I have always been a proponent for all things local. My husband and I would rather "spend a little extra" for good, quality local products from people we know and love personally than visit a chain. Restaurants like Nana's Pizza and Pie, Avenue Eats, Tacoholix, Coleman's Fish Market, and Vagabond Kitchen are our jam, and local places like the Strand Theatre, Towngate Theatre, or Later Alligator are where we invest our entertainment.
On top of that, we support local art, artists, writers, and other creatives. Being "creatives" ourselves, it's just what we do. It's what ALL artists do.
I know many of our favorites--and friends--have struggled during this closure. Some of our favorite businesses are barely making end's meet, and losing them would be, in our opinion, losing a key component of our entire local culture.
So, when I started to wonder how else I could support all of these fine local people, I was at a loss. I could continue to "eat local" and "buy local" as much as possible. I knew I could promote these businesses online, of course, through my various social media accounts, and I could continue to encourage others to support them as well, but it seemed hollow...incomplete..."easy"...
There had to be something else I could do to support my business folks-turned-friends.
And then it hit me: I am, at my core, a writer. And I can create a product that creatively (and sometimes slyly) promotes everything my creatives (and me!) stand for. I could use my art to help their art sustain.
And so, without further narration from me, I give you the first in this delightful summer interview series...
"Spotlight On...YINZER Daniel Finsley: Dad. Artist. Designer."
-First things first. Tell the readers a little about what makes you "you".
We’re going to start off with the hard stuff first, eh?
-Always. You should expect nothing less from me. It's how I operate.
Well, let’s roll. I’m an ‘Ohio born’ West Virginia boy with a YINZER heart. I’ve spent equal time in all 3 places, essentially. I’m a pretty simple man, really. I enjoy brunettes & breakfast foods (I hope you all get the Ron Swanson quote), sarcasm, art, movies, cooking, hip hop, grind core, and my daughter.
-I admit that I have no idea what "grind core" is, but I am fluent in sarcasm, cooking, and parenting.
And now I'm off-topic. What made you choose the "art" path? Aspiring-to-someday-publish-a-novel myself, I know that art of all kinds can be a rough trip.
I’ve wanted to be a professional artist since childhood, so I made the decision to pursue just that in 1999 directly after graduating high school.
I left the area for many years studying art, design, and multimedia in Pittsburgh - meeting the best, wildest, and talented people I’ve ever encountered. The culture and mindset up there is different. Even though it’s only an hour away, it’s more so a "melting pot" of progressive culture, so to speak...It’s not that I don’t love my city of Wheeling, I just chose to bring that culture and way of life here with me when I came back, and I enjoy letting that overflow into my work.
-I can agree with you there. Visiting Pittsburgh can seriously be a welcoming "culture shift". We love Moundsville and Wheeling just as much as the next guy, but visiting the 'Burgh is a nice change of pace. Now, how about choosing a favorite piece to talk with us about.
That piece (would be) an older piece of mine (2003, to be exact), and it’s clearly not my best work, but this piece changed my perspective on art, falling back in love with the process and the feeling it brings. At the point when I started this piece, I had walked away from art school, completely having my fill of the politics involved and ultimately where it would end up taking me. I guess I kind of just expected more, at the time. Call it ‘entitled kid syndrome’.
-How would you describe your creative process for this work?
I was almost one year removed from school, working jobs that I didn’t enjoy, and kind of just biding my time with fillers that were useless. I found myself off on a weekday, and took it upon myself to head to Greentree Mall (Yes, that was a thing, back in the day) just to lollygag, grab some movies, pet the kittens at the pet store, and head to the comic book shop. I hadn’t been in a comic book shop for years so everything was new, and super cool. Needless to say, I stumbled across Humberto Ramos’ “VENOM” comic, and was floored by his take on the character. I’d never seen him illustrated like that, and BANG! Inspiration kicked RIGHT it. I grabbed the comic book, went to the art store, grabbed a huge canvas, and headed home. I hadn’t felt fire like this in years. Man, it was great to be back!
