West Bloomfield

Gallery’s exhibits go huge on hues

By Eric Czarnik
C & G Staff Writer

» click to enlarge « This painting, "Reflection," is an example of the colorful art that Ferndale artist Ed Meese will be showing at the Jewish Community Center starting Sept. 29. This painting, "Reflection," is an example of the colorful art that Ferndale artist Ed Meese will be showing at the Jewish Community Center starting Sept. 29.

WEST BLOOMFIELD — Organizers at the Janice Charach Gallery are coordinating a full spectrum of paintings and jewelry with two new exhibits just in time for fall.

The gallery, located inside the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit, will introduce its “Ed Meese: Colour!” and “Jewels of Many Colors” exhibits Sept. 29.

Meese, 48, of Ferndale, said he plans to show off art with “reactionary colors” formed by pigments’ relationships to nearby pigments. Chemical reactions among paint, oil, varnish and powdered pigments create a carnival of intriguing colors.

“What I’m showing at the exhibit is only recent work, work from within the last year,” he said. “This last year has been kind of pivotal for me. It’s really allowed me to get back.”

Gallery organizers are calling this exhibit a defining moment for Meese’s “comeback.”

Meese began painting when he was 11 and is an arts graduate from Wayne State University. Although he focused on painting and printmaking, a mugging in 1998 dealt him a closed-head injury that made him take a hiatus from art.

“That head injury reprocesses things different right now,” he said. “My work is exactly the way I dream: in fragments, in color and pattern relations. I really don’t dream with movement or sound.”

These days, his themes are abstract, ranging from color field work to abstract expressionism.

Janice Charach Gallery Director Terri Stearn said she remembers the first time she saw Meese’s work in the gallery’s 2010 exhibit of artistic Jewish chamsah charms.

“They were the first three to sell,” she said. “I was immediately attracted to his work. It was very reminiscent of what Janice (Charach) used to do with color.”

Stearn said the gallery had enough room to fit in two exhibits this time, since all of Meese’s work will be hanging on the walls. The jewelry exhibit will show pieces with colorful gemstones and beads from several local artists.

“The gallery is huge, and we needed to do something to make the show fuller,” Stearn said. “So we found jewelry artists, (and) stones and beads, and things like that to kind of fill up the space on the inside. They’re all local. They’re all really different. Some are higher end; some are less money, but really creative.”

“Ed Meese: Colour!” and “Jewels of Many Colors” will be shown Sept. 29-Oct. 25 at the Jewish Community Center’s Janice Charach Gallery, 6600 W. Maple Road, in West Bloomfield. Opening night will start at 7 p.m. Sept. 29. Ed Meese will discuss his work at 2 p.m. Oct. 14.

Admission is free. Learn more about gallery hours at www.jccdet. org or by calling (248) 432-5448. To learn more about Ed Meese, visit www.edmeese.com.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Eric Czarnik at eczarnik@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1058.