I still enjoy exploring the possibilities of the image of the Hamsa.  In this piece the figure of the doves is emphasized by the simple elegance of the transparent glasses.

Are you interested in purchasing this piece?  Or perhaps commissioning one for yourself?   Send me a note at ronsussman@aol.com   and we can work together on your one of a kind piece of art.

Lady Justice depicts justice as a goddess equipped with three symbols: a sword symbolizing the court’s coercive power; a human scale weighing competing claims in each hand; and a blindfold indicating impartiality.

My depiction of the Scales of justice is a bit more cubist.  Please feel free to comment.  I’d love to hear your reaction.

Facebook is an amazing tool.  Friends and students I knew from decades ago have searched, found me, and are surprised to see what I am doing these days.  One of my student’s mothers is a cancer survivor.  The student commissioned me to create a piece to commemorate the anniversary of her being cancer free.  After several emails back and forth we came up with the simple design above.

Post script:   After seeing the first Pink Ribbon, and ‘friend of old’  (rather than an ‘Old Friend’ asked me to commission the same design.  The result is the photo of the second Pink Ribbon.  I’d like to hear your thoughts.

To Joanna, the chickadee represents the toughness of a cold Michigan winter and the beauty of a Michigan spring.  She asked for a chickadee in a blooming tree  –  this piece is the result.   Interested in a one of a kind piece of art for your home, office, or as a gift?  Contact Ronsussman@aol.com and let’s talk.

This creation (along with the one below) were commissioned by Ameinu Detroit as gifts for the honorees at their annual Tribute Dinner.  I was pleased to have a part in honoring this years recipients.  This design is a Hamsa – a symbol of good luck.   If you are considering a gift for a special event with a one of a kind piece of art, please contact me at Ronsussman@Aol.com so we can begin designing your present.

This piece of art is being proudly displayed in the Dean’s Office in the School of Education at the University of Michigan.   I was commissioned to create a stained glass which drew on traditional sources of knowledge:   Text and the Natural World.  I see the fruits of the future firmly rooted in the text of our past.  I welcome your feedback.

As tempting as it might be – this is not a political statement.

This next Saturday we read the story of Moses and the Burning Bush. In honor of that event I have created this piece. In the center of this piece is a crystal (is it obvious it’s a heart – upside down?) When you walk by, this piece of beveled glass it gives the impression of shimmering or flickering – exactly the image I wished to create.

A “friend of old” saw the Blue Hamsa on my blog (see below) and asked if I could make one in red for him – and here it is! Wondering how that works? I sent him pictures of the glass and the agate I would be working with and on his approval I created this piece. It’s That Simple. If you see a pattern you would like duplicated or one of your own and I will create it. Do you have an idea you would like to see in a beautiful one-of-a-kind work of art? Let’s work together to make it a reality. Write Ron Sussman at ronsussman@aol.com for more information.

Mikki is a young friend who loves the 2 cats she adopted from shelters.   Mikki is a devoted pet owner.  This piece honors her relationships with her beloved cats.  Be careful  –  the eyes follow you whereever you go.

12.12.07

Mira – My Eshet Chayil

Posted in Uncategorized at 7:47 pm by ronsglass

There are posts in this blog (below) honoring for my boys. It would only be fitting here to mention my daughter, Mira.

Without embarrassing her with too much praise on this blog – I wanted to create a piece of art for her office. Mira works for the Jewish Family Service of Ann Arbor. She spends her entire day performing works of Tikkun Olam - Repairing the World. In her honor I created a piece that combines 3 elements: Judaism and Peace along with the word Tzedek.

Tzedek has several translations: righteousness, justice, and tzedek is the root of the Hebrew word for charity. In this work I have intertwined the word tzedek with the image of a white dove whose shaped is outlined by a blue six-pointed star.

This piece of leaded glass expresses my feelings for my Eshet Chayil - my woman of valor.

This was one of the first sketches I made when I first began working in glass, but I put it away until this week. This piece features the two tablets of the Law handed down on Mt. Sinai hovering above twin images of a Magain David, the Star of David.  The Tablets of the Law would look beautiful displayed on your mantel or hanging from your window. Please visit Universal Stained Glass, an art gallery in Ferndale, where The Tablets of the Law is being featured.

Shofarot #2

This is the second piece I made using the Shofarot pattern. All of the glass I chose for this piece has the texture of the ram’s horn, the material used to make a Shofar. I am pleased with the responses to this piece and my other “Shofarot” (below).  Don’t wait until the High Holidays next year. This piece is available Now!

Having just completed the fall Jewish holidays, I was inspired to create a piece symbolic of the season. A Shofar is the Ram’s Horn which is blown several times during the Rosh Hashana service and at the culmination of the Yom Kippur service. At Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor we have a tradition for everyone with a Shofar to gather on the Bimah and signal the end of the Day of Atonement in unison with a long, loud blast. The deep sound of the long Shofarot lays the base for the short soprano Shofarot. The various sounds suggested the various colors of my Shofarot.

This piece is already spoken for, but should you want a copy in colors of your choice, contact me at ronsussman@aol.com.

Every time my grandson Matan walked by while I was working on this piece he whispered its name: “…time out…”. He then shot me a glance as if hoping this was not another piece created in his honor. Matan: You’re a Mitzva Super-Hero in my mind.

For the first time I have ventured into a medium other than glass. This piece has 5 polished agates scattered on the surface. Agates vary in their crystalline structure adding interest to this piece. The distinctly different clear glass I chose for this piece scatters the existing light in fascinating, continually changing patterns. I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I enjoyed creating it.

