Rochester residents have been surrounded by Amy Dybing's art for years and they may not have a clue

Jan. 21—ROCHESTER — Amy Dybing has been surrounded by art her whole life and the community has been surrounded by her art without even knowing it.

Dybing is the sole owner and operator of Amy Chalks a Lot, a business that does chalkboard designs in businesses around the Rochester area. She also does murals, pet portraits and yard signs, but chalk is where it all began.

"I always had a love for art," said Dybing. "My mom was an artist. So, she did dog portraits as well. So I've grown up with it my whole life and then you know, you kind of get busy in life and had kids, got married, and then so it kind of took a sidestep, you know, life. But I ended up getting back into it."

It all started when Dybing was serving at Forager. The person who had previously done the chalkboards had left and wasn't returning, so Dybing said she could try when they were looking for someone else to do it.

"When I was serving here and I was just doing the chalkboards, I would change the music one out every day for each artist, and I would do a different art every day," said Dybing. "I would do their name every day and so I got more and more comfortable. I would say it probably took a few months for me to start feeling comfortable."

Eventually, her name started spreading around and other businesses around town started asking who she was and if she would be willing to do their chalkboards.

"Back when Fiddlehead was in the cafe here, it started spreading around and I'm like, 'I need to come up with a business name,'" said Dybing. "So the owners of Fiddlehead actually helped me come up with Amy Chalks a Lot because they're like 'you chalk everywhere.' So that's how that began."

Dybing has her regular locations that she goes to, but she also does other projects to help fill her time. Art is a passion of Dybing so she always has a project, commission or idea in the works.

"There are three every week that I go to and then there's three every month that I go to and then the rest just kind of fill in here and there," said Dybing. "But I'll also paint murals and dog portraits and signs and stuff to kind of help. I'll do a lot of vending for that."

Dybing goes to Taco Jed every week and even painted the restaurant's taco truck. She also does the chalkboards at Forager Brewery and Brothers. She also goes to One Discovery Square, Collins Orthodontics, Kismet and Salon Suites at Bandel on a monthly or near monthly basis.

Dybing goes to different vending events like the Holiday Market that was held at Forager in December. Even though she loves to do them, Dybing doesn't bring a lot of dog portraits to these events. She brings her own dog's portrait so people know she does do them, but commissions them since they are customized. She would paint any pet though and can draw them in outfits.

She started pet portraits during the pandemic and businesses were closed. Her mom used to do them and she started by painting her own dogs. She posted about it online and people have enjoyed it.

"I get some people I've done art of their dogs that have passed away, so I definitely try to do the best I can because I've had a dog that had passed away and I know how important it is," said Dybing. "I've had a few people send me some videos that they gave their loved ones the dog portraits for Christmas and they sent me videos and they're crying. I love that because I know if you're crying about a dog I painted, I nailed it."

Dybing has also collected chalkboards throughout the years to rent out when she makes signs for weddings or other events.

"I have dabbled with mirrors, writing the marker on a mirror," she said. "I did like this huge 8-foot by like 4-foot mirror, a 160-names seating chart. It was gorgeous, but it was a tough thing to learn to do."

Dybing has also done murals and other artwork around town. Many people don't know she is the one who does the work because she signs it "Dybs."

"I don't sign it as Amy Chalks a Lot all the time," said Dybing. "I have this thing where I sign it 'Dybs' because my last name is Dybing. So I always call dibs on my art. So I like to say in my own head, so a lot of people will see something that must be signed 'Dybs.' They won't know it's me, but it was me."

Part of her likes not being recognized and letting her artwork have a mystery to it, Dybing said.

"If I'm somewhere and there's guests and I'm doing the chalkboard, a lot of people come up to me and they're like, 'I had so much fun watching,' as they are eating or whatever, and that's nice," said Dybing. "But I do like being mysterious."

Dybing hopes to one day have enough business to take on an apprentice and teach them the ropes.

"I want to keep expanding," Dybing said. "I would love to keep expanding and I would love to be so busy that I would have to hire somebody and teach them because I know I won't be doing it forever. I would love to teach somebody else and have it keep going."