For Winter Garden artist Debra Vineyard, men’s neckties are not just fashion accessories. They’re also an art medium.
Over eight years ago, Vineyard discovered this new side to neckties when she started creating artwork using those of two friends who had died. At that time, Vineyard owned and operated a Winter Garden printing shop, Graphics Art Printing, with her husband. Coincidentally, the couple shut that business down around the same time Vineyard ventured into her necktie artwork.
“They had beautiful neckties, and I was the person in charge of going into their house and selling all of their belongings including their house and cars,” she said. “I came across their ties. I couldn’t get rid of them. We had been friends for so long; I bought some of those ties for them. I just grabbed the ties, put them in a Publix shopping bag and took them home.”
Now nearly a dozen of those creations are showcased at the North Orange Branch Library, 1211 E Semoran Blvd, Apopka, until Monday, April 23. None of the pieces is for sale.
In the past, Vineyard has had her necktie artwork displayed in different Winter Garden venues, such as the city library, City Hall and the SoBo Art Gallery.
Vineyard, a self-taught artist originally from Boston, Mass., used to paint with oil and acrylic but “I didn’t like it,” she said. “I could never get the colors the way I wanted them.”
That all changed when she said the “vibrant” colors of her late friends’ neckties caught her eye.
“One day, I went into the bag of ties and just saw the colors,” she said. “I was like, ‘Here are my colors right here. If I could keep the vibrancy going …’ So that night, I actually got a cup of tea and sat on my sofa. I had my husband’s wood glue – that’s all I had in the house – a pair of scissors and a paintbrush, and I created my first piece.”
The resulting artwork was a commemorative piece reflecting Vineyard’s love for her friends, depicting them going over a bridge into heaven. She never publicly showcased that work, but keeps it in her living room’s curio cabinet. However, her visitors have seen the artwork and checked it out with curiosity.
“It’s much different from what I’m doing now,” Vineyard said. “It’s bulky and has big pieces and you could tell I was grieving when I did this. Now, nine years later, I’m like, ‘Let’s have fun.’”
When word spread about Vineyard’s talent, thanks in part to Facebook, neckties from around the United States were shipped to her. She is in possession of an estimated 1,300 ties that once hung in an art foyer in her closet, but now are stored in dresser drawers. Clients from all over the country own her artwork, from Arizona to New England.
Vineyard does commissioned necktie artwork, often as commemoration pieces of those who died. She speaks with interested clients for usually about an hour to learn about their loved ones, and then asks for the departed’s neckties.
The latest in this theme memorialized a real estate agent who intended to buy a house for his wife in Italy as a 50th wedding anniversary gift. He died before they traveled there.
“I heard all these different stories about what he did, and I learned that he liked to get away on his little boat,” Vineyard said. “So I took all this information from this lady, and what I did is depict the house in Italy that he bought for her. It has a ‘Sold’ sign in front of it.”
On average, Vineyard gives each picture two to three weeks for completion but works on it for a total of 10-12 hours, one hour at a time.
“I do not work on it steadily like an eight-hour job,” Vineyard said. “With art, I learned that if you work on it too much, it gets a little busy. So I step away from it (for a while).”
Calling her necktie art a “vocation,” her full-time job is as a subcontracting marketer for small hotels and businesses. She also sold advertising for The West Orange Times newspaper before the publication was sold to a media conglomerate.
To commission an artwork from Vineyard, email her at debravineyard@cfl.rr.com.
