Valerie Wells' Artscapes:

Sunsets in the Southwest are known for their rich colors--resplendent shades of crimson, gold and violet. At Artscapes, Valerie Wells has been capturing these masterpiece sunset colors in decorative concrete for the past eight years.

One day ten years ago, Wells was working as a faux finisher in Albuquerque, and she saw an acid-stained floor in a commercial setting. She was fascinated.

She called the building owner and after hearing more about acid-staining, she knew it was something she had to try. Wells had already trained in stone and marble at the Day Studio in San Francisco, which provides instruction for a professional vocation in finishing and the decorative arts.

She now tries to emulate through acid etching what she learned there.

"I began doing projects for myself," she said. "I just starting experimenting with it, having fun, being creative, and pushing the parameters of the medium.."

Her first project was a 6-by-10-foot front patio; now she does expansive projects up to and beyond 20,000 square feet.

And today Wells oversees her own company, Artscapes, based in Albuquerque "...and founded in 1993, and has expanded to the Denver market.

Wells specializes in acid etching, sand blast templates, alternate checkerboard, abstract designs, and texture within a framework of stain through multi-colored applications and material manipulation.

She uses a variety of acid-stained products, as well as water-based stains and tintable epoxies — whatever best achieves the desired appearance.

"Like for a cobalt blue, I'm forced to use (something other than an acid stain)," she said.

But Well's specialty is her use of multiple color to achieve the look of natural stone.

"I like to use two or three colors. Like getting a tortoise shell by using an amber base and black," she said, saying various techniques of painting, movement and manipulation can create any effect imaginable.

A multi-color treatment is also a good choice for concrete that is "cracked or is going to crack." Effects like marble striations can conceal any cracks. And if you're pulling up carpet and the underlying concrete is trashed, transforming it through multi-colored techniques will cover up the defects, she said.

One of Well's most recent jobs was the floor of an elevator foyer in Denver. It's a gorgeous abstract with a three-color application and intricate sawcuts.

"It was a three-color job that was clean, with no bleeds," she said. "I always like jobs that push the parameters of my capabilities."

Wells did the job for the architectural firm Ohlson Lavoire. The firm designed the geometrical abstract and she came in, worked with the general contractor, and brought it to life — crisp and clean.

Wells said her client base of residential and commercial is split about 50-50.

"I prefer the commercial jobs — they're more willing to make a statement," she said. "Homeowners are more worried about resale values, understandably so," she said, saying that residential jobs tend to be more conservative.

And when it comes to residential clients, they run the gamut.

"It varies from client to client in what they want," she said. "Some know exactly what they want. Others don't have a clue. They get their couches and window treatments after it's done because you never know exactly how it will turn out — the only thing that's predictable about (acid-staining and concrete) is its unpredictability."

But many people in the general public don't know what acid stained concrete floors are.

"When I tell people what I do, they give me a blank stare," Wells said. "It's all a matter of education."

And educate she will as ARTSCAPES grows within the Albuquerque/Denver marketplaces.

"Albuquerque is such a competitive marketplace. In the last two or three years all the wanna-be's, Wells jumped on the bandwagon," she said. "Many of these companies don't do it well and end up confusing the marketplace. The consumer doesn't have a clue (as to who is experienced and knowledgeable and who isn't)."

Wells said she gets calls — too many to count — from upset homeowners who hired someone else to do the job, someone that ultimately botched up the project.

Wells, who has taught acid-staining for numerous seminars and workshops, including for the QC product line, said the most important part of the job is "preparation, preparation, preparation."

"It's not like it's brain surgery. But there are just so many details you can trip up," she said. "I've been staining concrete for eight years and I've learned every job is different. The little details can make a big difference."

In addition to preparation, Wells said she has also learned that finding great products is a tremendous benefit. She swears by Engrave-A-Crete's SawKart. She uses a 4 3/8- inch version with diamond blades.

"You can get nice, clean lines and any design you want," she said.

And that — achieving any design you want — is, of course, the name of the game. But is the decorative concrete game one that will pick up in the rest of the country?

"I think so as people in the more intemperate zones become more aware of concrete, as it migrates north and eastward," she said.

It all comes down to education and getting the word out about acid-staining and multi-colored concrete.

"It can be as customized as you want to be," she said. "And it's affordable and easy to keep clean."

A testament to that is the fact that Wells put her multi-color artistic spin on the concrete floors of automobile dealerships, local Starbucks coffee houses, and driveways.

"There's no place for this product to go but up," Wells said. "You can turn it into anything you want — that's what makes it so exciting. And that's what keeps it exciting for me."

Artscapes
Valerie Wells
2013 Conita Real SW
Albuquerque, NM 87105
(866) 783-3386 TOLL FREE
(303) 722-2500 Denver
(505) 452-2500 Albuquerque
Send Mail Now - Click Here
www.artscapesconcrete.com

Michele Dawson writes each week on one of the contractor members of The Concrete Network (www.concretenetwork.com). She has written about the home building industry for several years and was on the public affairs staff of the California Building Industry Association.