The secret garden once behind Jilly Beans is back, with the addition of a circular sculpted-cement tree trunk with a wrap-around bench in the center. This is the handiwork of The Gifted Garden owner Megan Lashaway.
The Gifted Garden is a local shop that sells the work of local artisans — everything from paintings and sculptures, to macrame, plants, soap, and jewelry. Lashaway gives artists the space to sell their products and gets a 20% commission in return.
Lashaway opened Gifted Garden on May 1, 2021. She said she acquired the space because she loved the secret garden and then decided to use the storefront to feature local crafts.
“I wasn’t really planning on starting a business like this,” Lashaway said. “But I love art and I’m passionate about other people’s passions.”
Elayna Schalk, owner of Mud Lake Metals, is one of The Gifted Garden’s best-sellers according to Lashaway. Schalk makes copper jewelry through a process called electroforming: Schalk uses an electrically-charged solution to remove copper from old objects. She then paints pieces of nature (such as leaves and insects) with conductive paint to attract the copper and dips them in the solution. The finished product is all kinds of copper jewelry in the shapes of nature.
Schalk got her B.F.A. at Kendall College of Art and Design and has been working specifically with electroforming since 2017. Now, she sends batches of her pieces to The Gifted Garden a couple times per month.
“Megan put a post on Facebook looking for weird stuff, and I got tagged in it by a mutual friend because I work with dead bugs and other weird stuff,” Schalk said. “The forming process takes a while so I can’t crank stuff out, but I probably drop things off to Megan a couple times a month. I just took up 14 crystal necklaces and have four more I’m about to drop off.”
In addition to selling artwork, Lashaway has a potters wheel for visitors to come and throw pottery, and she opens the space for various classes. Right now, a yoga instructor teaches class at 5:45 a.m. on Monday mornings in the garden. In September, the shop will host reiki classes, and Lashaway has booked an instructor for adult art classes starting Oct. 14.
The Gifted Garden also hosts art classes for kids. Gail Bohner, the instructor for childrens’ classes, taught arts integration for educators at Eastern Michigan University. She instructed in elementary schools for several decades and was named the 2006 Art Educator of the Year by the Michigan Art Education Association. She now teaches private lessons and sells her artwork at her own studio and at The Gifted Garden.
“I just love teaching art, it’s my passion, especially with kids,” Bohner said. “The world is getting crazy, and I think we need more people that are creative. I want my students to look at the world in a different way.”
When Lashaway is not running The Gifted Garden, she also works on her own expertise: faux bois. French for “false wood,” this is the art of sculpting cement in imitation of nature. Lashaway learned the skill from her mother, whom she apprenticed under since the age of 19. The tree in the secret garden is an example of this artistry, which Lashaway calls “construction work.”
“I really did not have any contacts in the fine art world before I decided to open this store,” Lashaway said. “I go to the hardware store to get my stuff.”
In just a few months since opening, Lashaway has made connections with a large variety of artists. She said her goal is to “fill every square inch of the place” with local craftsmanship. Additionally, Lashaway said she hopes the secret garden can become a local music venue.
“Megan has been really good about promoting me and hyping me,” Schalk said. “I love that she’s bringing a lot of different people together.”