Self-taught Reno-based artist Beck Baumann has been a multi-media artist for many years, but she got started a bit late. I’ll let her tell you.

“Beck came to art later in life, starting with graphic design classes at 35. That foundation led her to writing and illustrating children’s books and a graphic novel called Brain Candy. From there, she spent several years painting with seed beads and yarn before falling down the sequin rabbit hole. Her first piece was a styrofoam head covered with sequined fruits and flowers that she named Eve.”

She was apparently inspired by those terrible styrofoam ornaments we used to decorate with sequins and beads. My mother had those. I would bury them in the bottom of the Christmas ornaments box, but she’d find them and put them on the tree every year. How Baumann got from those to her current fabulous art, I’ll never know. She starts with second-hand clothing and other previously-owned fabrics for which she makes bases of wood and styrofoam. She then paints the pieces, then starts to apply her sequins, many of which are also from vintage sources. Her pieces take the form of both usable (lamps and bookends, for example) and decorative objects, but they’re all fabulous.

You can follow the always-sparkly Beck Baumann on her website and on Instagram.