Southwestern Michigan College graduate John Crothers calls the gallery opening soon in downtown Niles Resurrections Unique Home Furnishings.

Resurrections refers to “bringing some of this furniture back from the dead,” he said.

“The thing with art galleries is you’ve got the middle of the room to fill” where he and girlfriend Vicky Woods, who studied nursing at SMC, display repurposed furniture.

“These aren’t antiques,” he said, “but affordable, well-made stuff people can put in their houses. The most expensive piece of furniture we have may be $200-$250, depending on what it is. We try to get older, made-in-America wood stuff. She does a lot of the painting. My graphic design helps with furniture,” as well as signs he makes and building their web site, www.resurrectionsniles.com.

Crothers, from Vandalia, graduated from SMC in 2012 with an associate degree in graphic design. He interned at Leader Publications.

“Dan Grohs, my photography instructor, is the reason I’m doing photography,” Crothers said. “He’s an ex-Marine and a tough teacher, but I learned a heck of a lot because of it. He doesn’t pull any punches. By the end of his class I had a shot he said I should enter in a contest. It ended up a finalist from 14,000 entries.”

“I’ve been doing outdoor art shows since I graduated, from Detroit to Warsaw and New Buffalo. I did well, but it’s hard to make a living with a weekend kind of thing, so I sold cars at Campbell’s and worked at Home Depot in Three Rivers. But I keep coming back to this kind of stuff because it makes me happiest. Jobs are out there, but it’s very competitive unless you’re in a larger market like Chicago or Grand Rapids.”

Coming home from an art show, he spotted a dilapidated farmhouse near Three Oaks he wanted to photograph, but only after obtaining

owner permission.

“They were shocked I tracked them down,” Crothers said. “She said a guy was out there once taking pictures. She said, ‘Can I help you?’ And he said, ‘No, I’m a photographer,’ like you can trespass because you’re a photographer.”

Framed prints depict Lake Michigan landscapes such as the New Buffalo lifeguard station — especially under menacing skies.

There are nature scenes, such as a hummingbird that took 450 shots, lightning (including in a bottle) and “Life Goes On” with a whitetail fawn beside a buck’s skull, which demanded daunting patience “waiting like a hunter.”

His most striking image he made in 2012 during Sandy, the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history, from the vantage point of tsunami-like surf battering St. Joseph.

Someone will win a framed print of it during the grand opening.

“That one’s pretty popular,” Crothers said, “though the storm was 700 miles away. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to the beach on a nice, warm summer day when there is a multitude of people.”

“Dowagiac has a nice downtown, too, but there wasn’t anything open, so we came to Niles and found this spot” at 227 E. Main St., northwest corner with Third, beneath building owner St. Joseph Valley Masonic Lodge #4.

They began painting June 4 for an opening this weekend or next.

The previous tenant, a salon, relocated to its own building nearby.

He covered hair-washing sinks with boxes suitable to display three-dimensional art, such as sculpture.

Hours will be Wednesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. — later during Wednesday car shows.

Crothers can be contacted at (269) 635-5233 or by e-mail, resurrectionsniles@att.net.