Wendy Hightshoe

The Backus artist creates in a variety of mediums - from cement birdbaths to assembling flower sculptures out of ceramic plates, to painting and quilting.

Wendy and her husband, Darrell, retired from Stewartville, Minnesota, live in their home on Long Lake II east of Backus.

Hightshoe's artwork will be on display at 2155 14th Ave. N.W., Backus, during the Arts Off 84 Art Crawl during Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4-5.

"I like to do a little of all kinds of things," Hightshoe said of her artistic style.

Wendy Hightshoe painted this timberwolf on a limestone slab.

She creates cement birdbaths, sometimes using giant rhubarb leaves as a pattern, and English Garden Troughs made out of Hypertufa, an artificial stone material.

She reinforces the birdbaths with chicken wire and colors them with cement stain that is then covered with a protective sealant.

She makes garden flower sculpture flowers from layering whole ceramic or glass plates to create the petals. Bent silverware represents the leaves on the plant.

Wendy also enjoys painting with acrylics. One painting she did on a limestone slab is of a timber wolf. She also paints on ultra suede, a synthetic material that resembles real suede.

Aside from sculpture and painting, Hightshoe also sews quilts and wall hangings.

"I like the artistic ones that I create myself," she said of the quilt patterns.

Like the cat fishing quilt she made. A play on words - the quilt shows fish using mice as bait to catch cats.

Wendy has been an artist for 20 years and comes from an artistic family.

Darrell even gets in on the action by making lamps with old-fashioned bases: a blow torch, old heater and even a meat grinder.

Wendy has a do-it-yourself attitude and often sees what methods other artists use to create things and then tries it herself.

"I think 'I can do that," she said.

Other times she just thinks up things to create - sometimes inspired by going "junking" and finding ways to repurpose old items into new.

Old, rusted junk and antiques can be enjoyable to work with in new ways.

"Sometimes things just hit me," she said of coming up with art ideas. And, she creates each piece individually. So, when someone has a piece of artwork she's created, they know it's one-of-a-kind.