-I'm interrupting your flow here for just minute. Eerily, a "VENOM" piece that I made--because yes I do dabble in some art at times--is still one of my favorite pieces to-date. It's a mixed-media minimalist piece. Too weird our inspirations are -sort of- one in the same. I'll post it at the bottom of the interview so you can see it.
Now, tell us more about this work.
Upon finishing the piece, I immediately knew I had to get my ass back to school, so I did just that. I enrolled again, signed up for every single class I possibly could, and just went hard. Like, abnormally hard. Having classes from the morning, all the way into late afternoon / early evening, every single day of the week.
So, inadvertently, this piece re-lit a fire in me that has never gone away. And it still hangs in plain site in my living room. Any time I struggle, I just give it a look.
-More "weird"-ity...my "VENOM" still is hanging on my son's bedroom wall (he wanted a room of "Comic Book 'Bad Guys'"...We did the best we could, making some handmade art and settling for an Avengers comforter...but that piece of mine ALWAYS makes me want to make something else. I'll say it again. Too weird.
Okay, I've regained composure.
Let's switch gears. You spend some time with Wheeling Threads, a local place my husband and I avidly support and invest in...Why do you think it's important to preserve the heritage of Wheeling, the Ohio Valley, and other surrounding areas?
Our city and surrounding areas were once amongst the most thriving, industrial places in the United States, Growing with such propulsion over the years. It grew, and grew, and grew, relying on our roots and history as a backbone. And then, I feel like we all blinked, and it was gone. Generations below us haven’t a clue of what this city once was. Generations above us truly miss what this city once was and how vivid the lights were when the sun went down.
Although there are a ridiculous amount of relics and signs around our city, especially with Wheeling Heritage continuously breathing life back into our history, visually; I still felt that there was far more to bring back to life.
So I did just that.
-You say one of Wheeling Threads's key goals is to create pieces where "nostalgia (meets) progress". Explain a piece or collection that truly represents this idea.
There’s an absolute TON of art I’ve created that speaks that mantra. Most of which can be viewed on our Wheeling History Collection page.
That being said, one of my all time favorites is my “Blue Collar City” design. It’s a depiction of a lunch bucket which was commonly carried in the Steel industry, and coal industry. It just speaks to me, having seen that bucket an infinite amount of times, and my grandparents house.
-You also pride yourself on "giving back" to the Wheeling community. Give a favorite example of how you do this.
I’m not sure if I pride myself on giving back, I just feel the it’s something I should do. With most of my art with Wheeling Threads, it’s a lot of older businesses, places, and logos. When I create art representing the aforementioned, I don’t find it fair to take anything of monetary value from these sales, so I give it to local non profits, and other organizations that I love and support. My art has been the representation of many lucrative fundraisers giving back to places such as The Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling, The family of John “SWEET CHUCK” Schorr, YWCA, and The Ohio Valley African American Students Association.
(Side note for readers: if any of the products Daniel just mentioned appeal to you, you can access the entire collection here: Wheeling Threads. I'll most likely get my hands on the Purple Mothman or the Green's Donuts---huge part of my childhood--piece, because, really, what's better than WV Folklore or Donuts? Heck, why not both?)
-I appreciate that you mention the "Sweet Chuck" piece here. We're tattoo people, and we know the valley was crushed by his loss. When we saw you had designed a piece to commemorate him, it warmed our hearts.
Speaking of Wheeling Threads...how did this idea come about?
In 2017 we had a design contest at my 9-5 to create a fundraiser for The Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling, partnering with Play It Again Sports, to produce the shirts. The contest was to create and design something that was a true face of Wheeling. After some thought, my mind immediately went to Charles “MOONDOG” Waldrum.
It just made sense and had to happen. I spent an early Sunday morning sketching my idea, and bringing it to life, digitally. Even though I loved and STILL love the design, I never thought it would have such an impact on my life. At most, I thought we’d sell maybe 50 shirts, tops. Boy, was I wrong! We ended up selling over 600 shirts and making over $6,000 profs for The Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling, right before Christmas! It felt good being part of something so incredibly amazing. I was on the news, being interviewed on the radio, and people were reaching out to me from across the country. It blew my mind.
