40 Years of Beautiful Creations from Gloria Hardiman
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Forty years ago this summer, the old Nippert store at the intersection of County F and Maple Grove Road was reborn as Gloria Hardiman’s Maple Grove Gallery. Today the high-front building dating to 1916 has become one of Door County’s iconic landmarks – the result of a long journey that began in 1967 when Gloria and her husband moved to Urbana, Illinois, and she bought her first loom. Gloria knew nothing about weaving, except that she loved the hand-woven work she had seen.
“When I was making potholders as a child, I had no idea I’d end up as a weaver,” she says. “I have been incredibly fortunate. Not only was there a wonderful group of weavers in Urbana – many of them recent graduates of Cranbrook Academy who taught and displayed their work – but an experienced weaver lived right next door to us. It was just fortuitous to have those people to help me learn.” In the late 1960s, the Hardimans began looking for a suitable location for a summer home with space for a shop.
“We traveled all around Lake Michigan,” Gloria says, “without finding anything we liked that was affordable. Door County was our last stop. Ed Shaffer of Wilson-Shaffer Realtors took us to look at several properties. No luck. As we were ready to leave, he said, ‘Well, I’m sure the old Nippert Store isn’t anything you’d be interested in, but you might drive by on your way out of town.’ We saw the building, and it was perfect! It was just before the publication of that wonderful article about Door County in National Geographic that started the big boom in tourism, and the price was right.”
The old store’s possibilities fit perfectly into the Hardimans’ dream, but it needed lots of work. For one thing, there was no indoor plumbing. A bathroom was a priority for the family that by then included four children, the youngest still in diapers. It took five years to turn the old “BS Store” – so called because old men in the neighborhood had loved to sit around the potbelly stove and tell tall tales – into space that was livable. In 1973, the family arrived for the first of 40 summers, and Gloria’s gallery opened its doors.
The old BS Store in its days as the home of Gloria Hardiman’s Maple Grove Gallery in 2013. The building was home to a grocery store until 1968. Photo by Len Villano.
The Hardimans’ love and respect for the past are reflected in their restoration of the old building that still bears the unmistakable look and simplicity of a country store. Displays of antique toys and country furniture are a nod to the past. An old trunk and an antique pram overflow with riotous color.
Visitors who once gathered around the old wood stove now gather around Gloria’s loom to watch her weave the colorful fabrics for which she is known. As she demonstrates, she is happy to answer questions about anything from loom setup to design. The huge, many-paned front windows are perfect for displaying her gorgeous work – fashionable creations that are artful compositions of color, texture and pattern.
“The mannequins that model the clothing I create came from the antique shop at Koepsel’s Farm Market,” Gloria says. “Mr. Koepsel loved to tease. When it was time to pack up the displayed garments and close the gallery in the fall, he always said, ‘You gotta do something about those naked ladies in the windows!’”
The gallery is aglow with shelves and cases of Gloria’s work – clothing, scarves, hats, throws, pillows. Gloria views weaving as a creative process comprised of many small steps. Though each product is unique, the design elements remain constant: color, value, visual pattern, texture and compositional balance. Although it’s hard to imagine not finding a one-of-a-kind item one loves in the shop, she also takes orders for custom designs.
Yarn of every possible type and hue is stored in open containers through the gallery. “I like to be able to see it as I walk by,” Gloria says. “Often I see a color and am inspired to create something with it. I never know where an idea will come from. One of my favorite pieces was based on the colors in fungi I saw on a log.”
Photo by Len Villano.
Gloria prefers to work with natural fibers like mohair and wool, but also notes how many other yarns – silk, bamboo and tencel (made from wood pulp) – are available, along with all kinds of ribbons made specifically for weaving. Her creations are luxurious, blazing with harmonious hues and quirky little unexpected touches.
Until 1995, the family returned to Urbana after Labor Day. Since then, the shop is open through October, and the Hardimans are full-time residents of Door County. Not, however, in the gallery building. Its old-time charm and lovely big windows make it expensive to keep warm, now that electric heat has replaced the wood stoves. Looms in both locations allow Gloria to work year-round.
Her creations are treasured by purchasers. A fan letter, framed in the gallery, was written by a woman who purchased a red plaid hat more than 15 years ago: “I’ve worn it almost every winter day since,” she wrote, “and it never fails to attract smiles and comments. I have never once worn it without someone saying, ‘great hat.’ I put it on when I feel lonely and set out upon some meaningless errand in full confidence that someone will stop and talk to me, if only to comment on the hat. Just the other day, I was waiting at the curb, mid-block, intending to jaywalk across the one-way street as soon as the light at the corner turned red and halted traffic. A delivery van braked in front of me, and the driver gestured for me to cross. When I reached the other side, his window was down and he yelled, ‘I just had to get a better look at that hat!’”
How wonderful to create things that bring such joy to the world!
