2021 Exhibitions

January 29-March 4 2021 CURRENT STUDENT WORKS COMPETITION / Claudia Shepard, Juror

“CONGRATULATIONS to all those who entered this show of great variety, meaning and beauty. With so many entries, I tried to be very thoughtful about criteria I use in looking at each of your works. IMPACT (presentation ) —what draws me in to look more carefully at the formal elements that carry the intention or concept— that is whether acrylic, oil or mixed media—realistic or abstract; composition, balance, range of value relationships as well as spatial relationships and, of course, craftsmanship, in the expressive processes are all part of my considerations when looking at each work. When looking at the variety of ceramics, jewelry, and textiles I look for inventiveness and craftsmanship as well.” ~ Claudia Shepard, Juror

This annual, favorite exhibit features artwork in a variety of media by BBAC adult students – more than 160 pieces. Here is a sampling (click each image for larger view). CLICK HERE for more images & awards.

Storm by Susan Fiorello

Vogue by Joy Levran

Peacemaker by Christina Haylett

Wallflower by Kate Neville

CLICK HERE for more images & complete list of artists in the exhibit.

CLICK HERE for exhibition prospectus.

Images by Annie VanGelderen

March 12-April 22 2021

“As Michiganders crawl out of the winter and the Covid-19 pandemic (be it as slow as it is), we are greeted by the BBAC exhibitions that make it worth our time for a visit.” Read the April 3 Detroit Art Review commentary of the Rutenberg & Fisher exhibits – click here.

Brian Rutenberg: Pine, Palm & River

CLICK HERE to view the show virtually.

CLICK HERE to watch a video prepared by Rutenberg for this exhibit.

Corsair, oil on linen, 2017, 60″ x 82″

Widely considered to be one of the finest American painters of his generation, Brian Rutenberg has spent forty years honing a distinctive method of compressing the rich color and form of his native coastal South Carolina into complex landscape paintings that imbue material reality with a deep sense of place.

Brian received his BFA in 1987 from the College of Charleston and his MFA in 1989 from the School of Visual Arts, New York. He is a Fulbright Scholar, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow, a Basil Alkazzi USA Award recipient, an Irish Museum of Modern Art visiting artist program participant, and has had over two hundred and fifty exhibitions throughout North America. Rutenberg’s paintings are included in such museum collections as Yale University Art Gallery, The Butler Institute of American Art, Bronx Museum of Art, Peabody Essex Museum of Art, Greenville County Museum of Art, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, South Carolina State Museum, and many others. His popular YouTube videos “Brian Rutenberg Studio Visits” are viewed daily by people all over the world. Radius Books published a full color monograph in 2008. Brian’s book, Clear Seeing Place, was released in October 2016 and was an Amazon #1 bestseller. His new monograph, A Little Long Time, published by Forum Gallery in 2019 is also an Amazon bestseller. Brian received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the College of Charleston where he delivered the 2018 commencement address.

Brian lives and works in New York City with his wife Kathryn and their two children.

Frank James Fisher / Pop Artifacts

CLICK HERE for more about this exhibit.

Note: Price ranges for Fisher’s work – Bottles start @ $90; small slab forms, $110-$130; plates, $125; framed potsherds, $125.

Please phone for more details: 248.644.0866

Her (detail) – slab-built & thrown stoneware, press mold porcelain, Raku fired, reduction

Past Due – slab-built porcelain, Raku fired, reduction

Advertising has recalibrated my brain. Forty years of working in the marketing community has saturated and skewed my aesthetic away from traditional art expression. My mind prefers graphics, headlines, logos, body copy, photos, illustrations, taglines and any other marketing tool to express my creative thoughts. These are the tools I use to build narratives and fabricate impossible consumer products out of clay. I call them Pop Artifacts. Sculpted, cast, pressed, or thrown, these ceramic objects represent the desires we chase in the hope of capturing satisfaction.

