Milwaukee wood artist taps into nostalgia by turning trash into treasure

By Alex Corradetti

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    MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (WDJT) — Ike Wynter is a Milwaukee wood artist who is tapping into nostalgic memories to connect with millions across the country.

Wynter is a self-described eco-sustainable wood artist and delusional optimist.

CBS 58’s Alex Corradetti asked him how he got into creating art in the first place. It all started when Wynter’s family began their business called Camo Crew Junk Removal.

“Honestly it happened out of curiosity. Unfortunately, we were tossing a bunch of wood out from the homes we were cleaning out and instead of tossing that wood out… I decided to bring the wood home one day and start making wood art of it even though I was never an artsy kid,” explained Wynter.

He says he is sometimes inspired by the wood he finds on the side of the road. Other times, he has a concept in mind and looks for the right piece.

“It’s all a very natural and organic flow of creating art. I’ve never stained or painted a piece of wood; I’ve never bought a piece of wood. To be a wood artist and do this as a career, and a sustainable career, it’s kind of a cool concept that I don’t have to give into a materialistic waste stream If you will and go to the store to buy materials to pursue my career,” said Wynter.

Wynter loves to bring nostalgia into his artwork.

“I like the concept of people scrolling through social media and then seeing a nostalgic image or concept that they probably haven’t seen in a while, and it will bring a warm feeling to their heart. To be able to bring that feeling of joy to someone’s day through my art is a cool concept. I dive into a lot of deeper meaning concepts of waking up grateful every day and a lot of mental health awareness. I am a very delusional optimist person. Bringing that message through my art as well in a playful manner is kind of my goal,” explained Wynter.

We asked Wynter what his definition of a delusional optimist is.

“A delusional optimist is waking up grateful every day. The odds of you being here as a human is four hundred trillion to one. That’s the math of it and I think we as humans lose sight of that and being grateful to be alive. And someone as lucky as me that I get to pursue something I love, and my passion every day is the biggest cherry on top to being alive,” said Wynter.

Wynter says he’s done more than 400 pieces at this point in his career.

“I used to crank our nature-themed things in an hour or two. But now, I spend 100 to 200 hours per piece. I am only doing a few pieces per month at this point. The crayon box was by far the most lifechanging piece of art I’ve ever made. It was the creativity and curiosity of making the world’s largest box of crayons. Then asking myself if I can build a life-size peg board that it gets installed on and it was a whole concept,” said Wynter.

Ike made the giant crayon box interactive. You can open the lid and pull the crayons out. There is also a UPC barcode on the back. The piece was on display for all to see at the Milwaukee Public Market.

“It was a trip because we live in a digital age and millions of people had seen my art and seen that piece. For them to walk by my installation and to see it was from a Milwaukee artist was actually a really cool translation. In the digital age we live in you don’t realize some of this cool stuff is happening in your backyard. In my experience, meeting a ton of real-life people that support my art and support my journey is the best,” said Wynter.

Wynter recently met the voice of one of his favorite cartoon characters.

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“Tom Kenny, yeah that video that went crazy viral. I was completely blindsided by it. He’s the voice of SpongeBob. I had made a viral piece last summer and wanted him to sign it. So, he did sign it and Then I offered to give him a free piece of art and then he actually wanted to buy it like artist to artist. For a 90s kid growing up SpongeBob was and still is my entire life and We can quote so many cool things from it, most of our generation. To be able to meet him and have a cool humbling experience with him and have him respect my art and buy a piece. It just brought a sense of togetherness and just joy to millions of people through a simple act of kindness that he did to a local Milwaukee artist,” explained Wynter.

Ike says he is always thinking of what his next creation will look like.

“I have a notes app in my phone of 100 ideas I want to do and build. I become very passionate about the next thing I am working on. I can’t sleep until it’s done. I usually know what the next thing is just by feeling of where I am at in life and what I see. It’s all just through my day to day and nostalgia and mental health message I want to bring forth,” said Wynter.

Ike’s talents are now even skating across state lines.

“I got hit up by a Blackhawk who won the cup in 2010. He saw my collab with the Milwaukee Brewers, that was amazing. He has a nonprofit that was hosting a Stanley Cup dinner. He asked me if I could make a piece of art replicating the Stanley Cup for that night. Being in the same room as the Stanley Cup with an artist’s interpretation. It’s the most iconic trophy in all of sports. It’s a very humbling experience to recreate it and be invited to a room the cup is going to be at. Then we are going to auction it that night for his nonprofit,” said Wynter.

Ike also prides himself on surprising his followers with a piece of his work.

“I love doing surprises. There are a couple videos on my page. I have been known to fly all over the country to surprise my followers with my art. I wouldn’t be doing this for any other reason than to bring smiles to people’s faces. There’s a way to do that through social media and to create catchy videos and make people smile through that but also that one on one intentionality. There is so much joy interchanged right there. Whoever gets the piece of art is super surprised and happy and I am just as excited,” explained Wynter.

Ike recently surprised a dog grooming salon in West Allis called Paw Perfecta. They commented on his post on Instagram one day adn that is all it took for him to create a piece of art for them with their logo on it.

“I go to her door, and she was overjoyed. My mom was the person who filmed the experience on the back end. To incorporate my parents and my mom within my career and have her be a part of these surprises through social media has been the cherry on top to living life and my art,” said Wynter.

The beloved wood artist was also asked to make a piece for one of the most legendary Brewers players of all time.

“I got to make a piece for Robin Yount. Again, the most famous brewer of all time they wanted to honor him this year with a 50th anniversary piece. They reached out to me, and we collaborated on an idea. They gave me a couple baseball bats to use. These are bats that would have been similar to the ones he used during his career, and they trusted me to do whatever. Growing up in Milwaukee… like these sports teams and the people in the city you look up to your whole life and one day you’re building a piece of art for that organization and presenting it to on the field to the most legendary player. It’s a surreal experience and it reached tons of people in our community. It was a special moment to bridge the gap between what I am doing in the art world and on social media and bridge it to a local celebrity like Robin Yount,” expressed Wynter.

So, what’s next for Ike?

“Honestly, I am between a few ideas and pieces. They’ll be based around nostalgia and unique concepts and as far as I did the Crayola and SpongeBob. Which are iconic brands when you think of nostalgia. I am going to be diving into nostalgic things that people don’t know that they know but will make people smile when they see it. To wake up today and pursue something that I love, again we lose sight of it every day, to bring that delusionally optimistic spirit and gratitude that we got to wake up today as humans… I am always ready for the next chapter of my art career,” said Wynter.

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