Wherever she goes, decorative concrete artist Eugenia Almeida takes with her an energetic spirit and unique sense of style. Whether she's working on a small residential project in her hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., or demonstrating at world of concrete in Las Vegas, people are drawn to her as a person and to her creative work.

"Eugenia is a delight. It's easy for people to connect with her," said Joe Nasvik, senior editor at "Concrete Construction" and a member of the committee that selects the artists who demonstrate at World of Concrete each year. "When we saw photos of her work, we were impressed and invited her to be part of the artistry demos."

Almeida was the subject of a Slippery Rock Gazette article last fall (see "Artistry in Concrete," Nov. 2010) because people were beginning to notice her unique style for decorating walls, columns, floors, and countertops. Using concrete and a variety of colors and techniques, she's able to emulate wood, stone, marble, iron - just about anything found in nature.

Since then, her notoriety has grown, and while others in the industry may be suffering in the economy, Almeida stays busy. To be chosen as an artist demonstrator for World of Concrete is an honor, since they never pick the same artists twice. Nevertheless, she almost didn't get there.

"When Joe Nasvik started calling me about applying for World of Concrete, I didn't know anything about it," said Almeida. "I told him I didn't think I was the person he was looking for." World of Concrete persisted, though, and with the help of Cindee Lundin of Perham, Minnesota, who originally got Almeida interested in concrete, the application was submitted. In January Almeida's business, A New Hue, was one of eleven businesses featured at the annual show.

Almeida's demonstration project was to cover a stock-size fiberglass door and frame with a polymer coating, then with vertical overlay cement, which she did with the help of Lundin. Through texturing and carving, they created the look of an aged, wooden door with metal hardware, doorknob, and keyhole, set in a weathered wall. The result is straight out of the history books with a touch of old world Argentina, Almeida's home country. The fact that the door she started out with didn't have a knob or keyhole didn't deter her.

"I just made a door knob out of paper towels and covered it with concrete. Then I carved out the keyhole," she said. "No problem."

Above: Eugenia Almeida freehand carves a running fissure to create a natural-looking stone wall behind a registration desk in a La Quinta Motel lobby makeover.

Left: During one of the featured demos on-site at the recent World of Concrete show in Las Vegas, Almeida and Cindee Lundin took a bare sheetrock wall hung with a standard metal door and worked concrete magic, turning it into a weathered wall and an old-world door, complete with iron hinges.

Almeida laughs about the fact that she and Lundin were the only women doing the demonstrations, and how hard they had to work to complete the project during the four-day event. But she said the experience was eye-opening.

"We developed a great friendship with everyone there," she said. "It was an unbelievable experience. I had no idea how big this thing was. The amount of people who came through was amazing."

Around 50,000 people attended WOC in January, and a thousand yards of concrete were poured. At the end of the show it was all crushed and recycled, said Nasvik. However, someone from Minnesota got wind of the door Almeida had created and drove all the way to Las Vegas to pick it up and drive it home.

Almeida's work tends to spark that kind of interest, which is why she has plenty of projects lined up. In fact, she's had to hire people to help her, including Juliana Terra, an architect from Brazil who studied in Italy. Almeida considers her a kindred spirit.

"Because we're from a different culture, we see color in a different way, with a different eye," said Almeida. "Juliana brought new blood into the business. She is an amazing designer. I've always followed my instincts. Now I also follow hers."

Terra agrees that she and Almeida make a good team.

"It's important for us to make the client part of the project, and not everybody does that," said Terra. "The project is really about the client, not the materials. And Eugenia is fantastic about reading people. She looks at a person and knows exactly what color they will want."

Terra helps come up with designs, sketching out the ideas and creating mock-ups on the computer for the clients, but everyone joins in on the creation of the work. Others working for A New Hue are John Holt, Dylan Holt, and Joel Gomez. On a recent remodeling project in the lobby of La Quinta Inn in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., they also brought in Chad Davis of Chattanooga.

Like many of Almeida's projects, this one grew as the artist and client got to know each other. Owner Poovin Pillay had planned simply to add a faux finish on one wall of the inn's lobby. He went to Sherwin Williams for advice.

"When I told them what I wanted, they said `You can't do that,' which of course intrigued me," said Pillay. "They said, `You need to call Eugenia Almeida.' When she first came in she had all these wild ideas. I didn't really know what she had in mind. But she had a vision, and she ended up doing the whole lobby. She turned a tired old lobby into something that will work for many years. I love it."

Almeida and her crew created faux stones for the wall which Pillay originally wanted remodeled, but they also created a new design behind the front desk with the La Quinta sun logo, stenciled the logo on another wall, redid a section of the floor with exotic carpet (all in concrete of course), and redid two bathrooms. John Holt said he enjoyed working on the project with Almeida and Terra.

"They have a special energy. We're very professional and work hard, but we also have a lot of fun. Eugenia's good at teaching us too - she's open about sharing her work. I love what I do."

Terra agrees: "Everybody has the product. It's so easy to find on the internet. What we have that's unique is the ability to see what the client wants and make that happen. It's a product of our collective energy. We have an incredible energy, and people feel that."

That energy continues to lead Almeida in new directions. In addition to working on her projects, she's been teaching decorative concrete classes with Lundin. She also spends time with her family, including her husband, five children, and five grandsons.

"No granddaughters though. I guess I'll have to make one out of concrete," she said with a laugh.

If anyone could do that, she could.

Eugenia Almeida's web site is http://www.anewhue.net/wpblog, and you can also find her on Facebook.

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