Artists Return to Celebrate Charach Gallery's 20th Anniversary

Artists who for the past 20 years got their start by showing work at the in West Bloomfield will return for a reception Sunday to mark the gallery's anniversary.

Charach Gallery has been known in the artistic and local community for offering young artists the opportunity to show their work in a state-of-the-art space. Many of those artists have gone on to successful careers in art.

“The vision of this gallery has always been to provide who we call ‘emerging artists’ the opportunity to show their work in a beautiful setting, in order to gain credibility,” director Terri Stearn said of the gallery located inside the . “It’s important for the artists to further their career and sell their work, and it’s important for us to be able to say we knew them back when they were young.”

The show's opening reception is from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday. The exhibition will continue until July 24, hosting more than 70 different artists.

The show is expected to attract 500 to 600 visitors during its duration.

Stearn said that it’s “absolutely necessary” to realize that those galleries which can survive for 20 years are few and far between, and that the gallery, which operates as a nonprofit organization, continues to exist thanks to its vision and the generosity of the community.

“It’s such an ego boost for a young artist to have their work sold for the first time,” Stearn said. “Thankfully, the people who visit this gallery realize that even in a down economy, that art is valuable and worth spending lots of money on.”

Heather Williams would agree with that assertion. Williams, 26, of Royal Oak, said via e-mail that her first opportunity to display her work in the gallery was great for her self-esteem as a young artist studying at College for Creative Studies in Detroit.

“When you first start out, especially as a fine artist, you are always hopefully showing people your work only for them to say, ‘This is good, but perhaps you may want to try a different venue.’ When the Charach gallery called me again to participate in a second show, I was ecstatic,” said Williams, who will have several pieces on display at the 20th anniversary show.

Stearn recalled with a grin how it felt for her to see Williams make her first sale at the gallery. “She sold a $1,500 painting to a guy who walked in off the street,” Stern said. “The look on her face was unforgettable.”

The Charach Gallery also provided the first opportunity for Steven Tapper to have his work displayed. Tapper, a West Bloomfield resident and a jeweler by trade, said he was an amateur photographer for “many years” prior to showing his work at a gallery.

“I took a photo which they offered to use in their promotional materials, and I can’t think of any opportunity I could have had elsewhere like that,” Tapper said. “It’s one of the best beautiful exhibition spaces in the community and the only trouble is that not enough people know about it, tucked away in the JCC. It’s a hidden gem.”

Exhibition coordinator Silvio Benvenuti said that the gallery has come a long way in broadening its scope over the past 20 years while maintaining its original sense of purpose. According to Benvenuti, the gallery originally had a strong presence of Judaica-influenced art before moving to a mainstream model.

Benvenuti personally knew the gallery’s namesake, Janice Charach, after going to college with her at CCS prior to her death in 1989 at age 39 of lymphoma cancer.

“Her parents wanted to do something in her honor, so they designed the gallery and did a wonderful job doing that,"  Benvenuti said. "The gallery is her essence … anyone who comes here will get a strong sense of what a beautiful person she was, because this is a beautiful place to view art."