This piece is the third (and possibly the last) work from the same pattern. I love experimenting with different colors and textures using the same pattern, but now it’s time for me to focus on the 2 large commissioned works I have. This piece, though, would look wonderful in that pink room in your home. Can’t you picture it in the winter bringing some much needed green to your retinas? Interested in this piece or any others? Please feel free to contact me at ronsussman@aol.com or call my home at 734-971-1147.

It seems I’m back in my Hamsa phase.  Having acquired a number of beautiful agate pieces, I am in the process of incorporating these gems into my art. The agate in this piece dramatically sets off the blue of the Hamsa.

Once again, if there is a piece you would like to commission for yourself or for that special person – please feel free to contact me at Ronsussman@aol.com

The Lighthouse is the third piece in my nautical series.

This gorgeous artwork is available for purchase. If you are interested and would like more information on this piece, or any others I have created, please contact me at Ronsussman@aol.com or call my cell: 313 702-3116.

I am continuing to dedicate these nautical pieces to my son, Ari Sussman. In response to many questions, he is home safe and sound. His sailing venture took him from Charleston to Bermuda, to the Azores and to London.

Please let me know if you have a design you’d like me to create for that special someone or occasion. Or perhaps, an original design made just for you!

Ron Sussman, Artist

Anchors Aweigh is the second piece in my nautical series.

This gorgeous artwork will be hanging with the other pieces in this series at an enchanting, lakefront store, Noble, in Lexington, Michigan. Nobel’s partner asked me to design and create several original pieces, all with a nautical theme, specifically for his lakefront store. This is the second commissioned piece I have created for this venue.

If you’ve never been to Lexington, visit there soon. The quaint shops combined with warm summer days are exactly how the dog days of summer should be spent. What’s your favorite summer memory? Walk the decks and check out the yachts.

Please let me know if you have a design you’d like me to create for that special someone or occasion. Or, an original design made just for you.

This gorgeous artwork will be hanging with my other nautical pieces at an enchanting, lakefront store, Noble, in Lexington, Michigan.  Nobel’s partner asked me to design and create several original pieces, all in the nautical theme, specifically for his lakefront store. This is the first, of more, commissioned pieces yet to be created. Please let me know if you have a design you’d like me to create for that special someone or occasion. Or, an original design made just for you.

If you’ve never been to Lexington, visit there soon. The quaint shops combined with warm summer days are exactly how the dog days of summer should be spent. What’s your favorite summer memory? Walk the decks and check out the yachts.

Welcome to my Rorschach Hamsa. You don’t have to be a psychiatrist to see the image. But it might help.

I designed this hamsa, which is supposed to ward away the ‘evil eye’, with a big smile. The profile faces the east. See the eye? The nose? The smile? If not, then don’t worry. The hamsa will bring only good luck to those who hang this piece in their eastern window. Why is this hamsa smiling?  That’s  my interpretation. What do you see?

Like many young boys, my grandson Matan is fascinated with superheroes. His favorite is Spiderman. Matan’s PJs, gym shoes, knit hat, shirts and underwear all are emblazoned with his hero’s logo. From the moment he first saw my sketch for this piece he asked to watch it’s progress. There’s one more piece to this puzzle though. Every Wednesday I take Matan to speech therapy. I love this one-on-one time with him. The first letter he worked on was the “S”. So now, instead of “Piderman” we have “Sssssssss-piderman”! That is why I chose to place the “S” in the background.

Matan is so wound-up in the Spiderman tale he finds it hard to believe he can’t spin a web from his wrist like Spiderman. It’s because, as he says: “I want to help people”. You’ve got to love a child who has so much goodness and beauty in his soul.

As you can imagine, THIS piece is not for sale. But please feel free to browse the blog and consider working with me to create a special work for your home, your office or as a gift.

I have wanted to do several pieces from the same pattern since I began working in glass. These pieces were created from my pattern of an interlocking Magan David (Jewish star). There are windows on each side of my front door. I like to change these pieces depending my mood and the weather.

I have been receiving inquiries about selling my art. The Magan David pieces are available individually or as a set. I’m also venturing into commissioned stained glass. I would love to work with you and together we will create that special piece for your home or office or as a gift.

Pomegranates are a common motif in Biblical literature. Deuteronomy 8:7-8 states: “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill. A land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey.” I have a goal to eventually create glass works of all the seven species. “Pomegranates” is the first in the series.

I would like to thank all those who have responded so favorably to my blog, either by posting comment or by email. It’s validating to hear praise – but more often viewers express surprise that I’m doing this. Hey: Expect the unexpected from Ron!

In making this piece I violated rule #1 of glassworking: Know what the heck you’re going to do before you start. I took some pieces of interesting glass and let them speak to me. It was like a jigsaw puzzle. I took these pieces, moved them around, turned them upside down, watched how the light played off the surfaces and only then did I draw the pattern. I believe it worked.  What do you think?

This piece was a lot of fun to make. It resembles a piece of jewelry I had seen – (but I must say, I like my design better.) As much as one would like to have pieces of glass “floating out in space” like the Hebrew letters in the center of the star, working in glass just won’t allow you to do that. It is a challenge to make the letters seem to float by having the least intrusive connections to the inside of the star. I followed the flow of the letters and only now, after I’ve pointed it out, do you see the true genius of the design. LOL

I also like my choice of glass for this piece. Each type of glass brings its own personality to the work. Some glass is easy to work with and ‘melts in my hands’. Other glass is a real challenge. Also, each has a ‘personality’ which shines through as the light plays with it. The cloudy glass, for example, is nearly translucent during the day but the wispy clouds come out at night when the artificial light shines on the surface. Inside the star is a luminescent hammered glass which glows at night. I also chose glass resembling the famous Jerusalem stone for the frame and the Chai.

If you would like to see or purchase this piece, visit UNIVERSAL STAINED GLASS on Nine Mile in Oak Park.  Ask for Brenda and plan to have a memorable time with a charming artist.