Paint The Walls Local

For those who’ve stepped onto the property of Phil and Deanna Winkelmann, there’s plenty to notice right off the bat.

The fire hydrant sprouting from the mulch bed. The teeny tiny gnome-size door carved into the base of a tree. The scale that tells your weight AND your fortune—with an unfortunate degree of accuracy.

But, the couple known for throwing cleverly-themed parties and screening horror movies and roc docs on a sheet draped across their back patio have put even more effort into making the walls of their home the most memorable.

An inspiring trip to the CCAD art show one year ended with Phil becoming the proud owner of four Lara Nguyen pieces, and turned out to be the beginning of a life-long shopping spree—one that he, a stained glass artist himself, felt served a mutual purpose.

“It worked out great, because it provided her with extra money to get her life started, and it filled up several blank spaces for me,” he said.

Since then, the home has filled with the surrealist painted photos of Chas Ray Krider, the sculpture work of Walter Hermann, as well as off-beat pieces by Fritz Kappler, among many other local talents.

Phil counts the works of Sheri Munce—who repurposes old windows as canvasses—as the ones that garner the most conversation.

“This huge old window painting in the dining room … she has to paint backwards on the back side of the glass, and it is really beautiful,” he said.

Phil insists it is only a hobby, but he contributes to the artistic flair in the house as well, designing and creating his own stained glass window configurations that frame the extensive art on the walls. And literally every room has conversation pieces like the one in the living room. Namely, that any guest using a bathroom will either be surrounded by black and white head shots of Tom Waits and Otis Redding, or velvet paintings of Bob Ross and Abe Vigoda.

With local art gathering becoming such a hobby for the pair, the question has to be asked: what happens when you run out of space?

“I think we are avoiding that dilemma,” Phil laughs. “There is so much talent out there—I think we all need to find space.” — Travis Hoewischer

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