Today we’d like to introduce you to Wally Petersen.
Hi Wally, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
As a kid, I always had a fascination with Africa. I’d regularly flip through my grandpa’s issues of National Geographic and avidly watch Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” on TV every Sunday night. As an adult, working as a PR pro for a global ad agency, I was captivated by a pop-up African art exhibition two colleagues had set up in our employee break area in the late 1990s. It sprang up the day after we’d all received our annual holiday bonus, and I ended up leaving with 6-7 original, framed paintings. From there, our personal collection continued to grow.
Fast forward a few years. I left one ad agency for another and during the transition, my husband Mike Tischleder and I tossed around the idea of opening our own permanent African art gallery in the charming lakeside resort town of Saugatuck, Michigan — which is at the heart of what is now known as the “Art Coast” due to an artistic legacy dating back 120+ years.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
When we first opened our doors on May 1, 2004, there were plenty of skeptics wondering why we’d open an African art gallery in that location. But as time passed, and more visitors came in and sales started to mount, it became evident our gamble of filling a unique niche in the local art market was starting to pay off. In 2007, we bought and renovated the building across the street, more than quadrupling our display areas, complete with a basement we started to fill with all kinds of African treasures.
Our very first art sourcing trip was to Tanzania in early 2004. Since that time we have been on the hunt for beautiful and unique art and crafts in 16+ African countries — from Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda in the east, to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in the south, to Ghana, Senegal and Cote d’ Ivoire in the west, to Morocco in the north. Since we also love to experience other cultures outside of Africa, we’ve been known to import art we’ve picked up in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, India and Bali.
Getting our finds back to America has always been a challenge. From making extremely difficult choices (we love it all) to consolidating our purchases with a shipping agent in one location (usually South Africa or Zimbabwe), getting it fumigated and packaged properly, then shipped by sea to either the Ports of New York or Atlanta where it needs to clear US Customs before being loaded onto a semi headed to Michigan, the process can take up to 3 months. The tariff situation in the US this past year has been particularly challenging as we have had to pay charges we’d not had to pay before. Staffing shortages at the ports led to two separate shipments being held for inspection for nearly two months, with us being charged large daily storage fees that also rocked our small business. But we still carry on, with Rwanda (a first for us!), Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa all places we will visit in 2026.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Back in 2004, our primary focus was on original paintings from Africa, with a few crafts placed around the gallery to add to the African vibe. We have since expanded to include glorious Shona stone sculptures and jacaranda wood carvings from Zimbabwe, exquisitely beaded jewelry from South Africa and Kenya, functional Olivewood carvings from Tunisia, soapstone figurines from the Kisii region in Kenya, and masks and other intricately carved artifacts primarily from West Africa and wherever we happen to visit.
Along the way, we’ve met and often become friends with hundreds of hugely creative artists and artisans from around the continent They in turn express appreciation for us helping to support them and their families by bringing their works of art to a much larger audience both stateside and on the web.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Find something you’re passionate about, and stick to it. Yes, there will be always be people who doubt what you’re about, but there will be more who support you along the way. We’re really proud of the fact Trip Advisor has ranked Amazwi among the top “things to do” in Saugatuck for well over a decade. The gallery has helped us forge some really tight relationships along our supply chain and create some equally enthusiastic African art collectors from all over the world.
A side note about settling upon a name for your business. It has to reflect who you are and what you’re about. Amazwi is the Zulu word for “voices” and aligns with our mission to give voice to the very talented artists living and working in today’s Africa. To find the name, we bought a Swahili and a Zulu dictionary and started looking at words beginning with “A” that would be meaningful and relate to our business and not registered to someone else. Why the focus on “A” words? Amazwi now is usually the first entry in any alphabetized listing of the dozens of wonderful art galleries and studios found here in the Art Coast, which encompasses Saugatuck as well as our sister cities of the ever vibrant Douglas, Fennville and the surrounding Saugatuck Township.
Pricing:
- Varies widely, from smaller craft items costing a few dollars to fine art pieces selling for a few hundred or a few thousand dollars.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amazwi.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amazwi_gallery/
- Facebook: @AmazwiGallery
