Finding a niche is an artist’s dream, and Lindsay Wanner found hers almost by accident.
Though she remembers drawing pictures as a child, it wasn’t until a few years ago that the artist, now 34, picked up her pencil to start sketching as an adult.
“My dad was very good at drawing, and I loved doing it when I was little. But when I started drawing again, people at work really began to notice. They encouraged me, and started to ask me to make drawings and paintings for them,” said Wanner, who was working in a customer service position, at the time.
Since then, the company where she worked downsized, and fortunately for Wanner, she was actually happy about it.
“If it had been before I began creating my art, it would have been very different. It could have been bad, but as it turned out, I was glad to have the extra time to dedicate to my art work,” she said.
Her first project that led to the large, 3-D pieces she now creates – mostly within the realm of music and sports – started with an idea of using recycled baseball equipment to create an American flag.
Her husband, Eric, who works in construction, helped her create the stars and stripes using old baseball bats and baseballs. Then she painted them.
“When we finished, we posted it online, and it sold,” Wanner said. “We weren’t sure how it would go over, but the flags became very popular.”
So far, she’s sold about 30 of them (some referring to or utilizing equipment from other sports), including one she sold to Tory Orlando (of Tony Orlando and Dawn fame) in Branson.
Looking for a different kind of inspiration, Wanner kept going back (in her mind) to vinyl records. She ended up developing a unique, 3-D process incorporating hand-cut, painted vinyl records.
Her first music-related wall piece was about two years ago, when she created a Prince original, using CDs.
“I loved it – and a lot of people told me how they liked it, too, but I can definitely see the progression of my work since then,” Wanner said. “At that time, I did basically, a floating head, which was great, but now I incorporate more of the artist or sport star and things that might relate to them.”
That might mean Elvis playing his acoustic guitar, Jimi Hendrix on the electric guitar, Whitney Houston or Mick Jagger with a microphone, or Ozzie Smith in full uniform and holding a baseball bat.
For the sports pieces, instead of CDs or vinyl records, she turns to skateboards, baseball gloves or bases to create the 3-D aspect – or maybe punching bags for the Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor “Money Fight.”
After she discovered there was an interest in the flags and her subsequent music and sports work, she began working with local charities, too.
She began to purchase discarded sports equipment from local teams, and then utilized them for art. She has donated several pieces of her work for various charitable organizations’ fundraising efforts like Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up, Budweiser Guns ‘N Hoses, The BackStoppers, and the Saint Louis Zoo’s Zoofari.
“The thing is, if I donated money, there would only be so much I could give, and the artwork raises a lot more money for the organization, which I like,” Wanner said.
And when the pieces are signed, like a baseball flag, autographed by the Cardinals team, or the Ozzie Smith piece, signed by the player himself, the funds raised for the organizations goes up even more.
In general, she makes one-of-one, 2- by 3-foot, 3-D originals for one price, and later, makes canvas prints available, as well, at a very affordable price. Some original pieces are created as 2-foot squares.
“The momentum has really picked up – I have a big following online,” Wanner said. “I make pieces by request – and I come up with ideas for many of them on my own.”
Wanner has also created pet portrait and memorials on acrylic, and said it is gratifying to be able to help people through a special and difficult time.
Now that Wanner is a full-time artist, her husband closed in the carport at their home to create a studio space where she finds herself spending hours and hours each day.
“I would love to someday have my own gallery space,” she said. “That’s my goal.”
She is scheduled for a solo exhibit, “Records on the Wall: A Solo Art Exhibition by Lindsay Wanner” on Oct. 5 at the Koken Art Factory in St. Louis.
To find out more about Wanner’s work, visit lindsaywanner.com.