I want to declare a heart-felt ‘Thank You’ to the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center. My first experience with The BBAC occurred a decade ago on March 5, 2011, to present a workshop. Since then, we have interacted with exhibitions, exhibition catalogs, classes, and workshops. The BBAC provides the essential ingredients a healthy community needs: the supportive warmth of friendship, a secure place to grow as an artist, a forum to present creativity, and the integrity and strength to make a difference within the community. Thank you.

– Frank James Fisher

J.A. Richard: Hope in Miniature

“Between Romanticism & Realism, within the mediums of intaglio & painting, hope resides in my work’s ideas & themes. It is in these mediums, I find an innate intimacy in creating miniature work.

“I believe there is an inherent beauty in the experience of creating small works that require intimate interactions. In such a small scale, a single mark often has to represent or suggest form, mass, light, & emotion, & these small suggestive marks can render out ideas & details much more expansive than themselves. But in those marks, I can lose myself in the hope of what I saw or thought during their creation.

“However, once completed, creation allows the work to move beyond my intent into the world. It will enable it to mature & take on others’ stories as they see fit. In my works’ miniature & small scale, details & exactitude in an image’s conceptual underpinning can be distilled down to the most hopeful of elements, allowing others the opportunity to make the work their own.

“For some, this draws them nearer. This interaction takes a commitment on the viewer’s part, a curiosity to obtain the knowledge of what is. For they must give a moment of themselves to gain the return of seeing. At this moment, something nearly magical happens; in the near abstractness of seemingly random small marks, an image is born in their mind. It becomes an opportunity to build out the imagery with their own ideas of what they see, the stories they want to hear. As a viewer walks away, they take with them that which they saw.

“One must get near enough to see an image, often so much so that they might lose a sense of our world’s surrounding largeness, rendering themselves momentarily vulnerable. These moments lend themselves to a more open reading of the stories that they see. To see hope in whatever form they so choose.

“Each work is presented framed in such a way as to allow it its own space to be what it needs. The large matting suggests a world through the window in which you look, allowing landscapes to roll out before you & to believe in hopes of little details that might not be seen.

“It would be remiss of me not to consider the time & events in which these works are currently being viewed. The pandemic has shaken so many in profound ways beyond what they could have ever imagined. As such, I want nothing more than for this opportunity to be a catalyst & opportunity to take a deep breath, pause, & allow yourself a moment of hope.”

~ J.A. Richard

Students of Edward Duff

Here is just a sampling of paintings in this exhibit; for a larger view, click on the image. (If interested in purchasing, phone 248.644.0866.)

Sue Brodbeck – Grand Hotel Taxi, oil on board, $600

Rosemary Bunea – Garden Path, oil on canvas, $1600

Kim Coleman – Lower Meadow in July, oil on panel, $270

Lin Deahl Coy – Salmon Run, oil on canvas, $1200

Edward Duff (instructor) – Ebb & Flow, oil on panel, $1300

Harah Frost – Johnson Nature Center, oil on canvas, $150

Heidi Geissbuhler – I-75 Sunset, oil on canvas, $800

Barb Glover – Bates Hamburgers, oil on board, $900

Sid Goldstein – Vermont Barn, acrylic on canvas, NFS

Maggie Greene – Water + Wind + Rock, watercolor on paper, $1000

Susan Hahn – The Agate, oil on canvas, NFS

Luba Kytasta – Carpathian Nocturne, oil on canvas, NFS

Ron Moffitt – PB & J, oil on canvas, NFS

Steve Rubin – Up, Up and Away, acrylic on canvas, $1000

Joe Snover – Ducks in the Water, oil on canvas, NFS

Mary Lou Stropoli – Jellies Over Eastham #1, acrylic on canvas, $500

The Students of Edward Duff exhibit features paintings created under the training of London-born and Michigan-raised Duff, who studied at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies and Wayne State University. A member of the Oil Painters of America and the National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society, Duff, who has gallery representation in Michigan and Tennessee, has served on the BBAC faculty since 2014.

April 30-June 3 2021

Shown here are samplings from the exhibits. Stay tuned for virtual tours.

BBAC Faculty Exhibition

Click here to view entire show.

