Welcome to Somebody’s Gallery!

The Petoskey art haven turns 10

A little over 10 years ago, Julie Stoppel was shopping in Petoskey’s Gaslight District when a friend pointed out a building that she thought would make a good location for an art gallery—something Stoppel had always dreamed of owning and operating.

“What I wanted to do was create a gallery that anyone felt comfortable walking into,” Stoppel says. “I remember being a teenager and walking into a gallery in San Francisco and feeling like I didn’t belong, that I couldn’t come in there. Every person who walks in our door is greeted with, 'Welcome to Somebody’s Gallery!'”

Ten years later Stoppel’s vision has come to full fruition. Somebody’s Gallery has evolved from a single row of paintings when it first opened to a warm and welcoming space packed with bright, colorful artwork from 60 artists, including 12 painters. The artwork on display includes sculptures, paintings, and pottery that range from $175 to $8,000.

The gallery’s name was inspired by her daughter, Petra, who used to point out random galleries to her mother and say, “There’s somebody’s gallery.”

Today, Stoppel and her husband, Joel, along with their daughter, Hannah, run Somebody’s Gallery. Over the years, there have been a few part-time employees as well.

“What I like about this gallery is that I can run it with one person or two people. It’s a nice size,” Stoppel says. “It would be nice if it was a little bigger with more space to try out some different kinds of art, but this is good. It’s not too stressful and it’s easy to be here. Ten years on this block is pretty good.”

A Look Back

Stoppel credits her husband for the “heavy lifting” and doing a lot of things behind the scenes to help the gallery thrive over the years. Aside from building the gallery’s display cases and cabinets, he also has artwork on display.

Prior to being a gallery owner, Stoppel was an art teacher for 20 years at Concord Academy and worked in the shoe business. She has an art history degree from Michigan State University and an art education Master’s from Ohio State. (Some of the gallery’s featured artists include her former art students.)

As the gallery has evolved, so too has Stoppel’s personal artwork.

“My brother-in-law Mark has an early work in his pantry. It’s a pantry that you walk through on your way out the back door,” says Stoppel laughingly. “It’s of an ugly boat—not his boat. It’s an amateurish painting, but he still has it up.”

Stoppel’s artwork hangs inconspicuously on a makeshift wall in the middle of her gallery. Her soft, dream-like pastel landscapes are scenes from around northern Michigan, inspired by state parks and her home on 160 acres near Petoskey. She used to work on black paper, but now uses 600-grit sandpaper—a technique she learned from her husband’s grandfather.

“Joel’s grandfather 100 years ago was working on sandpaper, and I really liked the way it holds on to the pastel better. You can get more layers of color on top of each other,” Stoppel says. “That way when you put orange on top of purple, it doesn’t turn into mud.”

The Family Business

In February, Hannah returned home to start a family and help her mother run the gallery. For the past 12 years, she worked in Kentucky making wigs from human hair for various performers.

“One knot at a time,” Hannah jokes, who graduated from Interlochen and is a singer. “Making things with your hands runs in the family.”

Ultimately, she knew she would return to northern Michigan. She realized how much she loves the area during a trip back home when she saw Lake Michigan for the first time in a long time and started to cry. She says the area has that effect on a lot of people, including some who visit Somebody’s Gallery looking for a northern Michigan memento.

“We get lots of people from all over the place,” Hannah says. “It’s always fun to ask people where they’re visiting from and what brought them up here. But I also love just watching and seeing what art people are drawn to, because everybody is interested in something different.”

Hannah says her mother had always dreamed of owning a gallery.

“She loves where she can meet a bunch of people and talk to them, so this is kind of perfect for her, but her expertise is in art,” Hannah says.

Working with her mom is nothing new for Hannah. In elementary and middle school, she had her mother as an art teacher. “She was a very popular teacher,” Hannah says. “I got a slight status boost from being related to her.”

Hannah also works with her dad at the gallery, who has many different talents. He has taught college drawing classes, is a finish carpenter, an accomplished Telemark skier, and an artist. And while making art runs in the family, Hannah says her parents’ artistic styles are not the same.

“They’re very different,” Hannah tells us. “He has a very eclectic, geometric, sculptural way of looking at the world. He uses a lot of found materials. My mom does pastel landscapes for the most part. She is much more like an in-the-moment kind of an artist, whereas my dad is a little bit more abstract, although most of his pieces contain some kind of organic imagery.”

Ten Years Later

On June 14, Somebody’s Gallery celebrated its 10th anniversary with a party at the gallery. The event featured live music, food prepared by Hannah, and prizes.

“The anniversary party was splendid,” Stoppel says. “It was more than I could’ve hoped for. Customers old and new showed up. Nine of our artists were there, and the food was magnificent.”

Hitting that 10-year mark wasn’t always a given. Throughout the years the gallery has seen some challenges, but has endured thanks to the community.

“We made it through construction on the road in front of the gallery and then the pandemic,” Stoppel says. “When we were closed down during the pandemic, one of my good customers sent me a check for $1,000 out of the blue. Wanted to make sure I could pay my rent.”

Today, things are looking brighter. To wit, the gallery owner says big, bright landscapes are selling extremely well.

“Color is the thing,” Stoppel says. “People are tired of the black, gray, and white color schemes. They are buying bold paintings to brighten up their spaces.”

What does the next decade hold in store for Somebody’s Gallery?

“Well, in the next 10 years I will probably paint more, and Hannah’s going to be the owner,” Stoppel says. “She’ll be in charge anyway. They joke that they’re going to still hear me in the back room yelling, ‘Welcome to Somebody’s Gallery!’”

Find Somebody’s Gallery at 302 E Lake St. in Petoskey. somebodysgallery.com 

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