Chelsea Weimer has always had a hard time calling herself an artist because, in her mind, nature is the creator.
The Yelm resident and owner of The Crystal Chronicles Company uses findings from nature, including crystals, rocks, flowers, bones and skulls, to create three-dimensional artwork that she sells at various markets, conventions and shops.
Weimer’s art business allows her to put her personal aesthetic on display and to introduce people to types of artwork and antiques they might not otherwise see.
“I love bringing the creepy and the pretty together. That’s kind of my aesthetic,” she said. “I love bringing life back to things that wouldn’t necessarily seem pretty or full of life. I love getting people to think about the prettiness of death and nature.”
Among her many types of artwork, Weimer has created floral displays using skulls, bones or turtle shells, custom wedding floral displays, resin tables, ceramic baby head pots, crystals and more. She also sells vintage antiques that she finds at markets and garage sales, and she has taught classes at InGenius! Gallery & Boutique in Yelm and has pieces for sale there.
“It’s been a very rewarding process in becoming an artist and becoming OK with calling myself an artist,” Weimer said.
Weimer was born in California but moved to Washington with her husband, Aaron, who was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord as a staff sergeant with the U.S. Army. Weimer earned a degree from the University of Washington double majoring in art, media and culture and interdisciplinary arts and sciences. She enjoyed taking any art class she could find, especially in ceramics.
But once she left college, Weimer struggled to find her spark creatively. After the birth of her second son, she dealt with postpartum depression. When her parents moved to Yelm near the Nisqually River five years ago, however, she discovered a passion for rockhounding, and through her searches, she found a deer skull and flowers and decided to make art with them.
“It was very therapeutic. There was no purpose. It was just finding these things and making something out of them,” Weimer said. “The process itself was just getting a spiritual connection to nature and the ability to let go of the outside world and all of my anxieties.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, her husband was laid off from his job and Weimer lost her job as an after-school arts teacher. That’s when she decided to take a leap and begin selling her artwork, starting with crystal mushrooms.
“The fact that people were like, ‘I want one of those. I’ll buy one,’ was very motivating for me. It really gave me confidence in myself,” Weimer said. “It was something I could do with my kids and my family. We started getting into planting flowers and drying them.”
Weimer said she once struggled to be social but became comfortable with the like-minded people she met selling her artwork. She was motivated to connect with her community but also to prove herself right for starting The Crystal Chronicles Company.
“I’m 32 now, and I feel like I’m finally having the confidence that I wish I would have had back as a teenager,” she said. “That was really difficult because I didn’t have supportive parents. They were like, ‘Artists don’t make money.’ I was one of those kids who was always taught that there’s no career path in art, which is crazy to me now. It’s been so rewarding to have my parents see that I’ve done something with art, and they’ve told me, ‘Wow, we’re so proud of you.’ I think I really proved them wrong, and that was really satisfying for me.”
Weimer also gained confidence by meeting Steven McCullough, a Yelm woodworker who provides veterans who battle post-traumatic stress disorder an opportunity to relieve stress through woodworking. She learned how to work with resin and create nature art from McCullough.
“Steven has been awesome. I was a little timid first meeting him. I’m just generally a shy person, and I have really big ideas sometimes that I don’t always share because I feel like sometimes they’re a little too big, but he has really big ideas, too,” Weimer said. “That was very helpful. He’s really good at making you do things on your own. He’s not too helpful, which I appreciate. He’s been a really great source of knowledge for me.”
Weimer, a special needs mother of three, is motivated to support children, particularly disadvantaged and at-risk youth, through art. Her dream is to become an art therapist, helping youth find confidence and joy through art. This year, her desire to help other people grew after her cousin, who was on the higher end of the spectrum of autism, lost his battle with mental health in February.
“That was really difficult for me because I hadn’t seen him since he was a child. To meet him as an adult was so rewarding. We made all these plans of how I wanted to get him into the art scene,” Weimer said. “The oddities world is so neat because there’s so many weirdos. Everyone is so accepting of you. He really struggled socially, and I wanted him to see that there’s a whole world out there. We kind of got to start that, but I didn’t get to do it as much as I wanted to. After I lost him, it really gave me the motivation to put myself out there for teenagers or younger kids.”
Weimer dreams of offering an open art studio where people of all ages and skill levels can take advantage of the therapeutic properties of art.
“I am a firm believer in spreading positivity, specifically in kids. I had a rough time growing up. I was a little misfit in high school. I didn’t fit in very well at all, so I’m so drawn to little misfit kids,” she said. “Those are the people that I want to uplift. Everybody says it takes a village, and I wholeheartedly want to be part of that village for people. I want to be able to offer those outlets for people, or even just to have a safe place to come to. Being able to look back on what I needed, I want to be that for other kids.”
To learn more about The Crystal Chronicles Company, visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TheCrystalChronic/ or its Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/thecrystalchroniclesco/.
