What happens when creativity flows across seven different artistic mediums? Meet Sandra Kimzey Wimbish, a versatile artist whose passion transforms spaces large and small through murals, mosaics, and more.
From her home in Clemmons, North Carolina, Sandra has built a creative life that spans public art installations and intimate home pieces. She recently finished projects ranging from a 13-inch garden gazing ball using intricate tile mosaic techniques to community murals in Kansas and Carolina Beach. Whether creating large-scale public art or adding a "splash of something" to a kitchen or bathroom, Sandra's adaptability shines through her work.
"My favorite medium? Whichever one I'm working on right now," she shares with a warmth that reflects her genuine love for the creative process. This flexibility has allowed her to work with diverse clients including homeowners, businesses, churches, and community organizations. Beyond creating art herself, Sandra has dedicated years to teaching both children and adults, helping them discover their own creative voices. "I think one of my passions as an artist is to inspire other people to explore their creativity, whether they think that they aren't creative or whether they think they are," she explains.
What makes Sandra's journey particularly inspiring is her largely self-taught path. While blessed with an encouraging high school art teacher who nurtured her early talents, she's spent her adult life continuously learning through workshops, studying master techniques, and hands-on practice. The result is an artist comfortable with everything from live painting events to collaborative community projects.
Ready to bring some artistic magic into your home or business? Visit sandrawimbush.com to see examples of Sandra's work across different mediums and connect with her about your project ideas – whether you have a specific vision or just know you want something special but aren't sure what.
Sandra Kimzey Wimbish
skwimbish@gmail.com
sandrawimbish.com
Episode Transcript
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Karen Wood.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Well, hello, I am here today with Sandra Kimsey
Wimbush and I'm Karen Wood withthe Good Neighbor Podcast, also
with Advanced Neighbors, and soI'm so excited to have Sandra
here with us today.
She is a local artist and has avery extensive background in
some really neat, neat things,so I'm excited to talk with her
(00:34):
and let her share with you whatshe does.
So welcome, sandra.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Thank you so much.
I'm so glad to be here, Karen.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Awesome, awesome.
So tell me, where in the triaddo you currently live?
I live in Clemens Clemens.
Okay, beautiful, right besideus here in Advance Davie County,
that's right.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, actually our house backs up to Tanglewood
Park, so this morning on my walkI actually walked across the
Yadkin River Bridge.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
So very close.
I love it, I love it.
So tell me again you have anartist, visual artist background
?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yes, Tell me what that is so really my whole adult
life I have, either part-timeor full-time, been pursuing art
and creating on a lot ofdifferent levels, with different
mediums and in differentapplications.
I've used it with with businessand pleasure, and so I've just
(01:36):
combined it.
I've also taught for many years, both children aged students
and adult students children agedstudents and adult students.
I think one of my passions asan artist is to inspire other
people to explore theircreativity, whether they think
that they aren't creative orwhether they think they are just
(01:57):
to encourage them on thatjourney, because I think, you
know, we get so much pleasure ashumans when we express
ourselves and our unique thoughtprocess or vantage point, so I
love helping people get there.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I love that too, because sometimes some of us
don't feel that we are creative,so having that person pull that
out of us is is definitelysomething I think that's very,
very valuable to, as you said,be able to express yourself as
you really are, so I thinkthat's awesome.
What is your favorite medium asfar as with visual arts?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Oh, wow.
My answer usually is whicheverone I'm working on right now.
Okay, you know, there are someartists focus on one or two
mediums and I just happen tolove seven different ones and so
, and combinations of them.
Um, when I'm doing a mural, boy, there's nothing better than a
(02:52):
mural.
I just finished a big tilemosaic project.
That is a land, it's called agazing ball.
It goes in your garden and andyou just create this beautiful
pattern on it and I justfinished that.
So, you know, when I was doingthat, it was like oh, this is my
favorite.
I want to do these all the time.
(03:12):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, so for me, I just have alot of pleasure in the mediums
that I've pursued and tried torefine and improve my skill
through the years.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Okay, so that gazing ball like how large?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
is.
Is that it?
It was on a 12 inch diameterbase of a polystyrene ball and
then you build up from there, soprobably now it's it's a 13
inch or a 13 and a half inchdiameter ball.
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah, okay, okay, gotcha.
And you had mentioned murals,one on a building in Kansas.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I've worked with a community in Kansas, with their
arts council, the last twosummers to create murals for
them and then, just prior tothat, I was in Carolina Beach
for a weekend.
They had a great mural festival, so we were live painting.
They provided four foot byeight foot pieces of plywood
(04:28):
that they had prepped for us andall weekend long we were, we
were there painting.
There were, I think, 18 artistsin various parts of this park
so they're actually hanging up.
If you happen to go to CarolinaBeach this summer, go to the
lake park and they're hanging upthere and they will be
auctioned off in early September.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Oh, OK, so what when they auction that off?
What do those proceeds go to?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Half of them go to the organization that sponsored
the event, which is CarolinaBeach Mural Project dot org.
Carolina Beach mural projectorg, and throughout the town of
Carolina beach there arenumerous murals that they've
funded and selected artists for.
