Today we’d like to introduce you to Brad & Stacie Hughes.
Hi Brad & Stacie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
As a husband-and-wife team consisting of a skilled woodworker and a visual artist, we love creating together and had been searching for ways to collaborate our skills. A few years ago, Brad made some wooden and vinyl name tags to attach to our Christmas stockings, and I was really blown away at how much I loved the look of white vinyl against the beautiful walnut grain and smooth finish of the wood. It inspired me to explore painting or drawing other designs on wood to stand alone as an art piece. Brad jumped right into this challenge, and we started trying our hand at different materials, designs and techniques. After some trial and error, Hughes Art House was created.
We decided to get our art out into the community to see how it was received. In our first year, we tried our hand at four local fine art shows and really allowed our art and inventory to evolve show-to-show based on our experiences and feedback. What started as a handful of pieces grew in both size and scope into many other offerings, including prints of the original drawings from which our wood pieces are created. Our technical skill continued to improve with each piece created and we feel that the art itself has also journeyed toward more creative and whimsical places in subject matter. We’re currently strategically planning out this year’s endeavors.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
We’ve had many struggles along the way. We really didn’t have any extra money to invest into our art or booth setup, so we created everything ourselves on a shoestring budget, mostly relying on supplies and materials already in our possession. In addition, we’ve experienced a learning curve when it comes to finding shows that are a good fit for our specific work. There is a fantastic wealth of knowledge within the art show community however, and we’ve been very fortunate to have met some amazing fellow artists along the way that have been willing to share their insight with us.
Additionally, we have very busy lives outside of Hughes Art House. Brad owns and operates Evolve Insurance Consultants full-time in Toledo, OH, and I illustrate merchandise art for FOX animation properties through Toddland, including Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, American Dad, and The Great North. We also assist in operating their booths at San Diego and New York Comic Cons, and I freelance art for the Coachella music festival and other entities. Most importantly, we are blessed with a blended family of four children. We expect time management to be a continuing challenge for us.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
One of the things we have consistently heard in regards to our art from art show attendees and fellow artists is that they haven’t seen anything like it. We create hand-drawn, original art on beautiful walnut veneered 3/4″ plywood, personally pattern cut on a router table. These three-dimensional pieces are designed to adorn a wall, hang on one of our handmade stands, or be displayed on a shelf or other surface. Our art can be described as meticulous and highly detailed, full of linework of natural textures, and is often confused as being stamped or carved instead of drawn by hand. Our individual pieces may incorporate humor, pop culture, or an unexpected combination of elements. We hope the public experiences a sense of light-heartedness, an appreciation of beauty that lies in line and form, a delight in whimsical juxtaposition, and sometimes a warm feeling of nostalgia when viewing our work. We love to create and we create what we love. These are some of our favorite things, and we hope they are others as well.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Drawing is one of my first memories, and I’ve been doing it ever since. I was never the kind of little girl to play with baby dolls or read books about horses. I was more likely to daydream about creating Jim Henson characters or becoming a Disney artist. I’ve always been incredibly uncoordinated and, to this day, have zero athletic aptitude. Let’s just say I was not getting picked first for kickball. I started off my life quiet and unsure of myself. However, after years of taking every art class I could and hours upon hours of drawing, I became a ninja with a pencil. It wasn’t just something I could do, but something I could do well. Being an artist has been a major part of my identity since elementary school.
Alternatively, my husband is one of those people that is so inherently capable and naturally athletic that he can successfully do just about anything he tries the very first time. I’m convinced he has been charming and charismatic from day one, and the wealth of adoration he receives from friends and colleagues proves it. He spent his childhood playing a variety of sports, collecting baseball cards, having a bunch of friends, watching G.I. Joe and Star Wars, and listening to radio-edited rap. He has also always had an eye for detail and is a skillful perfectionist by nature. This has carried over to his woodworking today. If he is going to do something, he is going to do it right and to the best of his ability. I have no idea how I landed him.
Pricing:
- Art Prints: $25-$40
- Birds With Arms & Small Pieces: $60-$85
- Mid Size Pieces: $120-$300
- Large Pieces: $600-$1000
- Custom- Balloon Your House: $300-$600
Contact Info:
- Website: HughesArtHouseShop.etsy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hughesarthouse/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HughesArtHouse
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/carverillustration/
