Meet Wendy Batts | Founder of Emotional Demonz: Shoe Customizer. Kicks to Kick judgment.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Wendy Batts and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Wendy, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Ive always had a creative inclination, but it wasnt until my brother passed away of an overdoes in July of 2020 that it really went into overdrive.

I did a little drawing in high school, but nothing to write home about. After he had passed, drawing was my outlet for the grief I was experiencing from the loss.

Id sit for hours sometimes, on my porch and just draw. The sun would go down, and Id be drawing in the faith light from the porch, because it was all I had to process the pain.

I wanted to DO something with the art, tie it to my brother and give it all meaning.

I decided in January 2022 that I would start a small business, selling prints, stickers and eventually clothing, with my art on it.

I didnt really know what I was doing, the direction I was headed or what my message would be, but I wanted to plow through the whole process like a freight train.

Shortly after I started the company, I created my first NFT. I set up a website, and was full blown clothing line in just a few months.

In June of 2022 I vended at my first show. I was nervous, and about threw up when the first person approached me and asked me “whats this all about.”

I had diarrhea of the mouth, and words just started spilling out. That person spent a few hundred dollars right there, because they supported my mission so strongly.

7 more shows, and that wrapped up vending for 2022.

In September of 2022, I was at a show and had some commerically printed clothing: Shirts, hoodies, purses, shoes. Someone asked me, “Who paints your shoes?”

I didnt know what this meant, and told them that the shoes were commercially printed, not painted. I didnt even know shoe painting was a thing.

This birthed a whole new direction for me.

Now, I paint shoes in my off time from my full time job, spreading “No Judgment,” as my business statement.

We all have a story. We all have a path, and its not our place to judge each other on that path, or the demons that we developed along the way.

This was the only way I know how to honor my brother. #emotionaldemonz. #iloveyoubradbatts

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My early art was just “pencil to paper.” There was no direction, except to process pain. So many of my pieces are symbolic of the emotion and confusion that I experience from his loss.

There are many pieces that are just “art,” but so many have so much pain in them.

I still struggle with the confidence of it all. I look at some of my work and cant believe that I was the one that created it.

The whole journey has been a roller coaster. Ups, downs, successes, failures, let downs. I just kept pressing on, often reminding myself that it wasnt about ME. It was about Brad. It was about honoring the life of a loved one whos heart was bigger than anyone else I knew. Under all that hard exterior, was a broken child trying to seek out love and acceptance.

My whole premise is about non judgment, and bringing people together to love one another.

Ive had people that I thought cared about me try to break me along the way, and use my brother against me to do it.

Because of this, Ive had to harden my heart, while reminding myself: They have their own demons. Thats why they are trying to break me, and I cant judge them for that, i just need to let them go.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Im pretty simple: I like fishing, feeding my chickens and rabbits. If a long time friend came to visit, and they had never been to the area, I would take them fishing, and we could go drown worms together at my favorite little pond in Fort Collins.

Later, we could visit Estes Park, drive through Rocky Mountain National Park to see all the elk and big horn sheep, and maybe take a hike in the mountains.

We would wrap up with dinner at my favorite restaurant in Fort Collins, Rodizio.

Because I like shabby, we would rent a room at my favorite get away hotel in Windsor: The only hotel you can get a room with a jetted tub and fire place for under $200. We’d sip mead, let bubbles spill over the top of the tub, and draw all over the tub walls with washable watercolor pencils or markers.

Wrinse and repeat for the next day

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My brother. I am only doing what I am today because of the gift his death provided me. While not a fair tradeoff, his passing has completely changed my outlook on life, how I spend my time, the people I love and the live I want to live.

I dedicate it all to him: Bradley Dean Batts.

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