The Oldest Art Form, Still An Attraction

At the corner of North Center Street and West Main resides, Dancing Eye gallery, an eclectic fixture of downtown Northville, which has been in the community since 1995.  

"People walk in here and say 'this is the tile store,'" said owner, Theresa Schierloh.

Dancing Eye is a store where you can find ceramic tile art, functionally used for kitchen, fireplace or bathroom modeling, wall arrangement or wall hangings. They are often used as gift-giving pieces and they also sell wearable art like handmade jewelry and clothing items.

But you can't call it just a store. For the owner it has always been a gallery. Dancing Eye represents over 50 tile artists and total of 200 artists making different commemorative type object that bring instant uniqueness for the buyer.

"What's unique about ceramic tiles is, it is an art form that has been around for thousands of years and it is still available for purchase," observed Schierloh.

 Fifteen years back, Schierloh was working in a gallery throughout grad school. She completed her masters in Fine Art and was thinking about a job in teaching.

"You either dedicate your whole life to be an artist or make a living some other way. I really liked what I was doing and decided to try on my own, rather than work for someone else," said Schierloh.

People from around town and tourists from Ann Arbor and even as far as Ohio come to shop here.

Although Dancing Eye sources all the items from different artists around Michigan and also makes things at requests, most of the tile work comes from Detroit's Pewabic Pottery.

Schierloh said Pewabic makes commemorative objects that says something and also has historic value.

 In 1903, Pewabic started as studio in Detroit and now is an institution that manufactures and designs ceramic art, ornaments, murals etc. along with departments for teaching, exhibition, internships, gift shops and museum.

Whitney Kenniburg the general manager at Pewabic Pottery commented on its success and long life saying: "There are only three surviving historic pottery makers in United States, and we are one of them. We have very unique products and unique glazes. We do an iridescent glaze that is very labor intensive and hard to find."