Artist Profile: Lyndi Steward McNulty of Gizmos Art

As a child, Lyndi Steward McNulty considered herself an artist.  As an adult, she has not only upgraded that title to: ‘Award-Winning Artist’ but also donned the roles of entrepreneur, author, professional appraiser, auctioneer, adjunct professor, lecturer, and ‘art-advocate’.

As a student at Westminster High School, McNulty found her artistic style by painting abstract designs with bright, bold colors.  She then went on to study fine art at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Middle Tennessee State University, Southwest Craft Center in San Antonio, Texas and the Rochester Institute of Technology. She earned an M.S from Johns Hopkins University and an M.L.S. from the University of Oklahoma.

McNulty began to weave art into her business and professional life.  She worked as a commercial design artist, air brush artist and adjunct professor. She taught art at Catonsville Community College, Carroll Community College, and Frederick Community College.  McNulty also took on ownership of Gizmos Art, a business started by her mother, Betty McNulty.

Gizmos displays and sells art from local artists and provides custom framing, restoration and appraisal services.  Restorations are performed by Jim Voter and restored photos are then printed on archival paper.  Gizmos employs six conservators that restore textiles, frames, paper and paintings.

“One of our biggest pleasures at Gizmos Art is restoring family treasured photographs from now to the past 100 plus years," McNulty said.  "One took six months to restore the faces of the military men lined up on a base photograph from WWII.”

Gizmos also helps to track down rare, old or contemporary prints from publishers and distributors around the world.

Gizmos recently located a famous Razzia poster from the 1980s for a customer.  The poster depicted a fork with spaghetti twisted around it on a bright red background that had sold out around the world. McNulty not only located the poster at a nice discount but had it shipped directly from Italy, from the home of the artist who also signed it for the customer. 

“It must have been one of the last ones lying around his personal studio," McNulty said.

At Gizmos, McNulty works with artists every day to help them advance their art careers.   

“I can advise on show locations, exhibition sites and associations to join. I always tell them that if they are local artists, they should belong to the Carroll County Arts Council, visit all their shows and exhibit in their members show to get started,” McNulty said.

Gizmos is also ‘student-friendly’.

"We love working with McDaniel College students, helping them with projects, making prints, offering student discounts and sometimes “secret scholarships based on need”, attend their shows and generally advising them,” McNulty said.

As a member of the Art District Committee, McNulty played a key role in investigating and writing specifications for the City of Westminster that helped to designate the West end of Main Street into an ‘art district’.  Local artists who live in the West end of town, as McNulty does, can now legally open an art gallery in their homes and sell their artwork.

Once approved, McNulty began to participate in and help promote the annual Carroll County Studio Art Tour throughout the tri-state area. 

McNulty is also certified as a professional appraiser.

“I appraise art, antiques and automobiles and do “road shows” around the state...many people need extra money now and I am able to help them learn the value of items they might have," McNulty said.

As for her own art, McNulty continues to paint in her preferred medium, acrylic paints, sometimes finding inspiration in local landscapes and landmarks, such as the McDaniel Arch and the Carroll County Hospital Center.

“I like to paint local farm scenes in bright colors. Our farmlands are disappearing rapidly and I want to record some of them.” McNulty said. 

McNulty also wrote a book on this topic, so dear to her heart, entitled: The History of Farming in Carroll County. 

Now, McNulty is looking for pictures of dogs to help with her current artistic endeavors.

“Most of my work currently is revolving around Art Deco dog posters," McNulty said. "It is important to me that the dogs in the images I paint show the quality, personality and the exact breed standards so that people that own dogs will have a true image of the dog.  Right now I am looking for good Labrador retrievers to photograph, America’s favorite dog.” she said.

McNulty truly lives an artistic life and enjoys sharing that passion with other budding artists. 

“I spend every day in art, sometimes 12 or more hours a day. I restore, frame, appraise, cheerlead, consult, decorate, refer, attend, but my best time is to paint with my two black cats or my friends,” McNulty said.

To learn more about this artist/art advocate or to contact her, visit www.Gizmosart.com.