Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Wayne Abba, a member of the committee working to preserve the Alberta sawmill and pumphouse, and Jaqueline Rowlison, who is opening the Alberta Artisan House in the pump house, stand in the pump house Wednesday. They are standing in a room that will house displays about Henry Ford’s operations. Behind Rowlison is the room that will house the shop, which opens June 23.

ALBERTA — Jacqueline Rowlison and her boyfriend were wandering around the campus of Alberta last fall when they spotted the former pump house building.

Little did she know, Michigan Technological University was thinking along the same lines.

“We knew we wanted an artist in residence out here, trying to turn the place around and dress the place up,” said John Carroll, facility coordinator at the Ford Forest Center at Alberta. Tech has owned the site of Henry Ford’s planned community and lumberyard since Ford donated it to Tech 60 years ago.

On June 23, Rowlison, the K-12 art teacher for L’Anse Public Schools, will hold a grand opening for the Alberta Artisan House inside the pump house building.

Located in Alberta’s former welcome center, the shop will have art, homemade goods, ceramics, jewelry, home decor and more. Rowlison makes ceramics and jewelry, while some art will come from other local artists and Rowlison’s students.

After spending so much time cultivating her students’ work, Rowlison is excited about taking the time for her own. The students are also revved up. Over the past couple weeks, they’ve been framing their works and getting them prepped and ready for the pumphouse.

“They’re so happy for this opportunity,” she said. “They’re just completely floored because they’ve never had anything like this. I have a sixth grader who’s selling soap, so she’s using that money to buy an iPad so she can do digital media stuff on her iPad.”

The rest of the pump house will include interim exhibits and interpretive displays from the adjacent sawmill, while a committee organized under the Baraga County Historical Society is working to renovate and preserve the buildings.

The pump could provide 500 gallons of water a minute, used to fill the log pond and for firefighting, said committee member Wayne Abba.

“The pumps were replaced with electric motors, but originally there were Ford V-8s on there,” he said. “We’ve got a line on one of those. We’re trying to break it loose from the state so we can put it back on exhibit.”

Artifiacts from the museum will be on display in a case. Signs from the sawmill will be arrayed around the edges of the room.

“They’re just the right height for people to be able to read something and look out at the mill,” he said.

This has been a “life-changing experience” for Rowlison, who decided to move up north last year after coming up for several summer visits.

She found the job in L’Anse, and then a place to rent at Alberta. After being approached by Tech, Rowlison put a proposal together, which Tech accepted.

“Everything worked out to a tee, and I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “It’s just a huge blessing.”

The shop will be seasonal for now, Rowlison said. At some point, she also hopes to offer community art classes.

In the future, Rowlison hopes to be able to use the pump house basement as a ceramics studio, and possibly teach pottery classes.

Wednesday, workers from Michigan Technological University were helping to refurbish the building, adding new siding.

Rowlison said she’s loved seeing people’s enthusiasm for the shop reopening.

“That’s what I love, is just hearing the stories from the community when they respond to me wanting to turn this into something,” she said. “They always have something to say, they know something that happened here, they have a story to go along with it, and I love that. Being someone new, it’s a great perspective of the deep, rich history of the people here.”