Gail Rosenbloom Kaplan: Recent Mosaic Installations
Artist Gail Rosenbloom Kaplan (BFA ’76) and her mosaic partner, Dani Katsir, recently completed the installations of two new mosaics. At the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, Kaplan and Katsir worked with staff, patients, visitors and volunteers to create Children Chasing the Rainbow, an 8’x16” glass mosaic installed in the hospital’s entrance lobby.
Kaplan and Katsir also worked with Bloomfield Hills High School performing arts students and teachers to create a large mosaic installation in the school’s performing arts wing.
The driving force behind the new mosaic comes from the family of Julianne Silverstein Vinik, an Andover graduate of 1977 who was a Jill, and who passed away two years ago.
Julianne’s mother, Dolores Silverstein, shares, “I wanted some living memory of her. Because she was so involved in the school — and this is a new school — it was a good thing to do. Her sister Jennifer was also here, and was a disc jockey, so there is a microphone in the mosaic. And my two grandchildren, who years later went here, were drum majors, and played the saxophone and the trombone. So we have a saxophone and a trombone represented on the mosaic. My husband died nine years ago, and he would have been thrilled with this art project. Music was always our love.”
Silverstein brought artist Gail Rosenbloom Kaplan to make the project come to life. Silverstein explains, “I had seen Gail’s work at the Detroit Public Library windows. Gail was the liaison, and because she had done other work here at BHHS, they were very receptive to her project. She had the kids brainstorm things — Beethoven is on the mosaic because the kids wanted it. This is how she works with schools — she’s amazing!”