Suttons Bay Township resident Jim DeWildt is just one of many examples that you never really know who is relaxing in the woods somewhere in Leelanau County.
He has an art gallery and studio tucked in the hills and woods of East Fort Road that features a large collection of art.
DeWildt, 74, graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design with honors in 1971. He majored in illustration and advertising.
DeWildt served two years in the U.S. Army as an illustrator for the Pentagon and worked with a very select group of designers, illustrators and writers from all around the United States.
“Could have worked in any large city I wanted to, but I was drafted out of school and I was fortunate enough to work as an illustrator or the Pentagon for two years.”
This was during the Vietnam War.
The writing department staff were graduates of Yale and Harvard, and the art department had four illustrators and four designers.
“They could pick anybody they wanted across the country. I was just one of those fortunate ones,” DeWildt said. “We were trying to pull out of there. But at that time, they were still sending the military over … but not at the capacity that they had been. But at the same time, you know, you just hate thinking that, ‘Damn, I go all the way through college, get drafted just to be sent over to Vietnam. It’s not great. It was a pretty good experience ... I was just like anybody else back then. We weren’t for the war, so called, as it wasn’t called a war.”
DeWildt continued, “We still question, our generation still questions, why we were there. I was fortunate enough to work for a unit where we painted pictures.”
When DeWildt got out of the Army, he wasn’t quite ready for serious work.
He took off a little time and found a job in Portage, Michigan for ‘Eddy Graphic Design’ as a graphic designer and illustrator. Their main clients were Kellogg Cereals and UpJohn Pharmaceuticals (Pfizer) and were laid off six months later due to the recession.
“It wasn’t a very creative studio, but it was a start,” he said. “I was gone and it’s like, okay, now what?”
DeWildt ended up traveling west to Portland, Oregon.
Portland reminded them of northern Michigan, the only difference was there weren’t any studios up here and there were over a 1,000 in Portland.
In 1974, he moved to the Traverse City area and began freelancing.
Jim and his wife, Manie, along with their four children moved to Traverse City where they have made it their home for over 40 years.
From 1975 to 1979 he worked as a graphic designer, production artist and illustrator for Markey/ Hutson/ Lerew & Assoc. Ad Agency.
Eventually in 1979, he became self-employed and worked for several large companies.
For more than 20 years he worked at Crownline Boats Creative Studio where he was responsible for all their national ads, art direction of product, catalogs and other marketing materials.
“They were a young power boat company when I started doing their creative work and through our creative branding, Crownline became the fifth largest boat company nationally,” he said. “I designed their logo, designed all their national ads, point of purchase materials. I did that for over 20 years as a separate, not as an employee, as their agency of record.”
Back in 2008, when you couldn’t give away art, DeWildt relied on his home remodeling and building expertise on the side. He built two homes from the ground up and remodeled about five or so to get through the recession.
Aside from commercial jobs, DeWildt has also participated in many fine arts shows and exhibits throughout the years.
His main medium has been watercolor but is also proficient in oils, pencils, pen & ink, and scratchboard, most notably.
Back in the mid-eighties, DeWildt taught part time at Northwestern Michigan College. There he taught commercial illustration and design.
Dreaming about having their own art studio, Jim and Manie opened “Jim DeWildt Art Studio” several years ago near Suttons Bay.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to have my own gallery and the dream finally came true, 45 years later.
Other notable clients for DeWildt include Mackinac Island Press; University of Michigan Press, among others.
To date, DeWildt illustrated, designed and did the electronic production of six Children’s Books: “Hidden Cherries”; “Hidden Pumpkins”; “Hidden Dinosaurs”; “Goodnight Traverse City”; “Goodnight Naples,”; “Goodnight Santa” and “Goodnight Me.’
He has more on the way that will be announced at a later date.
“In fact, a lot of the work that I did commercially wasn’t local. Most of it was out of state,” he said. “Your connections that you’re making along the way … You don’t realize until all of a sudden one day, you may get a call.”
Jim and Manie raised four kids from previous marriages: Megan, Amy, Beth,and Charlie.
Jim and Manie have been married for 34 years.
“To be able to continue to be creative and paint and people still interested in what I do that’s a plus. I never really hit it like Norman Rockwell or anything. But still, to be able to make a living and support a family doing what I’ve done for these years. I mean, my goodness. Who couldn’t ask for anything more?”
DeWildt loves painting, illustrating, talking to people, and playing music.
