Art exhibit inside Southfield City Hall to run through September

SOUTHFIELD — If you find yourself inside Southfield City Hall anytime soon, you’ll find on display a showcase of art in the building, including some by a resident.

At City Hall, located at 26000 Evergreen Road, the work of Carol Izant and Priscilla A. Phifer can be found inside the lobby of the building. The exhibit began on July 15 and will run through Sept. 30. The featured works also are available for sale.

Mayor Kenson Siver, who hosted the opening reception of the exhibit with the Southfield Public Arts Commission, said the plan is to feature the works of different artists in the lobby every three months. He said this is to not only change up the inside of City Hall but also freshen up the lobby, which experiences a lot of foot traffic.

Art has been a big focus of Southfield over the last couple of years, and Siver said the city has made great progress with its public art.

“We have done 23 art installations,” he said. “Our businesses have done another 12-14 in the last six years. It’s been a big change in art in Southfield.”

Phifer is a ​​ graduate of Wayne State University and a self-taught abstract expressionist. Her work has been displayed at a number of galleries and museums, including the Dell Pryor Gallery, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art.

Izant, a Southfield resident and artist for 45 years, also is a graduate of Wayne State and has had her work featured at the Lawrence Street Gallery, in the Gilda Snowden Memorial Exhibition at the Scarab Club and the Hatch Gallery.

Izant, who described herself as a contemporary visual artist, said she concentrates her work in 2D painting, printmaking and mixed media.

“I’ve also started to use encaustic now the last three years,” she said. “I’m developing more expertise with encaustic, which actually is a technique that the Egyptians developed. It’s a mixture of beeswax and damar varnish, and you can apply this in many different ways.”

Izant said the subject matter of her art varies from a more traditional rendering of representation to abstract work.

For what she featured at City Hall, she stated she wanted to show a good sample size of her work, of which she selected 13 pieces.

Izant said she hopes that, if people go and check out the art, they take the time to really examine the pieces.

“If you’re just walking by and kind of (look at them) at a glance, you don’t really appreciate them in the same way as when you kind of get up close and really start to examine the work,” she said. “One thing that calls to mind is the term mark making, and the mark making that I utilize is a really important feature of the work itself. You know, the evidence of the hand, and I would say that that kind of contrasts with Priscilla’s work because there’s not a whole lot of evidence of the hand in her work. Her work is very colorful and a lot of graphic design, but there’s not a lot of evidence of the hand. They’re very kind of smooth works, whereas mine are a little more rough and tumble.”

This will be the second showcase of this nature the Southfield Public Arts Commission has done. Chairperson Delores Flagg said this is something the commission has talked about as a way to network, promote outreach to the community and support local artists.

“We know that there are a lot of great artists in the city of Southfield, and they just need a platform, and we’re just providing a platform for them to showcase their work,” she said. “We know the importance of showcasing art and artists. … It’s a win-win situation for all artists.”