Autumn Storm by Donald Cronkhite

Still Here by Meighen Jackson – 50″ x 42″; ink & various kozo & vellum papers on canvas; $4100

Hydrangea by Andrea Tama – acrylic paper collage on wood panel; 24″ x 24″; $1250

Dracunclus Vulgaris by Laurie Tennent – 30″ x 40″; polychrome on aluminum; $5000

A Face in the Window by Timothy H. Widener – 23″ x 19″; oil on linen; $4000

Genevieve Van Zandt: Rainbows and Demons

Butterfly Bones and Forest Spirits; porcelain, black clay & found objects; $800

CLICK HERE to see more of Van Zandt’s exhibit.

Genevieve Van Zandt grew up in Southeast Michigan. Working at her family’s cake bakery in her youth gave her a desire to work with her hands. Learning to sew and design her own clothes at a young age gave her a sense of artistic identity. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Western Michigan University. She has been a resident artist and studio manager at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Maine, as well as a long-term resident artist and instructor at Odyssey Center for Ceramics in North Carolina. She has assisted workshops at Penland School of Craft and Haystack Mountain School of Craft. She currently works in her Detroit studio. “The forest, the garden, and the sea are places that I draw inspiration from. The mysterious qualities and parallels of these ecosystems within the human experience are the source of my subject matter. Ingrained in stories from the beginning of time; Mythical fantasies are often set on a dark path to the forest, in a marvelous garden, or based in our fascination with the other worldliness of the sea. We can look at these myths as poetic ways to find significance in our lives. We are rooted in these natural places that somehow have escaped our daily lives. Humans are able to find a sense of tranquility when they retreat to the woods, tend to a garden, or stare across the ocean. These environments give us the ability to look inward and find subtle answers to life’s questions.”

Students of Leslie Masters

Untitled by Patty Eisenbraun… a multi-media piece featuring Leslie Masters! – NFS

Lake Country by Barbara Bayson – acrylic; $800

Long Shadow by Kristen Carey – oil; NFS

Woman Reading 1 by Ellie Gause – oil; $400 SOLD

Dune by Tammy May – acrylic; $300

Artichoke on a Stick by Kate Pistor – acrylic; price on request

TO SEE MORE FROM THIS EXHIBIT, CLICK HERE.

June 18-August 19 2021

40th Annual Michigan Fine Arts Competition

First Documented Case of PTSD by Terry Matlen; oil on canvas, 8″ x 8″; $550

This year’s juror, David Lusk, had this to say: “I look at a lot of art every day. I figured this project would be a breeze when I was asked to jury the Michigan Fine Arts Competition. I had no idea how difficult the undertaking would be when faced with the 714 works of art entered for this show! The wide variety of media and techniques, the proficiency with material and composition, and the overall exuberance of each piece made my task even more difficult. The caliber of the work submitted was outstanding and invigorating to this long-time art dealer. Congratulations to all who made the cut — I sure struggled to narrow it down.”

View the entire exhibit online – click here.

August 27-September 23 2021

Armando Pedroso: Wide Open

Art is an expression of one’s self, a way to convey the deepest emotions within the heart. Artist Armando Pedroso does just that with his beautiful mixed media paintings. Using materials as diverse as acrylic paint & roofing tar, as well as special techniques, such as blow torching, Armando creates art that is unlike anything else. Armando deconstructs & reconstructs a variety of materials to create his unique paintings.

Beautiful Decay; Mixed Media; $2,000

Big Red Sunset; Mixed Media; $3,800

Comfort; Mixed Media; $6,600

Coral Barn; Mixed Media; $1,900

Drifting; Mixed Media; $3,100

Dusty Rose; Mixed Media; $3,800

Mail Pouch; Mixed Media; $6,600

Open Spaces; Mixed Media; $2,800

Orange Morning; Mixed Media; $1,300

Royal; Mixed Media; $1,300

Standing Out; Mixed Media; $1,300

*Paintings sold individually*

The White Barn; Mixed Media; $900

The Blue Barn; Mixed Media; $900

The Red Barn; Mixed Media; $900

The Windmill; Mixed Media; $6,600

Wheat Fields; Mixed Media; $3,800

*Paintings sold individually*

Wide Open Home; Mixed Media; $400

Yellow Fields; Mixed Media; $2,000

Birmingham Society of Women Painters: Resilience

For more than fifty years, the Birmingham Society of Women Painters has brought together artists of merit to further their shared interests. The BSWP is today a dynamic organization of 50 artists working in diverse media. A commitment to the highest standards in creative expression and art education links the generations of BSWP members.

