Lifelong friends team up for first joint art show

GROSSE POINTE CITY — They’ve been friends since they were teenagers, but artists Roselyn Palazzolo Rhodes and Sue Majewski — who also goes by Sumajetski for her art — have never had a show together.

Until now, that is. Rhodes and Majewski have teamed up for the two-person exhibition, “Art’s Journey,” which is on display now and runs through Oct. 31 at Posterity Art & Framing Gallery in Grosse Pointe City. A public opening reception with the artists will take place at the gallery from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 17.

Their work is very different from each other — Rhodes is a painter and Majewski is a glass mosaic artist. Still, there are commonalities between them, such as a love of color and the recurrence of water imagery that can be found in many of their individual pieces.

“I’ve always admired her work, so I thought it would be fun” to do a show together, Rhodes said.

“I’ve always admired Rose’s (work), too,” Majewski said.

Each artist has roughly 30 works in the show. Rhodes said none of the works in this exhibition have been shown at Posterity before.

“I’m doing bigger pieces,” said Rhodes, whose home art studio is being enlarged to better accommodate this work. “I’m having so much fun working big.”

The two have been pals since attending Grosse Pointe South High School together, from which they graduated as members of the Class of 1978.

“I’m hoping we’ll have a bit of a class reunion (at the opening reception),” Rhodes said.

Rhodes currently lives on the water in Wolverine Lake, but she grew up in the Pointes and lived in Grosse Pointe Park for decades. Majewski grew up in Grosse Pointe City and now lives in St. Clair Shores.

Rhodes has been making art since she was a youth; in high school, she studied with the late artist Jack Summers, who taught at South for many years. Majewski didn’t find a medium she connected with until she was a college student at Wayne State University, though, where she fell in love with making mosaics and became a member of the now-defunct Mosaic Artists of Michigan. Majewski is now a member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists, which, despite the name, has members from all over the world.

“I love glass,” Majewski said. “I love it more the more I work with it.”

She said she’s particularly impressed with its sparkle and “the way the light catches it.”

Light is evident in Rhodes’ work as well.

“Color and light is my main thing,” Rhodes said. “It’s in my plein airs. It’s in my studio works. And it’s in my abstracts.”

Majewski often incorporates beads into her pieces and has created smaller works such as jewelry and tiles as well as sculpture and wall pieces. She has recently begun making 3D mosaics featuring freighters.

“I do mostly Great Lakes work,” Majewski said of her focus on water and boat imagery.

She said she follows a lot of photographers online.

“Everything gives me inspiration,” Majewski said. “Color and light are my favorite things — the way they work with the glass.”

Majewski has also done house portraits and floral works as well.

Rhodes is known for her impressionistic, expressive painting style. The Posterity show includes pieces she created while traveling in Italy.

“I bounce back and forth from plein air to abstracts,” Rhodes said. “The one gives me inspiration for the other.”

Both women are longtime art educators. Rhodes leads classes at the Northville Art House.

“I have to paint almost every day,” Rhodes said. “It’s so much of my life. It’s like breathing. I hope to do this (forever). And I love sharing it with people and seeing my students go on and do wonderful work.”

Majewski teaches mosaic art at The Hawk, which is the Farmington Hills Community Center.

“I have a blast,” Majewski said of teaching. “It’s fun.”

Posterity is located at 17005 Kercheval Ave. in The Village. For gallery hours or more information, visit posterityartgallery.com or call (313) 884-8105.