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Wendy Deane, business owner and artist in Valley, Nebraska sat down to talk with me today what’s going on at The Gallery.

(This is Wendy)

Becky: Hey Wendy! What are you up to today?

Wendy: Hi Becky! Well, later today I’m going to do a little painting and I’m getting ready for the Valentine’s Day Tea that we are hosting here on Saturday.

Becky: That sounds like fun.

Becky: You know Wendy, you are such an inspiration to me. You are not only an amazing artist, but you are an equally amazing business woman. It’s not often a person has both sides of the equation working for them like you do. I’m assuming the artistic side comes naturally, do you feel like running a business comes just as naturally?

Wendy: For my business it does, since my business is pretty untraditional. I was very aware of the saying “starving artist” when I bought this building. I just kept thinking if the art doesn’t take off what else can I do with the building? I will embrace whatever comes to me and that attitude has allowed me to be very unique with my business, which has brought me customers through some very unconventional avenues.

(one of my personal faves)

(her signature textures)

(another favorite of mine)

Becky: The Gallery offers unique and one of a kind hand painted artwork, created solely by you. When designing a piece do you plan it out first? Do you take into consideration trends or seasons or do you just paint from the heart?

Wendy: All three combined. With custom pieces I have to really get inside my customer’s head, I have them look at past pieces that I have created and ask them what they like and what they don’t like. I look at their home and other art pieces they currently own. Some customers are very specific about what they want, the colors and the design concept; others are more open to my interpretation.
Whenever I am commissioned to do a custom piece I make a 2nd piece based off of the original but with whatever different twist I think it needs and put that here in my gallery. I consider my signature pieces to be my textured pieces, some customers love them and some hate them, rarely is anyone on the fence about them. [laugh]

(her living space which doubles as a party room and bed and breakfast)

Becky: We should mention that The Gallery is so much more than an art gallery. Tell us what else The Gallery has to offer.

Wendy: Well, #1 it’s an art gallery that I use to showcase my own artwork. But because of the amount of space I have and the unique layout of the space I also rent out the main level for parties and fundraisers. It’s also a gathering place for community groups. The main level also serves as my studio and my work space.

The upper level is actually my personal living quarters. I have completely renovated it, keeping many of the original details like exposed brick walls, original wood floors but have modernized it quite a bit. Aside from my own personal living space, I also rent it out for parties, I host cooking classes with Delicious (the pastry shop next door) in my kitchen and it can be rented as a bed and breakfast. In fact, Hollywood stars, Marg Helgenberger and her husband Alan Rosenberg rented this space for 3 days and after staying here, they purchased 5 pieces of my original artwork.

(the most gorgeous master suite on the planet)

(the focus of the show Rezoned - her master bath that was converted from an old freight elevator!)

Becky: Your space never ceases to amaze me. I love the “old” feel with the modern twist. I grew up in an old farm style house in Nebraska and your space really reminds me of home. I absolutely love how you have kept the details from the late 1800’s but yet it doesn’t feel “old”, it just feels welcoming. Maybe I’m just a sentimental sap. I loved my home growing up. I loved every creak in the stairs and the wobbly banister and everything. Of course my home wasn’t near as grand as The Gallery, you really did a lot of work in your space to make it such a commercial success and in 2007, your space was featured on the HGTV network show Rezoned. Tell us about that.

Wendy: Well that really was quite a surprise how that all came about. I am an HGTV junkie and I will stay up late watching whatever they have on. They kept running commercials about registering for their dream house, so one night I went online to register and I started surfing around their site and I came upon the site for the show Rezoned. They had this box saying that you could submit your own space and possibly be on the show. So since I was always taking pictures of my space as we renovated it, I uploaded a couple pictures and hit send, without giving any information on how to contact me. The next day I had an email from them asking me to fill out a questionnaire, but I couldn’t open it, so I just sent another email back with some of the history of my space, but again, never leaving any contact information. Within an hour, my phone was ringing and it was the TV show saying they googled my name and found me in some newspaper article and tracked me down! They told me they were going to be filming in Kansas in four weeks and could they stop by and film here on their way back!

Becky: Did you sleep for the next four weeks?

Wendy: Not much [laugh]

Becky: Okay Wendy, time to change subjects… What do you love to do on your day off?

Wendy: I don’t really have a day off – you know how it is [laugh], but I do make time for fun. Every event I host is a big social event for me. I’m at all of these awesome parties and I get to meet and talk with so many wonderful people. My social life is really amazing right now.

I also love country dancing. I go out dancing at least twice a week. And every Tuesday I spend with my 3 ½ year old granddaughter. Most of the time we spend the day at her house, but sometimes she comes here and she paints right along side of me.

Becky: What is your all time favorite home made food?

Wendy: Desserts win hands down, but really anything my sister makes. I love her Hearty Chicken Vegetable Soup, her tiramisu, anything with sugar in it.

Becky: Ooooh! A girl after my own heart… I’m a sugar junkie too.

Becky: Thanks for letting me come by today Wendy!

Be sure to check out more of Wendy's artwork at her website http://www.wendydeaneartist.com/