A Wild Vision for Carbon County

April Avery started her business Wild Vision, which is based in Hanna, almost by accident. She was developing some pictures and her husband's grandkids asked her to make some postcards.

"I had been a scrimshaw artist for about 20 years, but the detail needed became too difficult to continue because of my arthritis," Avery said. "So when the kids asked me put photos on postcards, it started me to learn different computer programs that allowed me to layer my photos. Then I started designing the photos beyond just postcards and went into putting them on apparel and accessories."

From there, Wild Visions was born. Her creations are photos from Carbon County imposed on different items. Some of the photos she doesn't do much because they stand well by themselves.

"Carbon County has such abundant wildlife and natural scenery, sometimes the picture says it all," Avery said. "Still, as an artist, I like designing and creating. My most popular design is where I have superimposed different wildlife on top of each other."

Avery started selling her work about two years ago at craft shows and found success. She set up a facebook page where people started to ask for custom orders. Avery has her work presently being sold at the Grand Encampment Museum, which is tailored to the area around Encampment. She also sells her work at the Hanna Basin Museum, where again, she creates her designs to about the local area.

"My nephew took some t-shirts down to Seth (Konrack) at Elk Mountain Conoco and Seth ordered a dozen," Avery said. "A couple months later, Seth ordered two dozen and he has turned into one of my best customers."

In addition to these outlets and online sales, Avery has a shop in the building that has Skinny's Bar and the restaurant, Breakfast Biscuit. She admits her hours are limited, being open only Wednesday 3 to 6 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

Avery is pleased with how well her work has been received. At the Christmas Bazaar at Hanna on December 3, she said sales were excellent.

"One lady bought all her Christmas gifts at my table," Avery said. "Then on Sunday, she came and bought more. As a creator of these designs, it is a big compliment to have a person only want to send gifts from Wild Visions."

Avery had liked art in her early years of school, but she didn't think much about it as a way to make a living. She had other plans during those years.

"I ran away from home and joined a carnival at sixteen," Avery said. "I did that for two years and really had a good time. The best part was, I met my best friend and future husband there. Dallas and I were soulmates from almost the start, even though we ended up marrying different people in our early years."

After two years of carnie life, Avery went to Korea to live with her father. He told her that he would pay for her schooling as long as she did not study art, because there was no way to make a living with that type of degree.

Avery went to college for some years, but ended up getting married and moving to Hawaii where she learned the trade of making art on bone.

"It is really intricate work," Avery said. "I worked on pieces that were no larger than a person's pinkie thumbnail."

Avery eventually found herself in Tuscon and single. She had a variety of jobs. She was head teller of a large credit union and also was an optician for 15 years. Avery wasn't unhappy in Tucson, but she did know that something was missing in her life.

"I was always in contact with Dallas because we really were best friends," Avery said. "I would call and joke if he was still married. Then I lost track of him for a little bit of time and when I got back in contact, he told me, he had been divorced for six months. He was living in Illinois on a farm."

Avery went up and saw him and they dated for a couple years long distance. She said, he never pushed her to leave Tucson, but eventually she gave up the big city to become a farmer's wife.

"I was a vegetarian and never ate meat," Avery said. "But I started to go hunting with him. I cried the first time I killed a deer. As Dallas prepared our meat for the family, I became curious to try a little bit of what we killed even though I had been a vegetarian since I could remember. It started with a little bite here and there and now I eat whole steaks, but only wild game. I don't eat any other meat."

While hunting, she is taking pictures of Carbon County's natural landscape and wildlife. She is thrilled to be exposed to so much beauty around her and is inspired to create unique designs that are Western and based on what she sees in Carbon County.

She said the couple originally came to the West after visiting her daughter in Steamboat Springs. Her husband has some respiratory issues, but in the altitude of the Rocky Mountains, his breathing was tremendously better. The couple decided to find a place out West to live.

Avery found their house in Hanna on the internet.

"We needed a drier climate and when I found the house, we came out on Valentine's Day to see it," Avery said. "We moved in May 15."

Avery feels she is doing something good for the visitors as well as the locals.

"When hunters and fishermen come through Carbon County, instead of buying some little trinket that is made overseas, they can point to the design on the t-shirt, wallet, coaster or whatever and say, that is from Hanna Draw or that is from unit 114 from Simpson's Ridge where I got my elk," Avery said. "My goal has been to tourists to appreciate their visit here in Carbon County. This is a special place and I want people to really have something that reminds them of that."

For those interested in her work, her facebook page, Wild Visions Photo Creations, is a good place to start if they can't get to Hanna during her store hours.

"I am proud my photos all takes place in Carbon County," Avery said. "Because honestly, I think it has some of the most amazing scenery and wildlife anywhere out West. To be able create designs with it, makes my work that more special to me."