Halloween Art and Travel
Kristen Stafford: Halloween Art Collector and Podcaster
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This podcast connects artists and collectors of Halloween art. You will experience the stories and inspirations behind some of the best Halloween art being created today. You’ll hear from dedicated collectors who capture their dream pieces. You will add to your Halloween travel bucket list as we explore Halloween-centric destinations.
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Jun 13, 2022
Joey Marsocci: Curioporium Creative Director
Artist Joey Marsocci is a story teller who uses the mediums of theme park and haunt design, creature fabrication, illustration, writing, acting, cosplay, and more to tell his stories. He’s passionate about building immersive experiences for those who enjoy his strange worlds. He is the Creative Director and Co-Creator at the Curioporium, New England’s Premier Haunted Shopping Experience in Hartford, CT.
The Curioporium is an immersive, 5 senses experience (some say 6) brought to fruition by Joey and owner/co-creator Nathan Nunez. Guests leave the normal world behind and become part of the story. The experience blends the stories of Nathan’s Havisham Society (a family of collectors of the strange and unusual) and Joey’s Dr. Grymm steampunk character. Guests can shop oddities and spooky goods and participate in everchanging theatrical experiences. In this episode, Joey gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into running this experience and how light and sound drives the tone and timing of the shows.
As history buffs, it’s Joey and Nathan’s mission to entertain as well as educate. When you pull in from history and other cultures, it’s important to be respectful and accurate. Throughout the Curioporium are QR codes guests can use to look up stories behind the objects – or ask any staff member.
To make darkness more palatable, the Curio team mixes in humor. Their Grim Reaper is from New Jersey and part of a union. He’s merely a hard worker with a job to do, and at the Curioporium he adds in a little song and dance. In all his years of haunting, Joey hasn’t lost a guest.
Joey was originally on the October 31, 2020 release of this podcast. Check out that episode to learn more about his steampunk, theme park, and other haunt work.
You can find the Curioporium at https://www.curioporium.com.
Check out Joey and his work at http://www.grymmstudios.com.
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May 30, 2022
Mushroom Muse
The Amanita Muscaria is the most famous mushroom in the world. Even if you don’t pay much attention to fungus, you’ve seen them in fairy paintings, Alice in Wonderland, Super Mario Brothers, and as the mushroom emoji. Also known as “fly agaric”, they are found all over the Northern Hemisphere, August through November.
The most recognizable part of the mushroom is its stunning bright red cap with white spots. They also have little cute white skirts on their stems and a bulb at their base. While Amanita Muscaria is commonly thought to be poisonous, they are not fatal. They cause intoxication when consumed. Other members of the Amanita family can cause liver failure and death.
Amanita Muscaria appears all over in folklore. Many believe they are the source of the legends behind Santa Claus and flying reindeer. They are also associated to magic and fairytales, especially when they grow in fairy rings.
The North American Mycological Association maintains a mushrooms in art registry. The registry is full of Amanita Muscaria mushrooms. With the influences of the Cottagecore aesthetic and Harry Potter running strong, it’s not surprising that many contemporary Halloween artists are incorporating them into their work. I’m enjoying collecting pieces by @CalamityKim (Kimberly Sherrod), Folk Art by Penny Grotz, Dustin Yoder (bydustin on Etsy), just to name a few.
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May 13, 2022
Introducing Season 4 of Halloween Art and Travel
This is Kristen Stafford, your host of the Halloween Art and Travel Podcast. This is where you get the stories behind the best Halloween art being created today. I couldn’t think of a better day than Friday the 13th to drop this preview of Season 4 into your ears.
Did you notice my new logo? It’s evolved from its original US passport inspired design to one that harkens back to luggage stickers from travel’s golden age. Speaking of travel, with events coming back, I’m excited to add more travel into the show.
This season, I’ll be releasing new episodes on the 13th and 30th of each month, from now to October. I’ll also drop bonus episodes in-between those two dates. Subscribe and follow in your favorite podcast app so you don’t miss a single one.
This season I’m bringing you new artists, that are creating work that ranges from bright and cute to dark and creepy. I’ll have a former guest return to catch us up on his immersive experience project. There’ll be new mediums, like neon! We’ll also examine some of the folklore behind popular visuals in Halloween art, like poisonous mushrooms.
At the end of June, I’ll launch my first ever monthly companion newsletter. Visit www.halloweenartandtravel.com and put your email address in the subscribe box so you don’t miss a single edition.
Now, go forth and start getting ready for Halloween. Now that we’ve passed Halfoween, it’s just around the corner.
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Oct 31, 2021
Isaias Hiram Urrabazo: Celebrating Life
Isaias Urrabazo uses his diverse skill set to create stunning visual art that celebrates life. Isaias is an accomplished artist, singer, actor, speaker, and costume designer.
Isaias is well-known for his elaborate ofrendas that he exhibits in Las Vegas for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead (DotD)). DotD is a bright celebration, in which we wait for our deceased loved ones to return to earth. His ofrendas are jam-packed with marigold flowers, a symbol of the Aztec sun god. The smell of the flowers helps guide our deceased loved ones back to us. Butterflies represent rebirth and transition. He also incorporates items that belonged to the people he is honoring.
His family helps him build the ofrendas, with a great level of trust as there are no written or drawn plans. Isaias plans it all out in his mind. DotD is two days. November 1 is for children who have passed and November 2 is for adults.
He is also known for his altar dolls, which he’s made available at shows like Hallowbaloo and All Hallow’s Art Fest. When he first started making the dolls, his sweet mother said, “that is so ugly, but what do I know?” She came around to loving the dolls, and even took on the task of lovingly making their necklaces. It was a joy for her to join in the creative process.
