Judging by the paint splotches on the carpet – a casualty of an artist’s creative nature – Mary Sterk’s home is decidedly lived in. For the past six years, the owner of Sterk Financial Services in Dakota Dunes has been honing her skills in mixed media art. The result is a home that’s set up with a heavy dose of artful appreciation and plenty of space for relaxation, too.
While Sterk has a studio space in the Benson Building in downtown Sioux City, she spends a lot more time in her studio at home. Her workbench is a closet door that will never be a door again. “Use what you have,” she said. She keeps all of her supplies out in the open where she can see everything and have it ready to use.
This is another space where she likes to curl up in the chair and read art books. It’s also where she keeps her works in progress. She hangs her mixed media paintings on the wall to dry, and it helps to have somewhere to set them aside and stare at that until inspiration strikes.
People are also reading…
Sterk’s designs have even been featured in Art Journaling magazine. One of the pages in her personal art journal features a check from her late grandma, prominently showing her handwriting. Another features a page from her girlhood diary. “It’s not a scrapbook,” she said. “It’s like an inspirational journal. That’s what I’m having fun playing with right now.”
All three rooms upstairs have been converted into home art studio spaces. The third bedroom upstairs is dedicated to art journaling, which encourages exploration and experimentation in the craft and creative techniques, including the use of a sewing machine. She’s playing with the idea of making inspirational art journals that could be given as gifts.
The library is Sterk’s favorite room in the whole house. She loves to read everything from mysteries to chick lit. Even though she has an e-reader, she’s still the kind of person who loves the tactile feel of a book. On the top shelf, she proudly displays her book, “Ready to Pull the Retirement Trigger?” The Kindle Edition was released in July, and the print version will be out in the spring.
The formal dining room takes on a safari theme with lots of tall graceful giraffes tucked in corners and guarding the China cabinet. A lot of the decorations came from Pier 1 Imports. So no, they’re not souvenirs from an African safari, but they make Sterk feel adventuresome just the same.
This summer, Sterk wanted to see if she had a green thumb for gardening. She’s growing spinach, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers and cantaloupe in containers on the back deck. For some reason, she thought cantaloupes grew underground like carrots, which is not the case. “So you live and learn with gardening,” she laughed. “You can’t be an expert in everything.”
During the 2011 Missouri River flood, her whole basement was destroyed in her Dakota Dunes home. She managed to salvage the soundproof theater room, which has six cushy red seats for the whole family to enjoy.