Barbara Baker; Ida, Mich, Skyline; Watercolor; $375

Robbie Best; Affirmation; Oil on Linen; $1,000

Beverly Booth; Fiesta Time; Watercolor; $800

Jan Brown; A Departing Soul; String; NFS

Jan Brown; Wonder as You Wander; Acrylic; $4,000

Kristen Carey; All Quiet; Oil and Cold Wax; $500

Chizuko Donovan; Here There Everywhere; Acrylic; $350

Jan Filarski; Expoplanet 16740; Acrylic; $1,800

Jan Filarski; Floral Delights on Steroids; Acrylic, Collage on tubes; $2,000

Susan Fiorello; Untitled; Acrylic; $350

Eleanor Gause; Portrait in Yellow; Oil; $1,350

Nancy Gordon; Magic Flute; Oil; NFS

Nancy Gordon; The Favorite Pillow; Oil; NFS

Barbara Grundeman; Industrial Polluter; Acrylic; $450

Cheryl L. Haithco; Serene Solitude; Acrylic; $1,900

Carolyn Vosburg Hall; Get Back in Order; Gouache and Watercolor; $800

Rebecca Hauschild; Widow of War; Oil; $6,000

Laura Whitesides Host; Urban Guardian; Monotype; $500

Barbra Keidan; I’m Trying; Acrylic; $1,200

Barbra Keidan; Old Women; Acrylic; $1,000

Ann Kelly; Turkey Tail; Pastel; $900

Donna Kennedy; The World as I see it; Mixed Media; $1,600

Lesley Kutinsky; Shadows; Oil; $150

Lesley Kutinsky; Tickle, Tickle; Oil; NFS

Susan Kwolek; Invasives; Acrylic Mixed Media; $800

Fran Levin; Blossoms; Acrylic; $750

Kathy Mansell; In the Beginning; Acrylic; $375

Loretta Markell; Drawing Down the Moon; Acrylic; $1,200

Leslie Masters; Antelope Canyon; Acrylic; $1,500

Leslie Masters; Canyon Light; Acrylic; $1,500

Barbara Maxson; Becoming Undone; Acrylic and Collage; $400

Kathleen Montgomery; Confidence; Pastel; $400

Cindy Parsons; Persistent Efforts; Mixed Media; $450

Sally Parsons; Late Summer on Quarton Lake; Pastel; $650

Nancy Raitt; Impending Storm; Acrylic; $1,500

Ev Schwartz; Experienced; Oil; $245

Elizabeth Sylvester; Aspidestra; Acrylic Ink; $350

Donna Thibodeau; Green House Tranquility; Watercolor; $800

Donna Thibodeau; Perseverance; Watercolor; $550

Marsha Tournay; Leaf Profusion; Watercolor and Acrylic; $1,000

Marsha Tournay; My Back Yard; Acrylic; $2,210

Chris Trombley; Creating a Life; Mixed Media; $600

Kathie Troshynski; Connected; Pastel; $275

Helen Vlasic; February Buds; Oil on linen; $1,000

Fran Wolok; A Moment of Sunshine; Acrylic; $650

Martha Zausmer; Esoteric; Collage; $900

Laura Cavanagh & Christine Gordon: Occupied Space

“Occupied Space” is a body of work that examines the physical spaces we occupy day-to-day, as well as the spaces that imprint themselves onto our minds and memories: grandma’s 1970s-inspired kitchen; dad’s cozy, dark den or even the iconic scene of the twins in the retro hallway from The Shining. The work of Laura Cavanagh and Christine Gordon attempts to explore the “unseen” – shadows cast on the wall, dust particles that flicker in the sunlight – and freeze in time those spaces risk being forgotten memory. With “Occupied Space”, the women will capture, in a singular gallery space, these physical experiences and moments in time.

