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Carole Morisseau of Detroit won a top prize at the 43rd annual Michigan Fine Arts Competition, taking place at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center through Aug. 15, for her piece, “Offering to the Sea.” (Photo courtesy of Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center)
The head of the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Annie VanGelderen, says the group’s annual fine arts exhibition “never fails to delight and surprise me.”
Enter Dorothy Jett-Carter, a West Bloomfield artist whose work on current display supports VanGelderen’s words.
Among the show’s 85 works is Jett-Carter’s inventive “Dandelion,” a framed, African-inspired piece that incorporates textiles, ink printing on linen and embroidery. The puckish piece shows a sweet boy presenting the dandelion weed to his mother.
In elegant simplicity, Jett-Carter said, “a weed is beautiful to a child.”
The playful image captured the attention of the show’s juror, who included the piece in the 43rd annual Michigan Fine Arts Competition at the Birmingham Bloomfield exhibition.
Open to the public until Aug. 15, the show at 1516 S. Cranbrook Road, Birmingham, is available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
From more than 600 submissions, a Texas-based juror selected the 85 works in the exhibition, covering four gallery areas.
“I was immediately delighted to discover so much of the artwork was born of talent and serious consideration to an artistic practice,” said Danette Dufilho, the juror who works as the director and project room curator at Conduit Galley in the Dallas Design District.
Dufilho lauded the show for its range of “smart compositional and color choices and the variety of materials and mediums.”
The artistic array is drawn from artists in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Among nine winning artists in the show’s competition were seven from Michigan: Carole Morisseau, Detroit; Doug Cannell, West Bloomfield; Craig Paul Nowak, Farmington Hills; Carolyn Reed Barritt, Ann Arbor; Suzanne Hochberg, Beverly Hills; Philip Ruehle, Owosso; and Mark Hunter, Northville.
Being selected for the show was gratifying for Jett-Carter, a West Bloomfield resident and veteran of jewelry and wearable art, currently expanding her skills to include creative, mixed-media framed art.
“I was surprised and honored to get a piece in,” she said. “It is an exceptional show.”
Being among artists chosen “is a real boost of confidence,” she said, noting that she still is “figuring out” her new, detailed technique for framed art.
Not that Jett-Carter is a newbie to the art world. A native Detroiter, she has been producing wearable textile art for half a century. Her designs have been exhibited and sold in a variety of locations, from the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.
Jett-Carter’s passion for art evolved over decades while she made a career as a human relations specialist for Chrysler Corp., deeply involved with joint programs between the company and the UAW. Her retirement in 2008 freed up more time for her artistic pursuits.
An author and maker of artistic jewelry, she has said much of her work connects “ancestral beliefs and values” from time spent in Africa. Much of that inspiration, she said.
Among her experiences was time spent with West Village women in Senegal, West Africa, where she said she was “inspired by their impeccable fashion sense, their intricate beading techniques, as well as their unusual woven fabrics.”
Reflecting those elements, her African-influenced work ranges from youthful and stylish to sophisticated, high-fashion.
For more information, visit bbartcenter.org/2024-mfac-exhibiting-artists.
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