Zee Anweiler is pictured with one of his paintings, which hangs on the wall of Three Crowns Coffee in Warsaw. Anweiler is a full-time artist who sells his work at many different art fairs in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois. Photo by Lilli Dwyer.

By Lilli Dwyer
InkFreeNews

WINONA LAKE — “When I was 4, I said, ‘I’m going to be an artist.’ I’ve had other ideas since then, but I’ve always come back to it,” says Zee Anweiler. “I would tell my younger self that art is a reaction to life.”

Raised in Winona Lake, Anweiler graduated from Warsaw Community High School in 2012 and went on to the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne to study art.

“I studied ceramics and sculpture, animation and graphic design … I’m a dabbler. There are very few fields I haven’t dipped a toe into.”

After school, Anweiler worked locally. He moved on to the now-closed Mudd Love store in Warsaw and worked his way up to become creative director. He also played a similar role at Marine Boring, before turning to making and selling art full-time.

Some of his paintings hang in local businesses, including two on the walls of Three Crowns Coffee.

While still based in Winona Lake, Anweiler travels frequently and sells his work at art fairs around Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

“A little bit in Illinois, mostly in Chicago,” he said. “Wherever I can go within, like, six hours.”

Some of his previous shows include the Three Rivers Festival in Fort Wayne and the Penrod Arts Fair in Indianapolis.

“I did one that was a four-day convention that was also camping called Geek Out … It was organized by a guy in southern Ohio,” he said.

Anweiler recalled the convention as a positive experience, but also mentioned, “I’ll bring earplugs next time, because it’s EDM that’s played until two in the morning.”

Overall, Anweiler has found a community of like-minded individuals while working in the art world.

“It’s been very affirming to go out there. There’s a lot of weirdness in the world, and I mean that with the deepest affection,” he said with a smile.

Fittingly, Anweiler describes his art as something that does not fall into a specific genre or category.

“It’s not exactly the kind of thing you’d see at a convention, like up an artist’s alley, and it’s not really fine art. … But it’s kind of in between pop art for the people and something someone would spend four figures on as original art. I like to walk that line. If people like me can’t buy my art, I just don’t feel right about it,” he explained.

He sells paintings and wood fires and smaller items, such as stickers and art prints.

“I had a client who paid for my art in all gold coins because they had recently gone to a Renaissance fair and converted about $2,000 into coins, which was one of the coolest experiences of my life,” he recalled.

Drawing inspiration from science fiction and fantasy, Anweiler quotes Dr. Seuss, Jim Henson and Hayoa Miyazaki as influences.

“When you look at my work and you see floating castles and glowing crystals and friendly monsters, the influence is very clear,” he said.

When he’s not traveling or creating artwork, Anweiler, a big fan of loose leaf tea, is working on learning the Chinese gong fu brewing technique.

More of his artwork can be seen at zeebeasts.com.