Cosmic Timber

This retired elementary art teacher has moved on to making some otherworldly art.

If you’re looking for an out-of-this-world addition to your home’s interior, look no further than Cosmic Timber courtesy of Sonda Cheesebrough—yeah, the same Ms. Cheesebrough who many North Elementary families will remember fondly as the school’s former art teacher.

Cheesebrough retired a few years back, but not before giving 15 years to North students. She’s been putting her MFA in painting to good use ever since. She paints on typical things—paper, canvas, doors, even—and recently tried her hand at tables, but with a new technique she learned using a concentrated stain called UNiCORN SPiT. 

“On a trip to Fiji, I came across this humongous table sitting right in front of the ocean. There was so much room to work on it, and I fell in love with the idea of having a really big, cool table just like it,” she says. “I started looking for inspiration and researching techniques, and I happened to have a really ugly metal table that was still functional on my deck. I thought I might start out small with a trial piece, but I went large instead.”

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Since Cheesebrough finished her table, several of her friends have requested their own. She decided to give making and marketing them a go. She took three tables with her to the downtown Morgantown Arts Walk in June and sold all three that day. She’s made dozens more since. She sometimes starts with a vision for the table surface but admits the UNiCORN SPiT has a mind of its own, so she just leads the color where she wants it to go. “I have a vision of what I hope for, but it usually goes somewhere way more interesting,” she says. Cheesebrough takes commissions and can create something incredible with any color combination you choose. Her creations start at $80 per square foot, and you can see more on Instagram or contact her on Facebook.

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