Life after Chamberlin

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The first, Marsha Chamberlin, was hired thirty-three years ago to turn the all-volunteer Ann Arbor Art Association into a professional organization. Chamberlin, who'll retire as president and CEO once her successor is in place, recalls being told, "'we want to establish structure here. We want someone who can run the business well.'"

The last volunteer director, Jean Amick--a gifted artist who died at age eighty in 2007--laid the groundwork. "She was the visionary," says Chamberlin. "They raised $30,000 in 1974, and convinced [philanthropist] Eugene Power that he wanted to co-sign a bank note" to buy a double brick storefront at 117 West Liberty. "They immediately put that gallery shop in."

The shop is still there and still accounts for much of the center's income. Showcased in one of the storefronts, it's filled with beautifully turned wood bowls, glazed pottery, Martha Keller flower paintings, Pewabic and Motawi tiles, silver and glass jewelry, and cards, all hand-made by local and regional artists.

The other storefront houses the ceramics studio, its potter's wheels purposely set right in the clay-spattered window to promote the center's art classes, its other big source of revenue. (Painting and other classes are upstairs.) "We don't do technology," says Chamberlin. "We show it sometimes. We are really teaching art fundamentals--whether you're getting it as a six-, sixteen-, or sixty-three-year-old."