Joyce Petter on the gallery business and development
Name/Title
Joyce Petter on the gallery business and developmentEntry/Object ID
2024.41.214Scope and Content
Art gallery owner and preservation activists Joyce Petter talks with Judy Mauger about Joyce's childhood, meeting her husband, her search for the right West Michigan town to start a business, opening the Prajna gallery at 134 Butler Street (circa 1973) and why she later relocated to the former River Guild building. Other topics include her love of restoring old buildings; details of the gallery business; the artist's she represented including Fran Larsen and Belva Ball; her reason for focusing on American art and craft; the fight to keep McDonalds from opening a franchise at 245 Water St. in Saugatuck (a win!) and to stop plans to widen the Blue Star Highway (a loss); how her "Pals Group" (including Phil Miller, Suzy Richardson, Gail and Rick Lipzig, Mary and Bob Mason (an attorney who helped break up AT&T), Mark Bekken and spouse Bill Petter) secured the land that is now Coghlin Park and the Bayou House at the end of Center Street; her interactions with other local merchants, the Conventions and Visitor's Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce; the parking problem in Saugatuck; how the towns, the art scene and Ox-Bow have changed over the years; and her insights into the demise of Art 'round Town.Context
Recollections of a leading business person who helped establish Saugatuck-Douglas' reputation as an art destination and preserved and enhanced local buildings.Collection
Art galleries, Family History, Development, resistance to, Transportation: highway and road infrastructure, Artists, Business Associations, Buildings: Commercial, Commercial businessesCataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2024.41Acquisition Method
Found in CollectionCredit Line
To view this recording, scroll down to the bottom of this entry and click the blue web link. This video was created by Saugatuck-Douglas History Center volunteers or was donated to the Center in a good faith effort to preserve local history. If you feel this content should not be available to the public — or have additional information that will add context to this interview — please contact the SDHC Archives at archives@mysdhistory.org.Oral History Details
Interviewee
Petter, JoyceInterviewer
Mauger, Judith Morris "Judy" 1938-2016, Shack, JohnInterview Date
Sep 15, 2011Length of Interview
1:13:44Oral History Notes
Joyce Petter: Her Galleries and Area Life - plus 4 minutes chatter at end with Judy MaugerLocation
Oral History DVD/CDs
AWS/VidArch SSD/DVD originals drawer