Art for any soul can be found at Balboa Island gift boutique

Cheerful novelties lifted Valinda Martin’s spirit after a life-altering event, leading her to an enduring business in bringing other people smiles via mermaid fins and pelican wings.

Martin’s Balboa Island shop, Art for the Soul, has been selling decor, home goods and gifts that are equal parts whimsical and fanciful for almost 20 years. She believes everybody needs something uplifting in their space, and reminding people of the joys in life has become her purpose.

“It’s my contribution to the world, to society, to hopefulness,” she said.

The world is tough.

Martin would know.

Twenty-four years ago this week, Martin broke her back in what she described as a freak boating accident in Newport Harbor. The powerboat she was riding in hit a wake, bouncing her up and then dropping her, in a seated position, at just the right angle and force to render her a paraplegic. She transitioned to life in a wheelchair.

But since then, she said, everything has been right.

“I say I’m short and wide and can’t reach things easily, but other than that my life is really, really good,” Martin said.

Not long after her injury, Martin, formerly a wholesale sales representative in the women’s fashion industry, moved from Los Angeles to Sacramento to convalesce with her sister.

The two were browsing a gift shop while on a trip to Berkeley when she saw a print that caught her eye. It proclaimed that “Most people don’t know that there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don’t get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life.”

It gave her a much-needed pick-me-up, and she decided to start a similar store as a form of therapy. She returned to Orange County, where her parents live, and nabbed a space on Balboa Island’s quaint, eclectic commercial row.

Art for the Soul outgrew its first space at 210 Marine Ave. after a couple of years and moved into a bigger suite in the same building. It will hit its 20-year milestone in June.

Martin opened a second Art for the Soul location in Laguna Beach in 2003 but recently sold it to her longtime manager. Now Martin, 56, can focus on her original store, a veritable walk-through curio cabinet with merchandise hanging on or pressed against boldly painted crimson, violet and teal walls.

Her goods are quirky, room-defining statement pieces or keepsakes that can fit in the palm of your hand. They include ice chests handcrafted from recycled metal drums, sculpted in the shapes of Volkswagen buses and rainbow-colored pelicans. A peace sign nearly 4 feet in diameter, fashioned from license plates. Pendulum clocks of chubby cats, mermaids and googly eyed crabs. Lumps of glazed clay etched with smiley faces and packaged as “seeds of happiness.”

Like the print that inspired her, she also has plenty of wearable and wall art with encouraging axioms. A pendant reminds its wearer of “Another day, another blessing.” Painted glass and copper tiles have optimistic sayings like “Hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul.”

The store has a website, but Martin isn’t big on e-commerce.

“I think of my store as a touch me, feel me, experience me store,” she said.

As it was intended to do, the shop keeps her happy, and she’s especially tickled when she overhears customers connect with a piece — as they were intended to do.

“I love listening to people giggle when they read something in the store,” she said.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD