People of Impact in Door County -- Stephanie Trenchard and Jeremy Popelka The Launch

Jeremy Popelka and Stephanie Trenchard have operated the Popelka Trenchard Fine Art Gallery on 2nd Avenue in Sturgeon Bay for 20 years. They do glass blowing, casting glass in sand molds, sculpture and painting. They have been invited to teach at the Corning Glass Museum and studio in Corning, NY and the have conducted glass making workshops in Thailand.

Now they are expanding in Sturgeon Bay by leasing a building just across Nebraska Street from their existing studio to create Project Launch: Artspace. It will offer rental space to fine artists, commercial artists, photographers and performance groups and become a part of the Steel Bridge Creative District, along with the Lockwood Gallery, the Holiday Music Motel and probably the Miller Art Museum.



“It will sort of be an incubator for the arts,” said Jeremy who plans to set up his own studio there for sculpture that doesn’t involve hot glass. Four people have already signed up to rent space.

“We are luxuriating in the space,’ he added. “It is rare to find any open warehouse space like this in Sturgeon Bay.” It could also serve as a venue for pop-up art shows, said Stephanie, who thinks it will provide substance for a creative district and encourage creative people to collaborate.

“We are not going to occupy the big space, although artists are welcome to rent it for short-term projects,” she said.

The building, probably from the 1930s, was probably built by the Army Corps of Engineers  and became part of the Peterson Builders shipbuilding complex and used for research and then storage.  During the 65 years of its existence, Peterson built about 300 boats and ships, mostly modest sized such as sub chasers, minesweepers, patrol boats for the U.S. Navy and other navies around the world, fishing boats, ferries and an aluminum sailboat for the Timken family, famed for their company’s ballbearings.

It was like the 4th of July every couple of months when a Navy boat was launched, said Jeremy, but people are kind of shocked when you talk about the Navy in Sturgeon Bay.

“They had a big old computer here with 250 phone lines.”