“A lot of art kids hear, ‘How are you going to make money? How are you going to be successful?’, but my parents were the opposite and really encouraged my artistic habits growing up. They supported me fully in anything that I wanted to do and were always right behind me cheering me on.
So I went to college for art. I watched a lot of people who I studied with end up working for Corporate America or join marketing agencies. But when I came back I said, ‘I don't want to work for somebody else. I want to help other people.’ My mom and I would just spitball ideas off of each other, and both of my parents have started businesses and were willing to help make The Whitney Creative Art Studio happen. To be 23-years-old, own a whole storefront that helps other people make art is great. I get to do this as my job and make a living off of it. I'm so blessed and grateful for that, because I couldn't have done it without them.
We have two employees that work here for us every week, and we’ve been able to hire a bunch of instructors to teach classes with their different skills. We've had things like oil and watercolor painting classes, and we're getting really big into ceramics right now. People can come paint bisque and we have a deal with a friend of ours who is an art teacher and she fires for us until we can get our own equipment. We do Walk-in Paint on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. People can come in from 12:00 to 8:00 on Mondays and Wednesdays or 12:00 to 4:00 on Sunday and paint without instruction and can choose ceramics or canvas to paint on. We have art camps for kids, and the thing that I'm most excited for is we're doing a young entrepreneurs club. We have kids who come in and make these bracelets or other things, so we did a four-week program where we have different people coming in to teach different aspects of running a business, and the program ended at Lapeer Days with a kid's market where they will got to sell their stuff for the first time. We do a lot of homeschool outreach opportunities and classes for the community around here because Lapeer has a large homeschooling community. Then we also do art therapy for both kids and adults.
I'm actually in the process of working right now to get switched over from an LLC to a 501(c)(3). It's been a longer process than what I'd hoped, but it’s in the works. With that, our classes can be significantly cheaper, if not free. We'll be able to give out scholarships to local community members for people pursuing art, do a lot more outreach and have a lot more grant opportunities.
When people ask me what I do for work, I forget that I work. I'm very lucky to be able to make a living doing something that I love.
We are lucky to have so many talented people in one small community, and Lapeer is great at embracing the creative community. That’s important because if you don't give those people a chance to do what they do, they will go somewhere else.
Before we bought this studio, I had plans to move to Chicago when I finished school. I didn’t want to stay here and I wanted to live in a larger metro area. I thought there would be more opportunities there, and growing up, everyone said, ‘You shouldn’t stay here.’
I've found growth putting myself in those bigger situations, but Lapeer will always be special to me. My grandparents and my mom have always been here. My family is all here. If I have a daughter, I’m going to name her Whitney and can bring her here and show her this. I want this to be a legacy, and I want it to be in Lapeer. My family has their own legacy in Lapeer and I want to give them something to show for that.”
– Mallory Wetzel, The Whitney Creative Art Studio
Written by Phil Eich, Storyville
This project was created in collaboration with the DDA (Downtown Development Authority) & Michigan Main Street for The Whitney Creative Art Studio