Dennis Swartzlander - His New Career

It was sure great to have former member and president, Dennis Swartzlander visit our club to speak to us about a hobby of his which has since turned into a business! He took a few moments before doing that to tell us that his parents bought a Quick-Print franchise in Adrian while still living in Montclova in 1972. Two years later the family moved to Adrian where Dennis completed his last two years of high school where he signed up to take a ceramics class that he “really connected with” at the time. Dennis said that he was grateful to have by a ceramics a teacher who really cared about his students. This teacher also got Dennis Interested in racketball as well. Yet another influence on Dennis in high school, he said, was Tom Thiery who also encouraged him to pursue ceramics.

 

Dennis said he was very proud of his parents and the printing business they established in Adrian which Dennis and his wife, Candy, we also involved in. Candy, unfortunately passed away of cancer twenty years ago, he said. Dennis married his present wife, Kay, in 1997 who teaches 7^th and 8^th grade Science. Dennis took formal pottery classes two years later. In 2000, Dennis started auditing ceramic classes at Siena Heights University. While “frightening” at first, Dennis was really glad he did this.

 

In 2008-09, he said, came the economic downturn and had much to do with the printing industry virtually disappearing, he said. He was hurt to have to lay people off from the business he now ran – Legacy Printing. He was beginning to actually “get sick” of the business. It was at the same time that Siena considered offering a ceramics class for adults that appealed to Dennis which he still co-teaches with Cody Sieler.

 

In 2012, he said, that he and Kay seriously discussed closing their printing business which his father had considered doings years before that due to the need for computerization.  It was officially closed this past spring and he credits Kay without whose help it would have been impossible to do, he said.

Recently, he said, the Art Department at Siena underwent a realignment due to the unfortunate death of a staff member there and was approached to teach a beginning Wheel Throwing and Advanced Wheel Throwing classes which he accepted. He also co-teaches a beginner Ceramics Class with Cody as well.

Dennis has also been exhibiting his creations at various art fairs across the region. They include, Ann Arbor for the past three years, Maple & Main in Toledo, Ella Sharp Park in Jackson, Valley Days in Perrysburg, Woodland Art Fair in Lexington Kentucky, and the art fair in New Buffalo Michigan. He currently sells his work at the Toledo Botanical Gardens in Toledo and the South Bend Gallery of Art in Indiana. His art, he said, consisted of functional art (cream and sugar bowls, coffee mugs, plates, etc.) as well as “sculptural” pieces (bottle shapes).

 

Dennis is preparing to submit an application to get into the original Ann Arbor Art Show next year and he has been working hard to produce and inventory pieces at the studio on the SHU campus now that students have left for the holiday break. Best of luck, good friend, come back again soon!