Christine Gordon

Chrissy Gordon; Autumn View; Oil pastel on paper; 9×12; $499

Chrissy Gordon; Blue Stairwell; Oil pastel on paper; 14×17; NFS

Chrissy Gordon; Downstairs; Oil pastel on monotype; 40×76; $2,300

Chrissy Gordon; Dusk; Oil pastel on paper; 9×12; $499

Chrissy Gordon; Grandpa’s Kitchen; Oil pastel on paper; 14×17; $895

Chrissy Gordon; Green Light; Oil pastel on paper; 9×12; $499

Chrissy Gordon; Night Light; Oil pastel on paper; 11×14; $725

Chrissy Gordon; Pink Light; Oil pastel on paper; 14×17; $895

Chrissy Gordon; Soft Light; Oil pastel on paper; 9×12; $499

Chrissy Gordon; Through; Oil pastel on paper; 6×9; $189

Chrissy Gordon; Thunderstorm; Oil pastel on paper; 9×12; $499

Laura Cavanagh

Laura Cavanagh; Adaption, Again; Oil pastel on paper; 9×12; $650

Laura Cavanagh; Aprons of Silence; Oil pastel on paper; 9×12; $650

Laura Cavanagh; Before; Soft pastel on board; 12×16; NFS

Laura Cavanagh; Charisma Begins with Sequins; Soft pastel on paper; 15×22; $1,445

Laura Cavanagh; Distilled; Soft pastel on paper; 14×17; $775

Laura Cavanagh; Dreams and Memories; Soft pastel on paper; 15×22; $1,445

Laura Cavanagh; Heat and Dust; Soft pastel on paper; 18×24; $1,050

Laura Cavanagh; Hops Brook; Oil pastel on paper; 9×12; $425

Laura Cavanagh; Poof!; Soft pastel on board; 16×20; NFS

Laura Cavanagh; Reverence; Oil pastel on paper; 9×12; $425

Students of Clinton Snider

Crossing Over by Clinton Snider; oil on canvas

Clinton Snider makes paintings and sculptures that examine issues of social and environmental transformation, while staging subtle comedies set within our complex society. Recent shows featuring his work include the Making Home exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts, curated by Lucy Mensah and Taylor Renee Aldridge and Who Where They Then, curated by Dick Goody at Oakland University Art Gallery. Snider’s artworks have also been exhibited at Cranbrook Art Museum, Mott College, The Kunst Werker Institute of Berlin, and throughout Metropolitan Detroit. His works are part of many public and private collections, including The Detroit Institute of Arts, Henry Ford Hospital and the Kresge Foundation. He received a BFA from College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan.

October 1-November 4 2021

Glenna Adkins: Modern Impressions

Glenna Adkins has been a working, professional artist since 2001 and is widely known for her abstract paintings. Glenna thinks abstract artwork makes you think and feel something and activates the brain in a way that representational work cannot always accomplish. She has developed her own unique technique for creating her pieces. Flexibility is the key to the success of her paintings. “I try new techniques all the time” is her mantra. Trying not to allow the success of one painting dictate the next one, but allowing it to be a jumping off point for more creative flow.