After the fundraiser was said and done, I got to thinking… I pretty much just witnessed an entire city group together, not only supporting the soup kitchen, but Charles as well.
I realize that this sounds cliché, but honestly, I was laying in bed one evening and the idea hit. Why not just continue this idea, but on a far larger platform? Why not keep this going for as long as possible? There’s an infinite amount of history in our area, and it seemed to be slipping through the cracks, one day at a time. It felt like as the days progressed, we lost more and more of what this city was built from. So, I decided to start Wheeling Threads. I dove in head first, researching, sketching, digitally illustrating, and building a proper platform.
I ended up launching the idea on March 1st - 2018. Now, even though I believed in this, I never assumed anybody else would… Yet here we are, almost 2,000 orders in, 9 events in the books, and a following that humbles me every single day.
-Lastly, if a business wishes to "re-brand" (or "brand" period, for that matter) how can they reach you?
I’ll tell you, but you have to read this first. Enjoy!
This is the ‘feel good’ story of the year! Being a stand alone freelance artist for what now seems like a lifetime - I assumed the duty of helping local businesses in the area renew their look, flavor, and overall appeal. I was coined “Wheeling’s Resident Commercial Designer”. I was truly enjoying myself working with such wondrous people and clients. Yet, I still wanted something more. So, rewind to September 2019. My good friend, and insanely talented individual, Nathan Daniel Blake started a business with his wife Yolanda, who is a Social Media master and wildly talented writer, creating and managing brand content, writing, and social media presence, amongst other things.
The business they started was called “Folklore”.
Needless to say they ended up coming my way to help create a new brand, and I was immediately sold on what they did. Through the process I got to truly know both of them, their mindsets, their vision, their backgrounds, and their personality. I pretty much fell in love. They’re incredible people, and deserve the world, in its entirety.
Once the brand was created, and unveiled, I found myself missing that process. That interaction with like minded individuals had me on cloud nine, and there was NO WAY I could just walk away from it.
One Sunday evening, while Arcadia was staying with her momma, I may or may not have had a few cocktails. I ended up calling Nate, asking him to start something with me (For lack of better words), just stating how much I trusted and loved his and Yolanda’s mindset for creativity and the surrounding communities. Nate’s return to my question? “I would have said NO to anyone else but you.”. It was a match made in heaven, and we built from there, building a team of absolute killers. Being a part of Folklore is nothing short of amazing. I am head over heels for our team.
In closing, if you’re looking for me to brand or ‘re-brand’ your business, agency, establishment, or organization - you can find me at www.folklorepr.com
You should never feel lost in your own story.
We help the helpers.
Daniel Finsley Dad. Artist. Designer. danielfinsley@gmail.com
Closing Thoughts and What's Next...
Want to speak with Daniel first-hand? Click his name three lines above or right here to explore his current endeavors. Rather just email him? You can do that, too. Just copy and paste the email and message away!
And there you have it, folks. The first of a two-a-month series featuring all the local people we know and love!
Towards the end of this month, I will talk with Jason Pell, a fellow writer and graphic novelist I met in Charleston while traveling for work. Click here to read about him on goodreads.com.
You can click any of these to see his work: Suicide 5, Pinpricks, Zombie Nation.
Know a writer, artist, or other "star" individual you would like me to feature? Want to be a guest yourself? Send me an email to wb.healy@yahoo.com and tell me all about it!
If you just can't wait for the next "Spotlight On..." Feature, you can poke around the rest of my page or the forum to keep reading and interacting.
Next week, I try my hand at turning a Disney Princess into a Poketrainer (voting is still open for this, by the way. You can add your two-cents here: W.B. Healy, Writer, Facebook) or you can comment on the @wbhealy.writer post about it on Instagram. I'm even going to film the process and upload a time-lapse video!
As always, thanks for reading!
W.B. Healy
Instagram: @wbhealy.writer OR @w.healy
Twitter: @WHealyWrites
Email: wb.healy@yahoo.com
