Explore Clutch Collective in Marietta

For over a decade, Sarah Arnold has been celebrating artists across southeast Ohio and beyond. In March 2014, she launched Clutch MOV, an online magazine that highlighted makers, local arts and culture from the Mid-Ohio Valley — an area that encompasses Ohio’s Washington County and West Virginia’s Wood County. Two years later, Arnold’s mother, Laura Pytlik, opened Wit & Whimzy, an artisan gift boutique, in downtown Marietta.

In 2021, the space next to Pytlik’s shop became available, and the mother-and-daughter duo discovered that the two storefronts had once been connected. Smashing through the drywall, they reunited the two stores, leading to the creation of Clutch Collective, a physical extension of the work Arnold was already doing with Clutch MOV.

Sarah Arnold, owner of Clutch Collective, stands outside her storefront in downtown Marietta. (photo by Michelle Waters)

“We had been focusing on stories from our creative community for years,” she says, “and the shop felt like a new way to do that.”

Today, Clutch Collective showcases work by over 80 artists, with roughly 40 hailing from Ohio and West Virginia. Having formed strong relationships with regional and local makers by way of Clutch MOV, Arnold invited some to share their work when she first opened the doors of her shop. 

Mug by Eva Bennett at Clutch Collective in Marietta (photo by Sarah Arnold)

“I started with the artists that I knew, and I was pleasantly surprised that almost all of them said yes,” Arnold recalls. “It was wonderful just knowing they trusted us with their art, and they believed in the vision.”

A few of the artists highlighted at Clutch Collective include Leslie Norris of Sugar Pop Press, a screen printer from Huntington, West Virginia, whose work has been a part of Clutch Collective since the beginning; Stephanie Orr, a ceramicist who makes plates and mugs that feature plant life from her home garden in Zanesville; and Steve Weber, the former mayor of Lowell, Ohio, who makes beautiful stained glass. 

“It’s been kind of a renaissance for art in downtown Marietta and the community around it,” Arnold says. “We just feel like it’s a great time for artists and for people who want to participate in artistic things.”

152 Front St., Marietta 45750, 740/525-5510, clutchcollectivemov.com

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