Through hanging dried grapefruit and warm twinkle light decorations strung in the glass storefront, you can see NMU alumnus Maddie Goodman working with a messy bun, glasses on her head and a blowtorch in hand. She creates nature-inspired jewelry in a six-by-three workspace surrounded by various succulents and spidering plants.
Her shop, Madgoodiesstudio, is made up of current NMU students, over five Northern graduates and community members and is nestled on the corner of Third Street and Ohio Street. The artists range from spray-paint to metal-smith to photography. Goodman points to the art pieces around her shop to pen and ink paints, ceramic mugs with feather carvings, watercolor paintings of Marquette’s historic ore dock, hand painted miniature elephant earrings and macramé wall hangings.
Madgoodiesstudio is the outcome of attending NMU’s metal-smith program and following her interest in small businesses. Goodman has always studied other businesses to see how they ran, and would pay attention to their flaws and their achievements.
Originally from a university in Chicago, Goodman found herself visiting her two sisters once a month at NMU.
“I got the feeling that I needed to move up here on a whim. I met my sister’s art professor Dale. He showed me the studio and I was hooked,” Goodman said. “I fell in love with the use of metal and lost-wax casting. That sparked my creative process of working with organic materials like cedar and already-dead bees.”
Goodman’s creativity is sparked “on a daily basis” by the variety of mediums and colors that are in her studio, she said. Most of her work is nature-based. With the support from academic mentors and loved ones, Goodman found she relied most on Accelerate UP, which is a nonprofit organization that offers coaching on starting small businesses.
“I love Marquette because everyone supports small businesses and the arts. All of the artists have helped me in some way, and we all support each other,” Goodman said. “I knew what I wanted but I needed a helping hand to get there. Alex [from Accelerate UP] was my go-to person to bounce ideas off and smoothed over all of the problems that I could’ve had that weren’t there.”
Goodman said the logistics of creating the studio was to find an affordable space, buying or making furniture and ensuring that she had enough inventory to sell.
“Amazingly, it turned out exactly the way I wanted it to be. I knew that people would probably come every once in a while, but in the first few weeks, I didn’t know any of my customers,” Goodman said. “I didn’t expect anything. I hoped it would work but I didn’t want to be let down.”
Goodman cleaned, refurbished and managed to open the shop with a broken wrist. She is now at the point of being able to create and is “better than ever,” she said. The space is divided into her workshop and a gallery for customers to explore.
“I have a workspace where I get all dirty and in front of the counter is this nice, polished space. I typically have chocolate or a good soot on my face,” Goodman said. “I like to spread out, so it’s very interesting trying to keep everything neat and tidy. I dedicate half the space for business and half for making jewelry.”
Goodman said her setup is a nice balance of making work, helping customers, talking to artists and helping them grow.
“My senior show [at NMU] went better than expected and showed that I had a large customer base. This location is like a launch pad where I can gain the support of the community to be based here then grow outside of Marquette,” Goodman said.
With a multitude of business development in Marquette, Goodman supports the
initiatives that local artists have
started.
“There are so many shops popping up and I’m like, ‘Hell yeah.’ There’s a new one popping up down the street, I went to her first day of work and she went to mine,” Goodman said. “I feel like we have always had each other’s backs.”
