Father and Son Craft a Better Relationship

You can see their bowls and paintings every Saturday at the European Market.  But the Husarik family stumbled into art separately.  

Nancy Husarik was first with her photography, paintings, and decorative coasters.  She has been a fixture at the European Market for the past 8 years.

Then, her husband Greg got a hand-me-down lathe from a coworker and started making artistic wooden bowls.  “I realized this is really fun,” Greg said, “but then I was making so much stuff that it started taking over the house.”  So Nancy started selling his bowls along with her own art work.

A few years later, their son Leo took a class in ceramics at Indiana University Northwest.  He liked pottery so much that the house began to fill up again.  So Nancy rounded out the family art booth by making room for Leo’s ceramic bowls and vases.

They may not have planned it, but working together has enriched their father-son relationship.  Nancy affirms the benefit for the family, “It gives them another thing to talk about - the colors, the base of the bowls, the shapes.  We talk about it at the dinner table - what we’re taking, what we need, what’s selling, and what’s not selling.”

With each of them working on a different kind of art, they feel free to critique and to celebrate each other’s work.  Instead of competing on who sells more, they dream together about how to produce better art.  

Continue reading this story at: Lake Michigan Shore.