The J. Petter Galleries began in 1970 as Prashna where founder Joyce Petter imported and sold fine jewelry in the Mermaid building on the riverfront in Saugatuck. Joyce had always had an eye for fine art and traveled extensively growing her personal collection. Eventually, the passion for collecting for her home turned into curating for her retail space as it evolved into a fine art gallery. She renamed the business the Joyce Petter Gallery and move its location to Butler Street downtown Saugatuck. The gallery was the first to show curated international fine art in Saugatuck and quickly became the premier gallery of West Michigan attracting collectors from the Metropolitan areas of Chicago and Detroit.
Joyce Petter continued her travels throughout the United States gathering the best art from across the country. Those trips coupled with Joyce’s discerning eye and immense energy lead her to represent amazing talent. In 1977...as Joyce was traveling through the East coast on one of her art-finding excursions she attended the Fall Gallery Stroll on Newbury Street in Boston Massachusetts. Galleries up and down the historic street were collaborating, bringing in artists for talks and demonstrations as well as live entertainment, the energy was contagious. Upon returning to Saugatuck Joyce reached out to the other local galleries and Jewelry stores to create her own version of the gallery stroll an event she knew would work well in the area. The gallery strolls evolved and grew each year becoming one of the premier events in the Saugatuck Douglas area.
In the early 1990s, Joyce had the opportunity to purchase the historic River Guild Gallery Center built by Carl Hoerman in the 1930s. Born in Bavaria, Germany, Hoerman was a landscape painter who moved to the United States in 1904, where he studied and worked in architecture until the 1920s. After that, he devoted his time to painting and building a studio in Douglas, Michigan. At that time the studio was called River Guild Gallery Building. Known as the “dunes painter,” Hoerman’s paintings of West Michigan, as well as of west and southwest America have captured art lovers for decades.
We invite you to sip and stroll your way through the galleries because after all, selecting fine art is an experience to savor.
Our team at J. Petter Galleries is consistently engaged in active dialogue with artists throughout the world. Since 1970, our curators preview fine art & design shows and commission unique works from artists and makers with expertise in a variety of media. We display over 1000 pieces of artwork, all of which are vetted to meet the gallery's highest standards.
It is rare to find a gallery that can display as many as 20 pieces from each of our 65 artists. It is rarer still to find that much purchasable art in one venue. Whether you are a new collector, an experienced art aficionado, or a design professional, you are sure to find something here to meet your expectations. We are a true one-stop art & wine source.
Entrada actualizada el el 07 oct de 2021
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