In 2002, Michele Sapp sat down in her Farmington Hills home and created a doll. "I literally sat down and made it, but I had never done that before," Sapp said. "I don't know why I decided to do it. My mother says I didn't even play with dolls that much as a kid." After she finished that first doll, it reminded her immediately of her maternal grandmother, Annie, who had passed away several months earlier. "I said (to it), 'You're Annie's girl.' It just felt right," said Sapp, who now operates her business, Annie's Girls, featuring her signature art dolls and handcrafted jewelry. Within three …

James Nuckolls thinks the piano is an amazing instrument. “It’s a complete musical repertoire of treble and bass clef,” he said. “I can play alone anytime, or in an ensemble. Most other instruments need piano to accompany them.” Nuckolls enjoys piano so much, he made it his career. He plays professionally for events and special engagements, and has been teaching piano at The Longacre House in Farmington Hills for 25 years with the Farmington Hills Cultural Arts Division. While obtaining a degree in piano from the Detroit Institute of Musical Art, a former affiliate of the University of …

Jerri Fellwock can’t imagine life without a daily dose of art.  “Art brings everything to me,” said Fellwock.  “When I’m not feeling well, or when I’m tired, I go to the studio and I’m suddenly not tired anymore.  I engross myself in my paintings and that’s all I’m thinking about.” Fellwock, 73, is an abstract artist who lives in Farmington Hills with her husband of 55 years. She discovered art in her early 40s, when her children were almost grown.  She took classes in watercolor, oil and acrylic painting at Oakland Community College and the Birmingham-Bloomfield Art Center (BBAC). Fellwock …

When the Chernobyl nuclear accident occurred 25 years ago, Marat Paransky was only an infant. He and his family lived in Kiev, just 60 miles from the nuclear disaster.  Now, as an artist and student living in Oak Park, Paransky draws heavily from his family’s experience at that time and the impact the event had on them. His work is currently on display at Farmington Hills City Hall's Public Art Exhibition. “It helps me to work through my childhood and the issue of nuclear radiation,” Paransky said. “One function of my work is definitely to spark dialogue.” Paransky’s family moved from the …

The inspiration for Robbie Best’s art is summed up by a statement on her website: “The most consistent theme in my work is that of visibility because I recognize that historically black people have generally been rendered invisible,” Best writes. That theme carries through in all of her powerful paintings and collages, three of which are on display at the Farmington Hills Public Art Exhibition at City Hall.  One piece, titled “Tubman’s Passage,” represents a slave’s journey from south to north. Best didn’t approach the painting with the intention of telling that story. “I had no idea what I …

Kegham Tazian knows one thing for sure.  “Nature is the best teacher,” he said. Tazian, a professor of fine arts at Oakland Community College (OCC), reminds his students of this concept on a regular basis. “Once, when I had done work that I was particularly proud of, people admired it, but then they were marveling at a beautiful flower in the room," Tazian said.  "You can’t look at nature and not be inspired by it: God is the most inspiring of all.” Growing up in an Armenian family in Lebanon, Tazian enjoyed art but didn’t consider a career in the field early on. When he moved to the United …

Music has been the focus of Bruce Pooley’s life since day one—literally.  His father was a composer; his mother, a piano graduate of the Royal Conservatory in Toronto.  Pooley began playing piano at age four and picked up a trumpet shortly thereafter.  “I was around music from the beginning and always loved it,” said the Farmington Hills resident.  “If I wasn’t singing, I was playing trumpet or piano.” When he was 11 years old, Pooley sang solo soprano in the Toronto Symphony’s voice choir.  At age 15, he traveled with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra as a trumpet player. Today, …

Susan Warner is known for her oversized works of art and her approach to color.  She thinks life should be lived that way, too — large and colorful.  “I have found as I get older that I gravitate toward like-minded individuals, people who have a ‘joie de vivre’ (enjoyment of life),” said Warner. “I try to be open to new challenges, new experiences and new people.”  Warner is a Farmington Hills tile designer, and a color and design consultant.  Her canvas tiles, often commissioned, are large-format, contemporary acrylic pieces.  Some have measured as large as 6 feet by 6 feet. “My work is big …

As you drive into the parking area at Plum Tree Pottery, you know you've come to a special place.  The cluster of unique buildings on the acre-and-a-half parcel welcomes visitors to John Glick's world of unique interpretations in clay. Glick is a Farmington Hills ceramic artist whose work is known worldwide, and cherished locally as a Michigan treasure.  Glick moved to the 1880 farmhouse on Ten Mile Road in 1965 after obtaining his Masters of Fine Arts at Cranbrook Academy.  He dabbled in other craftwork, but as an undergraduate student at Wayne State University, he quickly realized that …

Take a look around O.E. Dunckel Middle School and you'll see the fruits of Bernadette Zachara-Marcos' labor. A small statue of a girl reading a book graces the school garden. "I modeled the sculpture at Dunckel after my daughters," Zachara-Marcos said.  "I get inspiration from the people around me." Many Farmington area residents have seen Zachara-Marcos' meticulous sculptures, which can be found at schools, churches, public spaces and homes throughout the city. In September, she unveiled her latest work outside the St. Mary Child Care Center in Livonia. The life-size piece portrays Jesus …

All Larry Hutchinson wants to do is play music. Hutchinson is a bass player with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Now, as a result of an impasse between the DSO management and the musicians, the music at Orchestra Hall has gone silent.  "Playing with the DSO has been wonderful," said Hutchinson. "I love my job. I love this orchestra. That's why this situation seems so tragic to me." The musicians went on strike in October over contract disagreements. Hutchinson began playing with the DSO 28 years ago, after spending nine years with the music department at Western Michigan University and …