So I just found out about themless than a year ago and and
(05:20):
then, when this mural fest cameup, I submitted to it and it was
just so much fun.
I love live painting and I lovethe interaction with folks that
come up and, you know, talk toyou about your art or ask you
other questions.
So I do those kind of muralsthat are more what I would call
(05:40):
public art and I've doneinstallations.
I lived in Raleigh for a numberof years and I won an art grant
and created a mural mosaiccombination in a park there, in
one of the city parks.
So I do those larger scalemurals.
But I also do something like ifyou want just a little splash
(06:00):
of something in your bathroom oryour kitchen, or if you want a
small mosaic wall hanging foryour screen and porch, all those
kinds of things, or yourbedroom or in a business, if you
want some lettering or somekind of art on some of the walls
, I do any of those.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Okay, I was actually just going to ask about for
businesses.
I would think that would be avery unique thing for business
to just brand themselves or, youknow, have something unique in
there.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yes, absolutely.
I've also worked with churchesseveral times and created things
, both mural style art and thenalso just wall hangings, and
some of those I've even engagedlike during a service and had
(06:52):
some of the congregation workingas well.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, that sounds really really neat and
especially, like I say, themurals, I would have never
thought of that having in a home.
I mean, you just see thosethings and you think buildings
or businesses and something likethat.
So having a unique piece inyour home is very interesting to
me.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Right, yeah, you know , I think, depending on what
your home is laid out like evenif you have an entryway and you
just want something it can be assimple as just um kind of line
work, maybe the outline of ofplants or trees, so something
very simple and that isn't sodetailed.
(07:37):
You know that it's gonna costyou thousands and thousands of
dollars, something that couldjust be several hundred dollars
and and just be a few hours ofwork for me once I get the
design and work with you tofigure out what it is you want.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Got it?
So where?
What is, I guess, yourbackground or how?
Um?
Did you formally study art ordid you just come to this
through a hobby or passion, orso I probably have been doing
art as long as I could hold apencil.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
I really don't remember a time when I wasn't
drawing in my life.
So I loved art from the veryget go and I, growing up in a
small town in Kansas, I had thesame art teacher for junior,
high and high school, okay, andhe was phenomenal.
He was one of these teachersthat not only encouraged his
(08:30):
students but he also said anyidea you have, let's figure out
how to do it.
I love it, you want to explorethis?
Let's go?
Yeah.
And so I came out of hisnurturing you know, just
thinking, oh, I can figure thisout, I can do it.
I didn't study art formerly formy college, but all through my
(08:54):
adult life I definitely havebeen studying and learning and
growing.
You know doing workshops or youknow studying the skill of
masters so that I can learn fromtheir style and their
techniques masters so that I canlearn from their style and
their techniques.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
So a lot of self-taught, and I think that's
admirable because, again, that'swhere you learn your true style
and with all the things thatyou gravitate towards and you
study and learn and hone yourskills on that.
So I think that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
That's awesome, thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So tell me how a business or an individual would
get in touch with you if theywanted to do something very
special, like you said, on themosaic and the murals for either
in their home or their business.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Sure, so there's a couple of ways that people can
get in contact with me.
First of all, I have an artwebsite, ok, and that is just
sandrawimbichcom, okay, and ifthey go there, it has a lot of
different pages, it has a lot ofdifferent examples of different
kinds of art that I do, and ithas there's a page that shows
(10:05):
murals and a page that showsmosaics and other things, and so
then there's also a contactform there.
Okay, they could easily just dothat, just say, hey, I heard
the podcast with Karen and Iwant to, I want to contact, I
want to talk about, I have thisidea or I need something, but I
have no clue what I need.
Okay, you know those kinds ofany anywhere if they already
(10:26):
know what they want.
If they have no clue what theywant, I, you know those kind of
any anywhere if they alreadyknow what they want.
If they have no clue what theywant, I'd love to start a
conversation with them, okay.
Second way they could get aholdof me is just through email.
Okay, and my email is s k andthen my last name, w I m b I s h
at gmailcom, great, I also amon Facebook and Instagram and I
(10:53):
have an art page, sandra WimbishArt, on Facebook and on
Instagram.
It is my full name, sandraKimsey Wimbish, and they can
contact me.
You know, just send me a littleprivate message on any of those
platforms, okay, so?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
great.
What we'll do is we'll be sureand post this contact
information for the listeners sothey can reach out, and then I
definitely encourage them to goto your Facebook and Instagram
pages to see your work and get afeel for your style and what
you can do for them.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yes, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Awesome.
Well, I appreciate you talkingwith me just a little bit and
sharing a little bit about yourbackground and kind of what you
do, and would love to have youback and we can get into detail
on different mediums or evensome upcoming projects and
things like that that you havethat you're working on.
That would be great.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Thank you.
Yeah, that'd be wonderful.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Okay, awesome.
Well, thank you again forsharing with us what you do and
again, I hope that you guys willgo to sandrawimbichcom check
out her work and reach out toher if you've got a project that
you'd like some help with.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Sounds wonderful.
Thank you, karen.
Look forward to hearing fromfolks.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Yes, Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPDavycom.
That's GNPDavycom, or call336-559-3044.
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