Where Community and Creativity Come Together... 

Meeting the Artists and their Work at the Heartside Art Gallery and Studio 

By Marcia Good 

 icture monks nestled in an abbey on a winter’s day baking bread, or rural Indian women gathering in the shade to stitch traditional designs on clothing, or perhaps, a theater troupe making final preparations behind the stage before the curtain rises. 

Warmth, anticipation, intimacy, purpose, and excitement are conjured when community and creativity come together.  I was recently reminded of this when I visited the Heartside Art Gallery and Studio located in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.   

Founded in 1993 as part of Heartside Ministries the gallery and studio offers Heartside community neighbors a place to do their art and sell if they choose.  Although many of the artists are poor and homeless, their art is beautiful and unique expression of who they are.  Most of the artists never have had formal training and their work falls under the genre of      “self-taught” or “intuitive” art.* 

Artists can try drawing, painting, “found object” sculpture, jewelry, pottery, sewing, weaving, and much more at the studio with free art supplies available.  As artists create pieces, they learn various clay techniques such as hand building, the potters’ wheel, applying glazes and stains, and the kiln process.  Artists receive 90% of the profits from anything they sell and 10% goes back to the studio to help with art supplies.* 

“This is my family,” was a sentiment I heard from many of the artists I met during two mornings I recently spent at the Heartside Art Studio and Gallery.  From the casual banter and joking that flew between the artists’ work stations I could feel the warmth and familiarity and history that existed between the people working in this special place.  Even though I was a newcomer, I was warmly welcomed and drawn in to meet everyone there.  At one point when I was in the basement level pottery studio, two or three of the folks who were working upstairs ran down to inform me that I was about to receive a ticket for my car being parked in a no parking zone.  Everyone remembered the incident and expressed how sorry they were weeks later when I returned. 

What kind of art is there?  Beautiful art, from the simple and profound to the technically advanced and profound!  Some seems to have expression of healing such as Jane’s “Rod in Foot” which she made after being seriously injured by from a drunk driver hitting her.  Some is by working artists like Jason Buzzalini who followed the Grateful Dead for three years selling macramé outside the shows or Myrle Blunt who is often commissioned for portraits and other pieces 

To see pictures of the some of these talented and dedicated Heartside artists and their work, please click on the accompanying photo essay. 

The Heartside Art Gallery is open Tuesday to Friday 9 am – 12 noon and 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Art and Crafts shows are offered regularly. 

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For more information on buying or donating art supplies for the studio contact:

Ruth Swier :   Art / Education Coordinator 

Heartside Ministry

(616) 235-7211 ext. 103 

The Heartside Art Gallery is located at 54 South Division  Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503