A Joyous Journey Healing, Wellness and Stress Relief

through ART

by Nicole Davis

Beautiful and uplifting pieces of art can sometimes be found in the most unexpected places. The perfect example of this developed through a recent collaboration between Mercy St. Rita’s and ArtSpace Lima. Their partnership paved the way for art to reach the sky, literally. Spanning up the eight flights of stairs in the employee stairwell of St. Rita’s, a “tunnel of creativity” emerged. Beth Keehn, Director of Government and Community Affairs for Mercy Health Lima, and Sally Windle, Executive Director of ArtSpace Lima put the project in motion. The intention was to create a space that reflected St. Rita’s belief in healing and wellness of the whole person and provide employees an opportunity to relieve some stress.

Sally assisted the project by helping to find two great and local artists that would be interested and could complete the work at a good pace. She did not have to look far to find the perfect pair. The first artist, Gayle Trueblood, has been an Art Educator for Shawnee Local Schools for 23 years. She also has many accomplishments including holding several State leadership positions and is currently serving as the President of the Ohio Art Education Association. Not only does Gayle teach and speak locally, but she was also the recipient of the Outstanding

Art Teacher for Northwest Ohio in 2018. Gayle’s co-artist for the hospital murals was Cora Bicknell. Cora was born and raised in Lima and graduated from Lima City Schools in 2019. She is currently studying at Ohio State Lima. Cora began painting murals in 2016 and is continuously using her craft to give back to her hometown. While working on this project together, Cora and Gayle were able to express their appreciation for hospital staff and share their passion for public art. Tackling eight flights of stairs is no small feat. Each artist completed four pieces between floors. For Cora, her murals were inspired by sights around Lima and even the hospital itself. Her first mural, with a big blue splash of water, was inspired by the fountain on the hospital’s rooftop garden and was mixed with graffiti art found on many passing trains in Lima. “Public art inspires and evokes an emotional response, so when given the chance to do the same for others”, Gayle said, “ I will!” She helped to take a once sterile space and fill it with color, design, and inspirational words to remind employees that they are valued.

When members of our creative community are given the opportunity, beautiful things can happen. Gayle hoped her art would, “forever serve as motivation to take the stairs, to take time to travel to floors perhaps not normally visited and be a daily uplift for employees to know they are loved and appreciated.” Cora also shared, “It’s also a way of saying thank you to the nurses, doctors, administration, janitorial, and ANY building block that it takes to operate a hospital.” The stairwell has already begun pulling people in, even to take selfies, and given employees a moment to take a break and care for themselves. As Sally perfectly described it, Mercy St. Rita’s has found a way to provide a “joyous journey” for all who go up and down the stairs.

Nicholas Wheeler grew up in the outskirts of Spencerville, out in the middle of nowhere. Being so far away from other people with only two neighbors within walking distance, he learned to be very creative in how he spent his time. He enjoyed designing things to fill his days. Almost every summer was spent painting or redecorating his bedroom! He would plan out his designs on paper in order to make the most of the space and stay up all night getting his bedroom moved around.

Nicholas has been interested in Interior Design since he was a child. He took that love into his adult life in order to do what he loves to do everyday. He met Deborah of Deborah’s Interiors, through a client of hers and she asked him to join her well-established interior design business, almost five years ago. After hands-on training by Deborah, as well as a lot of studying and classes, Deborah noticed he excelled in window treatment design and installation. He is the certified SOMFY (Motorized Shade) expert in our area. He feels lucky to have had great mentors to help him perfect the art of window treatments. So, he decided to open Affordable Window Fashions!

The right window treatment can transform an entire space. Window treatments are often more than just privacy or blocking out the sun. They are sometimes the biggest design element in the room and can often give your more bang for your buck than you ever imagined. Window treatments can make a difference when selling your home as well!

What sets Affordable Window Fashions apart from other window fashion businesses is customer service. Nicholas is there from start to finish. He spends as much time as necessary during the consultation meeting to assure the client gets exactly what they want. He installs the product and if any issues arise, he makes sure they are taken care of immediately. Many times, he washes windows that are up high before installing a new treatment and cleans up any spec of dust that would be created by the install. Customers are always telling him how much they appreciate the customer service because when getting other quotes, they can see night and day in the service being provided. His favorite thing about being a business owner in Lima is meeting many of his neighbors. He says, “I love to meet all of my customers and build relationships. Many times, I learn something new about our area!”

Nicholas lives with his partner, Jared of 6 years. He is from Findlay. They have a 7-year-old son, Owen. They live in Shawnee and their son attends Wapakoneta School. This family loves to support local businesses. Their most frequented restaurants in Lima are La Charreada in Shawnee (because Owen enjoys the queso) and Beer Barrel.

When asked about what he does in his spare time, Nicholas laughed because he rarely has any free time. Music is a huge part of his life and he loves to go to concerts. He also loves to travel. Their favorite place to vacation is Anna Marie Island, FL. They go to their “happy place” (Florida) four to five times a year. For the 4th of July, Nicholas and his family always like to travel somewhere. Sometimes they go to Florida, sometimes it’s a spot in Lake Erie that his family has had for years, or a couple of years ago, they went to Nashville. This year, they will be getting ready for Country Concert starting on July 5th!

You won’t be surprised to learn that Nicholas’ number one hobby is finding something else to improve in their home. They built about 90% of their home themselves and keep working on finishing one room at a time. Most recently, he finished tiling their son’s bath tub surround and are now working on finishing the landscaping which he says is really fun.

Of course, Nicholas needs to work around the zoo of pets they have at home which includes a cockatiel, a parrot, two indoor kitties, fish, an axolotl and four dogs. Animals hold an important spot in his life. It is helpful that Dot’s Pet Center is right around the corner from where they live because they find the customer service to be unbeatable when they are taking care of their own zoo or a frequent stray that somehow finds them.

Nicholas Wheeler would love to offer you a free window treatment consultation in order to create a look you will truly love! Some of his past and current customers love to rave about his work...check out a few of their testimonials on the next page.

Affordable Window Fashions has transformed my home into something out of a magazine! I absolutely love EVERY treatment Nick has done. He was very professional from designing the treatments to the install. I am so happy with the results! I will definitely use Affordable Window Fashions again!

We cannot thank Nick enough for his exceptional service from beginning to the end of the process. He was nothing but efficient and professional, making the installation process so smooth. Our window treatments look absolutely terrific, and we would recommend Nick to anyone, can’t wait to start another project! Thank you, Thank you, Nick!

- Scott & Jennifer Koenig

- The Maags BEFORE AFTER

Nick replaced our old, heavy wooden blinds with a light and clean motorized shade system in our family room. This one design element truly changed the feel of the room and now we can raise or lower the shades with one verbal command or a remote control! We loved them so much, we had him come back to do the office and primary bathroom. He is a total perfectionist and paid attention to every detail!

- Indianbrook resident

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