Mall Masterpieces: Wood Icing Fuses Art With Decor

Some of the world's greatest inventions and discoveries have come from mistakes. Post-it notes came from a glue that didn't work very well, and Play-Doh was once wallpaper cleaner.

For Rose Wilde—whose hobby was refinishing old furniture—the aha moment came when she became tired of the refinishing products she was using and started combining materials to make her own. That's when she created Wood Icing, a textural faux finish for furniture, cabinetry and other surfaces that can be used to create raised designs.

“It was a happy accident,” Wilde said.

Wilde and her daughter, artist Heather Haymart, run Wood Icing Studio/Gallery in Artropolis, a group of six shops owned by and featuring local artists and craftsmen at . Wilde handles the product line and Haymart manages the gallery, which features the work of 14 artists, including Haymart.

Initially, Wilde did the Wood Icing process for friends, but its popularity grew and she began teaching professionals how to do it. She got a patent on the process and a manufacturing company began producing the product. Wilde began marketing Wood Icing to designers who specialized in faux finishes. At first, it remained something of a trade secret.

“Until I opened the store, people hadn't heard about it,” Wilde said. “When the bottom fell out of the market, people couldn't pay for decorators who were faux finishers, but could do it themselves if they bought the right stuff.”

Beginners purchase the product and take classes to learn how to use it. Wood Icing is sold by the project, such as refinishing a table or a bookcase. “The number of class sessions comes with the cost of the product,” Wilde said. “Some projects might require only one session, and others might require four. And they can make their own schedule.”

Wilde teaches two classes each on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, in both afternoons and evenings. Wood Icing studio is also a certified Platinum Training Center for Modern Masters Platinum finishing products.

Haymart was one of the first converts to the Wood Icing product. Haymart left a teaching career in the Francis Howell School District when her daughter was born, and began creating art and painting murals from her home studio. “I've pursued every avenue there is. You have to do lots and lots of things to succeed in an art career,” Haymart said. But using the Wood Icing product changed the course of her paintings.

''I played with it. It was fun. It made my products more substantial. I just couldn't look at a flat painting any more.”

When Wood Icing Studio/Gallery opened, it provided much more to Haymart than just another venue to display and sell her work.

“Working at home you're always alone,” Haymart said. “There's mostly solitude. Artist's don't have co-workers. What I was craving was camaraderie—human interaction. Being with others with the same interests. There's a sense of community here that's closer than I've had before.”

Both Haymart and Wilde praised Chesterfield Mall for assisting the stores that are part of Artropolis. The mall relaxed some requirements on the stores, including less restrictive hours and lower rent. Artropolis has helped bring artists into the retail world. At Wood Icing, artists can trade a day of working in the store for space to display and sell their work.

“Getting an artist to adhere to a rigid retail schedule is like trying to nail jello to the wall,” Wilde said. “Artists want to be flexible. They're free spirits. They don't adhere well to the corporate way of doing things.”

Haymart agreed. “We're trying to create a nice connection between artists and the retail world.”

She also wants to dispel people's notion that original art is beyond their means. “People always say to me, 'I can't afford real art,' but they can, and they can actually talk to the artist who made it,” Haymart said.

Wood Icing Studios is now working to connect homeowners, designers and artists. They've recently begun inviting designers to come in and design a room vignette, designing a room around the art available in the store. The first vignette was designed by Liz Franklin. The second, designed by Nettie White, opens in April. White has used Wood Icing for years.

“We take our tagline—Where Art and Design Meet—very seriously,” Haymart said. “We want to bring together people who want to make their house beautiful, the designers who can make it happen, and the artists who create things that help make it beautiful.”

Wood Icing Studio/Gallery will take part in the Artropolis Mardi Gras Gallery Hop 2011 from 5 to 11 p.m. on March 4. The event features food, drink, free beads, a book signing by artist Mary Beth Shaw and baby-sitting services by St. Louis Teachers Recycling Center. For more information, visit the Artropolis Facebook page.

Editor's note: This is the sixth in a series of stories about Artropolis. Future stories will continue to focus on each business within the group. The series, Mall Masterpieces, runs weekly on Mondays. The  at the group of stores as a whole and their progress in their first year.