Yuma artist creates electric art in the big city

Artist Landy Headley used to worry about the face of traditional canvas paintings. So she started adding power cords.
 
Headley, who grew up in Yuma, quickly wowed the Phoenix art scene with something new and funky for barren living walls. She calls them light boxes, large painting-hybrid creations that have made art electric.
 
"They're kind of hard to describe," Headley said, laughing and feigning exasperation. "Because conceptual art is so popular, I was trying to figure out if anything was left for two-dimensional paintings. So I thought adding light would be adding another dimension."
 
That's how paint met power cords.
 
The artist's light boxes look like regular canvas paintings stretched across a box-like frame. They are fitted with a special light fixture and hang about seven inches out from the wall. But that's just the mechanics. Headley's stylistic painted landscapes, often flush with trees and florals, are what ultimately win the favor of her viewer's eye - and a hearty offering from their wallet.
 
"I love making them, and people seem to love to give me money to do them!" Headley said. "I'm having a lot of fun with them. Art isn't something I've ever looked to make my primary career, but I love doing it."
 
Headley, whose family has been in Yuma a long time, is the daughter of Christy Wilson and the granddaughter of Bette and Eldroe Munk. She graduated from Yuma High School in 1987.
 
These days she lives in downtown Phoenix, and when she isn't behind the easel, she's out selling real estate. Her specialty is anything urban and funky, especially lofts or any home that's "not cookie-cutter."
 
Headley's art has been shown at several Phoenix galleries, including Alwun House, one of the oldest galleries in downtown. She recently curated a show there, with local artists and bands all offering something with "light" as the theme.
 
She also sells quite a bit of art through word of mouth. That's especially true about her light boxes, which are a hot item in Los Angeles and typically fetch around $2,500. Buyers can generally add on $1,000 if it's a commissioned piece.
 
Headley studied art in Huntington Beach, Calif. She lived in Orange County for six years and worked as a graphic artist.
 
But despite her grand success in art - and its ability to thrill her imagination - Headley has actually been pretty creative at avoiding her calling. She has worked in real estate for seven years, but before that was an information technology consultant for a company owned by two-time presidential candidate Ross Perot.
 
"A lot of people who know me would really be shocked to know I'm doing this type of work," she said. "I've just always thought art doesn't pay. I still think that. I've always managed to do something else, but I'm always pulled back. It's weird."
 
In addition to the obvious benefit of artistic expression, art gives Headley something else she craves. She said adores all the wonderfully creative people she knows through art circles.
 
"I really enjoy the camaraderie of the networks of artists I know here. It's just a creative environment and I soak it up like a sponge."
 
Headley painted for a while at House Studio, a rundown building shared by a handful of artists. Today the building is slated for demolition.
 
"Squatters would break in all the time. They thought the house was vacant," she said, laughing. "Some of the biggest artists in downtown Phoenix came out of there."
 
In addition to art, Headley fills her soul with music (anything but rap) and foreign travel, especially to less-than-fancy countries.
 
"My husband and I have been around the world to some of the weirdest places. Third World countries, we just love them. Forget Paris. I'd much rather go to Vietnam."
 
Headley's next show is slated for Art Detour in Phoenix. Her work will hang March 6 through the end of the month. But she's most excited for an upcoming installation at Carly's Bistro in Phoenix. It's a huge light box project called "Gabriel's Adelfa Grande."
 
"I'm going to put a giant oleander head across the front of the restaurant, so that should be fun!"