Local artist turns front yard into art gallery

While many people have used the Stay Home, Stay Safe order to learn new skills, others have used the extra time to hone skills and display their work for others to enjoy.

Artist Tonya Shook has spent the majority of her life painting. Last week, she made a gallery out of her own front yard.

“I just started putting them up at the end of last week,” Shook said. “I do it in the mornings, unless the wind gets too much, and then I won’t leave them up.”

Shook calls it the “While You Were Sleeping” gallery, because she does a lot of her painting at all hours of the night, and it features new work every morning. 

For the past several weeks, she has been working on pieces featuring horses.

“I love horses and this professional photographer allows artists to paint her photographs, so I’ve been painting horses like crazy,” Shook said. “I paint history, and I get pictures from different people. My house is like a museum. They’re everywhere. I just do all sorts of things.”

Shook said that when she was 14, a woman taught her and a few other children how to mix oil paints, and that has been her preferred media ever since. While she has several other creative pastimes, painting has been a large part of her life for many years.

“I’ve been painting for 74 years. This is what I’ve done all my life,” Shook said. “I’ve worked hard making all of these.”

Shook said that she decided to turn her yard into an art show because she doesn’t get to do many exhibits these days and she enjoys being able to share her work.

“There’s nothing for people to do, so I thought we’d do this and let them drive by and at least get to see stuff, and if they want, they can stop by and we can visit,” she said. “If they want to buy something, I’m open to that, too.”

Shook said that most of the works she sells are commissions, and she relies on word of mouth to get commissions rather than doing shows.

“I’m too old to do shows anymore,” she laughed. “But we just don’t quit.”