Aurora; Mixed Media; $3,600

Autumn; Mixed Media; $1,400

Briarcliff; Mixed Media; $3,100

Clifton; Mixed Media; $1,400

Cloisters; Mixed Media; $7,200

Goethe; Mixed Media; $7,900

Incline; Mixed Media; $3,900

Lucere; Mixed Media; $7,900

Rosa; Mixed Media; $7,200

Spring; Mixed Media; $1,400

Study 1; Mixed Media; $350

Study 2; Mixed Media; $350

Study 3; Mixed Media; $350

Study 4; Mixed Media; $350

Study 5; Mixed Media; $350

Summer; Mixed Media; $1,400

The Row 1; Mixed Media; $2,500

The Row 2; Mixed Media; $2,500

Winter; Mixed Media; $1,400

Leah Waldo: Memory Gate

Leah creates as a way to process and express her life experiences, drawing inspiration from her poignant experiences in nature. An abstract travelogue of a lifetime of deep feeling and mindful healing, Leah’s sculptures stand as monuments to the human capacity to heal and honor all those who are on their own path of healing. Her work provides a deeply personal window into her intimate experiences with loss, grief, healing and transformation, and offers viewers a gateway and passage into those healing spaces.

Shown below is a sampling of Memory Gate. Images by Leah Waldo.

Beannacht; cast glass, low-fire soft brick; $475

Breaking the Silence; with detail; cast glass, etched glass, cast bronze, fabricated steel, low-fire soft brick; NFS

Breathe; with details; cast glass, fabricated steel, low-fire terra cotta; $2,700

Chamber of Remembering; with detail; cast glass, etched glass, fabricated steel, low-fire stoneware, sound; $3,500

Circle: Yes; cast glass, etched glass, fabricated steel, low-fire terra cotta; NFS

Colors of Release; with detail; cast glass, etched glass, low-fire porcelain, fabricated steel, brass, sound; $3,500

Heartopener; cast glass, etched glass, fabricated steel, low-fire terra cotta; $2,800

Place of Grief; with detail; cast glass, etched glass, fabricated steel, stone, ink, paper, wax, sound; $3,500

Secret of the Golden Flower; etched glass, cast bronze, fabricated steel, low-fire soft brick; $825

Shrine of Growth; cast glass, etched glass, cast bronze, fabricated steel, low-fire terra cotta; $1,100

Soft Fascination; low-fire stoneware, stone, resin, sound; $475

Something About a Face; cast glass, low-fire soft brick; $425

The Hollow Place; cast glass, etched glass, fabricate steel, low-fire stoneware; $3,200

Thinking Stone; low-fire ceramic, stone, resin, sound; $475

Tree Piece; stone, low-fire terra cotta, resin, sound; $475

Two Moons; cast glass, low-fire stoneware, sound; $2,100

Mary Wilson: Edible Intentions

Culinarian turned Painter, Mary Wilson has spent years painting with flavors in her own premier catering company. With an eye for color and contrast, Mary has found her way from the flavor palate to artistic palette. 2020 allowed a creative by nature to explore new forms of expression.

A Gift Of Garlic; Watercolor; $75

Artichokes; Watercolor; $70

Beans Are The Means; Watercolor; $70

Bloody Mary; Watercolor; $136

Blue Hue; Watercolor; $140

Burst Of Berry; Watercolor; $140

Cherry Basket; Watercolor; $288

Cherry Bomb; Watercolor; $140

Citrus In Circles; Watercolor; $216

Cream Puff; Watercolor; $140

Crispy Pear; Watercolor; $70

Dippity Do; Watercolor; $140

Herbal Essence; Watercolor; $128

Lickity Split; Watercolor; $140

Sunkist; Watercolor; $136

Sweet Pea; Watercolor; $140

Sweetness Of Summer; Watercolor; $140

The Root Of It All; Watercolor; $216

Toadstool; Watercolor; $70

Students of Fran Seikaly

The Eye of God by Fran Seikaly; oil on canvas

Fran Seikaly is a Detroit area artist working with oil, pastel, watercolor and drawing. She teaches and exhibits at numerous places in southeastern Michigan and has work in public and private collections including Salon Detroit, Farmington Hills City Hall, Hiller’s Markets Corporate Offices and Michael Langnas & Associates Law Offices in Southfield, MI.

HAVEN: Resilience Art Show

HAVEN of Oakland County celebrates Domestic Violence Awareness Month through interpretive visual art created by survivors, friends, families and supporters of HAVEN. As Oakland County’s only comprehensive program for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, HAVEN provides shelter, counseling, advocacy and educational programming to nearly 30,000 people each year.