For the love of art: Brunswick woman celebrates six years of art, business

BRUNSWICK — Keri Sparenga got her start in art as a little girl thanks to her grandma. "I started off doing my first mural in my bedroom and then my grandma was the one that basically supported me with everything," Sparenga said. "(She) bought me my first real, professional art supplies. She has art in her family and it trickled down to us. Painting has always been my love." As her passion and artistic skills continued to grow, people began commissioning Sparenga, a Brunswick resident, to do different pieces for them. "I knew a bunch of people that were having babies and so I started doing their nurseries," Sparenga said. "It rocketed from there." Recently, Sparenga's business, "Murals by Keri," celebrated its six-year anniversary, and while she likes to go big with her projects, Sparenga does more than just murals. In the time since she started her business, Sparenga said she has done about a dozen or so murals but has done "hundreds" of little jobs. Those jobs include glass painting for business, yard art in the form of painted wood cutouts, face painting at events and, according to her Facebook page, "anything (she) can get her brush on." "I love to see people happy, when they say, 'Oh, you can do that,'" Sparenga said. "It's hard because a lot of the Cleveland muralists have their own niche or style. Me, since I'm always painting commissions, I have to do what those people like. I'm always trying to get as much information (as possible) because I'm a self-taught artist." Sparenga has worked with one Medina County attraction the last two years, and there is mutual interest from both parties to keep the collaboration going for years to come. At the Wadsworth "Griswold House," which puts on an annual reenactment of the overly decorated house from the movie "Christmas Vacation," Sparenga designed and painted numerous pieces to accompany the house. Among those pieces are board painted like characters from the movie that people can stick their heads in and painted designs to go over the RV's windows. Currently, she is now working on mannequin heads that will look like different characters from the movie. Greg Osterland, the owner of the house, first found out about Sparenga's work when someone gifted him a mirror that she had painted over. Once he saw the skills she had, he knew he wanted to have her create pieces to add to his annual display. Osterland said having one-of-a-kind designs like these enhance the display and make it even more unique. "It's great to say that we know somebody that can do this and actually has an affinity for the movie," Osterland said. "We always wanted to make it unique and this was the missing piece for that uniqueness to carry over. Without a doubt we are going to be regulars of hers. Every year, we come up with a few ideas and every year she manages to exceed our expectations." Most of the mural projects that Sparenga does are done for commercial businesses. She's done projects for businesses throughout Medina County and has also worked for surrounding cities outside the county. Perhaps her largest and most impressive piece was one she did at "On the Rocks," a rock-climbing gym in Amherst. There she painted a 25-foot-tall mural with a "Lord of the Rings"-style fantasy theme. "That was the first time I had to be on a lift," Sparenga said. "(I had to) learn on the job. They wanted it with black light paint and, I don't know why, but I love glitter. So anytime I can add glitter into something, it gives it a nice texture and more shine. It's like a 3-D effect on top of having glitter on it." Sparenga doesn't typically have one set price for any of her projects. Instead, she will operate with a base "per hour" cost and then factor in things such as difficultly, cost of materials and square footage. She didn't get into art for the money and doesn't intend to start being like that anytime soon, she said. "A lot of people are in it for the money but I'm all in it for the art," Sparenga said. "It's not always great for business, but I just do it because I love it. I try to give the customer more for their money." Creating art full time had always been a goal of Sparenga's. Now she's doing just that. "When I hear somebody say, 'Oh, you're amazing,' I love that and it gives me more support so that I can keep going and doing what I love," Sparenga said. "I know a lot of people don't care to hear what anyone else says, but it's important to me to know that I'm doing something right and that it looks good." John Root, a Brunswick resident, saw one of Sparenga's pieces at Herman's Pub in Brunswick, got her information and reached out to have her do a project for his home. "I'm sitting at (Herman's) and I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, these things are good,'" Root said. "She's done several things for me. I work for the city of Middleburg Heights and she's done several things for us — some characters we put out at Halloween and Christmas time — and she's done stuff at my house. "It's phenomenal. She's a professional at what she does. I had a boulder that had been sitting out in my front yard and I said, 'We have to do something about this.' I asked her if she could paint an American flag on there and she said absolutely. People compliment to this day every day they walk by. She really does good work." With six years of professional work now under her belt and, she hopes, many more to come, Sparenga's artwork will always take her back to where it all started. "I didn't really know what I was getting into," Sparenga said. "It's built up from word of mouth. It's making my grandma proud. I'm glad I can get the work done and I feel like I have God-given talent because, if I didn't, I wouldn't still be here doing it." Contact reporter Jack Kopanski at (330) 721-4063 or jkopanski@medina-gazette.com.