The Red Door Gallery — Attraction in Ludington

This gallery showcases and sells some beautiful work; however, the owner was incredibly nasty to my friend and me while we were browsing there. We were on a stroll through downtown Ludington on vacation when we happened upon her shop. We were admiring all of the work and daydreaming nearby the owner and another customer in the back of the shop when all of the sudden the owner noticed my friend taking a picture with her phone of the name of an artist printed on a card next to their work. The owner said, “Oh, no, we don’t allow pictures,” which is a completely normal rule to have in a gallery, and one of course in which my friend would understand and comply. My friend apologized, adding, “I’m sorry, I just wanted to remember the name of the artist.”

“Any questions you have, you can ask me,” said the owner bluntly.

“Does [the artist] have a business card or anything?” asked my friend.

“No,” the owner said. “Why do you want the name of the artist?” She sounded agitated and suspicious.

“I like his work …” my friend said. “So I can …”

“So you can follow them?” the owner asked, suspiciously. “That’s my husband. Any questions you have, you can ask me.”

“But how will I remember his name?” asked my friend. “I don’t have any questions at the moment …”

"If you want to see the art, you can come back and visit," said the owner. And it continued. The way that she spoke to my friend was increasingly erratic, as if my friend were on a mission to either steal the artist’s ideas or just—I don’t know, flirt with her husband somehow? It was completely absurd and out of proportion with the situation. We are from out of town and—as my friend explained to me when we left, shocked—my friend actually does remember the work she likes and the business cards of artists at craft shows, etc. and often follows them as a fan and buys their pieces later to give to friends for housewarming parties, etc. One would expect, in this situation, that when a customer asked for information to follow an artist, that the owner would be happy to share more information and help garner the artist a sale or another fan. Artists need support! For the record, neither my friend nor I are fine artists of any kind. We don’t make fine art and we don’t sell it. We were literally just customers interested in the art in this gallery and my friend wanted to remember the name of an artist that she liked.

In the end, the owner essentially ran us out of the store, saying in a passive-aggressive voice, “HAVE A NICE DAY.” It was as if we were up to something sinister while we were in there. She gave us no time to react to our shock when she berated my friend in such a suspicious manner. Absolutely terrible customer service. It’s a shame and a complete disservice to all the artists who sell...

The main potter at this gallery does lovely work, we use to go every year and almost always purchase something (there was also lovely woodwook from reclaimed barn wood we enjoyed there that we bought some of) but we had one too many run ins with a person who identified themselves as the wife of the main potter there. My spouse and I are very polite people, we've never had an issue in any other gallery we've ever gone to, and my otherwise quiet, reticent spouse generally loves talking to the staff at pottery galleries as a potter himself and a huge pottery enthusiast who loves collecting the work of other potters. This individual has been shockingly rude to us multiple times and the last time was openly insulting, practically accusing my spouse of trying to steal her husband's ideas after she invited us to ask questions - she obviously expected us to have a million and acted like she was doing us a favor so my kind spouse came up with one even though he had none - and she pounced on his question as if he was trying to then steal trade secrets. By the way, go talk to any other potter and they love to talk technique and if there happens to be something that's a proprietary technique or glaze they'll find a polite way to say they can't share, but no one was asking for the trade secrets in this case, it was a bizarre reaction to a question he asked to humor her grand self-importance because he's nice like that. It's really, really hard to offend my spouse but she finally did it - we'll never go back. The main potter's work is lovely and the one time we went and only he was in the shop we had a markedly delightful time talking to him, but as you'll see in other reviews here, she's usually the one tending the shop and she's consistently as unpleasant...

Nathan and Amanda are phenomenal artists that have created a beautiful place to gather, display and share their meaningful and incredibly unique pieces with other artists and those in their community near and far. They are amazingly talented in creating each piece with the utmost patience and perfection. The intricate details of their work is astonishing! I can’t wait to have their pottery in my home for many, many years to come. Working with them to select the perfect display to have shipped to my door stop has been top notch. I highly recommend The Red Door Gallery, Nathan and Amanda, and the other contributing artists they feature. 5 stars isn’t enough! Props to you...