Like a time capsule hidden in the attic of a childhood home, the village of Grand Rapids, Ohio has managed to restore its small town while preserving its unique history. Grand Rapids invites visitors to flip open the lid to their past and reminisce on simpler times. Nestled along the Maumee River, this canal town has become home to many small-business owners, including, for the past twenty-one years, Julie Beutler owner of Angelwood Gallery.
As the oldest privately owned gallery in Northwest, Ohio, Angelwood Gallery has caught the attention of people from all walks of life, with pieces of Julie’s unique pottery being sold to folks around the world. Fresh out of college, twenty-one year old Beutler took a leap of faith. Putting all of her eggs in one basket, she opened her gallery on Front Street in a little town called Grand Rapids.
This month Beutler will celebrate the gallery’s twenty third year with an anniversary show featuring art inspired by her travels, aptly named “Under the Influence: Inspirations from Land & Sea.”
A small town girl under the influence
Born and raised in Erie, Michigan and finally settling down in Grand Rapids, Julie Beutler is a self-proclaimed “small-town girl.” But, when the opportunity to study abroad in Italy arose, she jumped at the opportunity. Bitten by the travel-bug, the desire to see the world has rested just below the surface for twenty years.
Finally fulfilling that desire, for the past four years, Julie and her husband have done an extensive amount of travelling. Between day trips to Chicago, Detroit and all the major cities in the area, to full tours of Europe, and most recently, a cruise to the Caribbean under her belt, this small town girl has become a woman of the world with no plans to stop.
If the ocean were a vase
Featuring 100 pieces of work from the last year and a half, Under the Influence is Beutler’s documentation of four years of travelling. Inspired by the history of Europe and the serenity of the ocean, she has set out to share her experiences and adventures through her pottery and photography. Giving us a peek into her mind, Beutler’s photos capture the foreign architecture of Europe as well as the antique architecture of our neighboring Detroit, giving us the opportunity to appreciate them the way the designers had hoped.
Without the concise expression of written word, Beutler’s task is no easy feat. Using ornate coral designs placed delicately on the rim of a vase, plates that appear to have been lifted right off the ocean floor, and a unique array of fish, she has managed to capture the essence of the Caribbean and brought it back for us to enjoy.
Before the exhibit opens, we caught up with Beutler to hear more about her art and inspiration.
TCP: How long have you been making pottery?
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Beutler: This will be my twenty-sixth year of doing pottery. In college I was actually a painting major, but I took one pottery class and I knew I wasn’t doing the right thing. I immediately fell in love and I’ve been doing it ever since.
Have you always wanted to be an artist?
JB: I’ve always wanted to be an artist of some kind. I didn’t grow up wanting to be twenty different things. I actually found an old journal a few years ago from high school where I wrote a “What I wanna be when I grow up” type of thing, and I don’t remember writing it. But, I was flipping through and I found that I wrote that I wanted to be an artist and to own a gallery someday.
Did you know before you began travelling that you wanted to have a show based on your travels, or was it just pure inspiration in the moment?
JB: Yes, that’s exactly what it was. I knew I was going to have a show, but one day I was looking at some old maps from our trip to the Caribbean and I was caught off guard by how moved I was by that trip. There’s something almost holistic about the water; and then to be in Europe walking where the masters once worked. As an artist, how can you not be inspired by that?
Are there any pieces from the upcoming show we could see and possibly hear about your process?
JB: (showing her display of pottery fish, which were the first pieces designed) These were the first pieces for the sea portion of the show. They are actually all bottles. So, what I do is I take the bottle and manipulate it. I’ll use a paddle and start squeezing and pounding the clay to form a face. And the faces are all uniquely their own, they form how they want. Once their faces were formed, I would find things in my studio to give their body texture. For example, I would use the end of a marker, or my finger, or utensils from my kitchen and give them some detailing. After they’re finished they are glazed, and the crazy thing about these fish are that they were all glazed exactly the same. But, being fired in the wood kiln gives them all completely different results. It’s like Christmas morning taking them out because you never know what you’ll get.
Along with Beutler’s artwork and pottery, photography by Daniel Klett, drawings and prints by Jeanne Beutler, colored pencil drawings by Candace Hardy, felted animals and wearables by Susan Diehr, fused glass by Peg Briggs and Ann Hymel, and other ceramics, will also be on view.
Join the artists for an opening reception from 6:30-9pm on Saturday, April 23. Through June 19.
11am-4pm Tuesday-Saturday, Noon-4pm Sunday.
Angelwood Gallery, 24195 Front St., Grand Rapids, OH. 419-832-0625. Angelwoodartgallery.com
