Like a lot of artists, Beck Baumann didn’t really think the art she turned to as a hobby could be the makings of a business.
The sketches she made in her lap while taking calls for her remote tech-support job at a software firm and the occasional beaded or sequined craft made in her free time were the extent of her artistic endeavors. But after she lost that job in the economic crisis of 2008, Baumann, a stay-at-home mom, decided to take advantage of a chance at a true artistic second act. Now, she has several exhibits and sales of her work under her belt, including her current show, Fun & Games, at the Oats Park Arts Center in Fallon, as well as a following of customers and a head full of ideas for future pieces.
Baumann went back to school in her 30s and earned a degree in graphic communications at Truckee Meadows Community College. “I was like, ‘I’ve denied that part of myself for so long,’” she said. “Whenever I would take an art class, it was always the happiest I’d ever been.”
Looking to earn a predictable income, she went into commercial illustration and graphic design work, and did a bit of cartooning, but she quickly discovered that she didn’t have much creative say over client-driven work. Meanwhile, she had amassed a stockpile of textiles, beads and sequins, and their resulting artwork was overflowing her closets.
“I thought, ‘I’ve got to get back to making things with my hands,’” she said, explaining that she had continued making art for herself with tiny seed beads and sequins as a casual hobby. So much so, in fact, that it was move-it-or-lose-it time.
“It just brought me joy,” she said. “But my husband finally looked at me and said, ‘Honey, you need to find a way to get rid of this artwork. I hate to tell you, but we can’t just keep housing your art collection.’”
She joined Sierra Arts Foundation’s roster of arts vendors at the 2023 Brew HaHa event and learned, much to her surprise, that people loved her whimsical pieces as much as she enjoyed sharing and talking to people about them. Without expecting to, she had launched her own business as an artist making sculptural sequined art. Her first solo exhibition, All That Glitters, opened in August 2024 at Reno City Hall, and in February of this year, she opened Fun & Games, a collection of 47 pieces that will be on display through May.
Early into the effort, she put aside the intricate seed-bead work in favor of sequins, which are larger and easier to work with, to complete more projects. “I knew that was the key to improving myself,” she said. “And I don’t know—I just love sequins. I don’t love to wear them, but I do love to look at them.”
Baumann’s basement studio in her south Reno home is a sparkling rainbow. One wall is lined with every imaginable color of sequins on 100-yard spools, beside another wall of shelving lined with sequin-studded fabrics, all organized by color. Unlike other textile artists, whose work often is meant for utility, Baumann’s vibrant sculptures are things of beauty, conveying themes of whimsy and nostalgia, often focusing on childhood and antiquated technology. Take, for example, the pieces found in her studio: a sequin-coated, Seymour-like potted plant munching lollipops; her grandma’s TV set; a black-sequined pay phone; and a banana duct-taped to a wall.
Other prominent images include body parts—tongues, eyes, brains—and food of all sorts. Candies, cookies, cakes, fruits and even salads pop up in many of her pieces. Her latest effort to create small, affordable art is a series of palm-sized, pink-sequined tongues, onto which gummy bears, lollipops, gumdrops and even pizza slices have been laid. These, as well as a cacophony of candy-covered creatures, cartoonish eyeball pieces and a whole host of other works inspired by childhood memories of games and food, movies, toys and fun constitute the Fun & Games exhibit.
Baumann insists she doesn’t sew; a self-taught artist, she assembles pieces out of painted wood backings, Styrofoam (much of which she has gathered “dumpster diving”), fabric, sequins and tiny pins. Many of her materials are upcycled cast-offs. The resulting fascinating colors and textures are almost impossible to resist touching—a temptation Baumann now allows.
“When I first started making my work and displaying it, I really didn’t want people touching it,” she said. “Because if your hands are greasy, you can leave residue on the sequins. I would even put out ‘Do Not Touch’ signs. But when I started working with sequin fringe, I realized that I was asking the impossible, because when I had a piece hanging up that was fringe, they had to touch it. People would beg me. … So, I reached this turning point where I was like, ‘You know what? Touch it.’”
Baumann enjoys the fact that fine art and craft are increasingly merging, incorporating unusual materials like sequins or ropes and nets, and becoming more accessible. Art doesn’t have to neatly fit inside one box anymore. Besides, she’d probably just cover the box in sequins and hang it on the wall, anyway.
Beck Baumann’s solo exhibition Fun & Games is on display at the Oats Park Art Center, 151 E. Park St., in Fallon, through Monday, May 5, with a reception scheduled for 5 p.m., Saturday, May 3. The gallery is open Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or by appointment. To book a visit, call 775-423-1440. Baumann will also have a booth at the Punk Rock Flea Market at the Futsol Sports Arena, at 1580 Hymer Ave., in Sparks, on Saturday, April 12. Learn more at www.beckbaumann.com.
This article was originally produced by Double Scoop, Nevada’s source for visual arts news.