Today we’d like to introduce you to Sonja Wagenius.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in a small village of Holmes City , Minnesota. It’s surrounded by lots of lakes, farm fields, Lutheran Church families and a group of kids that went to 4-H meetings and played softball on the old school grounds every week.
When I was a junior in high school we moved to Eagle River Alaska. My mother and father always had a Nikon 35 mm camera and I have taken pictures since I was little. I was a photographer on the high school yearbook and when I graduated I got a job at a professional studio taking pictures at local schools.
I moved back to Minnesota in 1990 and finished college. I studied abroad through St cloud State and lived at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, England. Traveling has always been an important thing in our family. Because I was a student traveling was very inexpensive at that time! I was able to see seven or eight countries as a college student living in youth hostels.
When I graduated from college I started taking wedding pictures. I enjoyed it so much when people dressed up and looked their very best and everyone was so happy! I didn’t make any money because I only charged $200 for the entire day sometimes working 12 hours. I just loved capturing the best day of their lives!
When digital cameras started taking over I didn’t invest the money to upgrade and I enjoyed being married so I didn’t work weekends anymore. I started painting and doing cartoon drawings for every day situations at work. At Walmart I could use my creativity as a cake decorator and I painted murals on the walls in the back room of safety posters.
I find humor in everyday things and if I can make someone smile through a cartoon and express how much I appreciate the people in my life it’s even that much more rewarding.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I got married in 2000 on the front lawn of our home that we were remodeling. We had a live band and many on the lake were doing fireworks. The band played on half of a porch and we danced on the grass overlooking Lake Rachel. The band was called Sweet Papa Dave. ( they were surprised they could find our house because the directions flew out the window as they neared Alexandria, Minnesota.) One party on the other side of the lake said it was the best concert they ever were too!
Remodeling 130+-year-old house is very challenging when you live in it. The house was abandoned for 30 years without ever having plumbing or any electrical put in. My husband, Gerry became a realtor and saved money so that we didn’t have to take out a loan. We lifted it and put a new basement under it. In 2017 we lived in our shed as they sheet rocked and mudded the entire house from basement to attic. As Halloween came on we were under electric pads, heating blankets, with snowmobile suits and 10 blankets trying to keep warm. I had a membership at a local gym and went in before work to exercise and use the showers. It’s one of the most fun times we’ve ever had but also the hardest because after buying the house in 1993 we had a lot of ups and downs!! I didn’t have a place to be creative except the local open art night at the high school.
If I would have had children it would have been completely different. But I have 25 nieces and nephews on both sides of the family so we are very happy being the aunt and uncle that spoils them and sends them artistic cards like my grandfather did, in the mail.
Chip and Joanna Gaines have the most amazing style and we have used some of their finish ideas. We are happy with the way we have decorated using subway tile, recycled wood and keeping the original ceiling from the 100-year-old home. It was built in 1890. So now it’s over 135 years old and back in style.
My husband tries to save mother Earth anyway he can and I appreciate that! So he has a shed full of old wood that he will use to finish off the main floor in a creative and unique way.
We have had very heated discussions about the timeline when you remodel an old home and although it would be nice to get it done sooner, our friends and family have seen the progress over the years and it’s been a remarkable experience sharing every step of the way with them! I adore my husband’s vision and what he gets done. I joke that he is a 100 percent German heritage and a perfectionist, where I am Swedish and don’t really care very much. Our combined creative vision has worked well together but ‘Wagenius-Goblirsch’ isn’t a name that should be hyphenated!!!!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I think of myself as a cheerleader. I love to cheer others on as they go through life. My art or cartoons reflect that joy that I try to share with others. If I can make someone laugh during a day that is a great joy to me.
Something that is meaningful in my life is reading, ‘The Book of Joy’ by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu and then watching the documentary called “Happy.” I think it makes you grateful for what you have in your life. I’m very proud of the relationship that I have with my sister, my mother and my brother.
Some people think that money is the only thing that’s important in life and as long as I can pay my bills I think it’s more important to appreciate the journey. Charging so little for photographs that are going to be in people’s wedding albums for the rest of their life…. is priceless.
My grandfather was a postmaster at a small post office in Holmes City, Minnesota. I send people cards that I draw myself either copying a stamp that’s on the outside of the envelope or redrawing the cards that they send me and sending it back to them. It is supporting the post office and the mail system but more importantly making somebody’s day brighter instead of getting a bill all the time.
I always give my art away for free and I think that’s important for my family and friends. It randomly makes their day a little brighter.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
For me it’s scary to try new mediums. I worked with a cashier at Walmart who decided to write children’s books. Patricia Turgeon has grandchildren that she wanted to give books about their adventures to them so they could keep them forever. I illustrated two books for her called “The Dig,” and “Mystery at skull Island”.
Patricia is my hero for achieving her dreams. She taught me so much about illustrating children’s books. Being able to illustrate for her was scary but I’m glad I could help her achieve her dream in a small way.
I think it’s a risk sharing your art with anybody when you feel so passionate about it… but being able to lift others up, is what I think creative people are all about.
