyright) He showed examples of how in one depiction of the Four Sons, it illustrates that a part of all of us individually, is in each son. He showed beautiful examples of different borders in the haggadot, and invited people to leaf threw some of his collection.



We would like to Thank Irwin and his fiancee Marilyn for helping us bring this wonderful exhibit to life!



A special thank you goes out to Larry and Andi Wolfe, Stanley Frankel, and Paula and Lou Glazier for allowing us to include their items in the exhibit as well.

Meet Our Assistant Director Hillary Fisher....

For the past year, I have had the privilege and honor to work with an amazing woman, Hillary Fisher. Hillary has become both my confident and friend. She assists this gallery in smooth transitions from exhibit to exhibit and helps balance the budget. Hillary can write up a PO, while patching a whole in the wall from the top of a ladder! (OK, I exaggerate about the ladder thing, but she is a superstar) Without Hillary, this gallery would not be the wonderful cultural institution it is. Hillary is working on a wonderful educational seminar on social media networking to apply to the entire Jewish Community Center. Recently, Hillary was interviewed for a Blog on the Jewish Arts...follow this link to see her answers!

http://iconia.canonist.com/2009/02/26/15-questions-for-hillary-fisher-assistant-director-janice-charach-gallery/

Opening Day!

Picture this, the sun is shining in Detroit as our next exhibit opens. Today was a wonderful day. Everyone who came to this exhibit was blown away by it! The Haggadahs are unbelieveable, there are old ones, new ones, children's, replicas and so much more. The illustrations depicting the Red Sea, The Four Sons, Next Year in Jerusalem, Chad Gadya, were all so interesting! This really is a must see exhibit! The Gallery is open Sunday 12 - 4

Monday - Wednesday 10 - 5 and Thursday 10 -7. Call us in advance for a docent tour.

248-432-5579

Crunch time!

Day four the Red Sea is coming to life, and The Chad Gadya is making his move on Hillary!

Day 3 of installation, we are definitely getting closer....but we still have a long way to go. Thanks to our wonderful volunteers, Silvio, Marilyn and Natalie we are moving right along! Gotta go back to work! We will keep you posted!

Here we go again.............

Another amazing show comes to a close. Thank you so much to all our wonderful Chai-lighting artists. This was really such an impressive collection of art! As we close the doors on another successful exhibit, we want to again thank the community for such wonderful support.

Crunch time begins now, art off the walls, patching the holes in the walls, painting the holes on the wall, pedestals up from the storage in our basement, and ready for this Sunday when the amazing Haggadot arrive! Thank goodness for Hillary our Assistant Director, I couldn't do this without her!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! The gallery is currently preparing for our next exhibit, "The Fifth question, why so many Haggadot?" This is going to be one amazing show! Irwin Alterman has been collecting Haggadot for more then 40 years. This exhibit features highlights from the collection, which numbers more than 1,000. Included will be dozens of different illustrations that show examples of The Four Sons, The Ten Plagues, The Parting of The Red Sea, Enjoying the Seder, Elijah, Chad Gadya, and Next Year in Jerusalem.

A special highlight of this exhibit that I am excited about is the inclusion of family photos of your Passover celebration. To be included in this, email your family photos to us at gallery@jccdet.org Please include your contact information!!

More to come on this exhibit that opens February 8th at 2 p.m.