Looking at all the bright colors in his work, it’s no surprise that Isaias loves the whimsical side of Halloween. He enjoys decorating and creating Halloween art based on vintage German Halloween. As a child, Isaias was afraid of stories about La Llorona (the Weeping Woman). She is a ghost who murdered her children and is now woefully looking to replace them. This spooky story has worked its way into his art.
Isaias is an expert in costumes. He collects theater costume renderings and has worked on several Las Vegas shows doing costuming and wardrobe. Currently he is working with “Magic Mike Live.” Visual art is a key factor in audience engagement.
His web site is: http://www.bootifulthings.com
You can find the online Halloween art magazine at https://autumnbrilliancemagazine.blogspot.com. They are on Facebook as: https://www.facebook.com/Autumn-Brilliance-109572784206139.
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Oct 28, 2021
Jorene Lomenzo: Whim-spook-ical
You can be sure Jorene Lomenzo’s heart is racing in excitement whenever she’s clicking refresh in anticipation of a shop update or standing in line to get into an art show. Jorene is a Halloween art collector and blogger. “There’s so little in life that brings me this much joy,” sums up how she feels about collecting.
Jorene’s superstitious grandmother sparked her obsession for all things spooky. Her grandmother believed her colicky uncle was cursed by a witch. If you’ve ever known a colicky baby, that’s a great description of how it feels to care for an infant suffering with it.
Jorene is energized by the community of Halloween artists, collectors, and bloggers. She is a member of the Samhain Society – a group of Halloween content creators. Her blog features artists creating original Halloween art and is filled with pictures of art that Jorene loves.
She calls her style “whimspookical” - a combination of whimsical and spooky. Jorene only buys works that she absolutely loves. Her collection stays up all year in a “museum room.” She loves to watch the reaction of people when they see her art collection for the first time.
Jorene’s town of Windsor, CT has a few interesting facts for spooky lovers. It was the site of the first person executed for witchcraft in the colonies (Alse Young in 1647) and is home to the Archer-Gilligan House, the real “Arsenic and Old Lace” house.
Visit her blog at: https://shiversofdelight.blogspot.com
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Sep 22, 2021
Paskalini Savopoulos: Broomsquire
Picture a broom in your mind. Did it have glitter and dried flowers on it? Have you ever even dreamed those were possibilities? Creative Paskalini Savopoulos (Lena for short), is obsessed with crafting decorative and functional brooms by hand.
She recalls falling in love with a broom at a Renaissance Festival. She didn’t buy it at first – but she found as she was walking around she couldn’t get it out of her mind. When she returned to purchase it, she was disappointed to discover it had been sold. This inspired her to enroll in a broom making course.
Lena covered the basic types of brooms she creates:
* Hand whisk: small brooms without sticks; they come in a variety of shapes inspired by bird wings and tails
* Cobwebber: long slender brooms with lightweight sticks used to get into high corners
* Hearth broom: small brooms used to sweep out fireplaces
* Sweeper: long handled flat brooms for sweeping
* Besom: a gathering of broomcorn wrapped around a stick (associated with witches)
Lena loves to transform forged sticks into her broom handles. Her supply pile looks like a beaver dam. Traditional brooms are made out of wood and broomcorn. She loves to incorporate unexpected materials like glitter, crystals, dried flowers, and ribbon. Lena is inspired by the cycles of nature, colors, and animals.
Broom care is simple. Either hang your broom or store it upside down to prevent the bristles from warping. Store brooms in a cool, dry space.
She also shared a sample of fun broom folklore:
* Sweeping over someone’s feet will keep them from getting married
* Flipping a broom upside down lets guests know it’s time to leave
* Sweeping on a Monday is bad luck
* ...and more
Her web site is: https://vagabondspun.com
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Aug 31, 2021
Jennie Hepler-Takens: Sculptor of Stories
Have you ever realized that an art collection can have the same function as a library? All of the creations by doll artist Jennie Hepler-Takens are stories and her body of work is her book. Every doll Jennie creates tells a story. Sometimes she even continues to work on a character’s story long after he or she is settled into their new home.
In this episode, we learn the stories behind some of Jennie’s past and current works. There’s a bearded lady, who gives us a glimpse into the life of a side-show performer. A blue little boy expands upon the story of Jack Frost. A witch peddles tears in vials for all who desire them. A wolf doll inspires us to think of Little Red Riding Hood in new ways – was the wolf really the bad one?
When Jennie appeared on this podcast 3 years ago, she was creating as Prim Pumpkin. She has since transformed into My Dearest Witch. Her new name is a nod to her husband’s term of endearment for her and doesn’t lock her into any particular style.
Jennie pours her heart into her work and her hope is it fills up the hearts of her collectors. My Dearest Witch connects with everyone differently. Every piece is deeper than face value.
She is inspired by David Bowie, Victorian mourning, antiques, textiles, oddities, baskets, fairytales, and hairy creatures. She is sentimental and loves to preserve old things – for example, she lovingly cares for a collection of fire-damaged antique dolls.
Jennie is a community builder. In addition to producing Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween, she loves to lift other artists up and inspire people to get into Halloween art collecting. Her husband Joe taught her to never be embarrassed by where she began – you cannot have progression if you forget where you started.
Jennie recommended Slater Basketry - https://www.instagram.com/adkbaskets and the book “The Graves Family” by Patricia Polacco. The castle they visited on Halloween was: https://www.hendersoncastle.com.
Her web site is: http://www.mydearestwitch.com.
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Aug 13, 2021
Lurena Williamson: Passion for Textiles and Textures
Lurena Williamson of Tattered Moon, is obsessed with resurrecting antiques by transforming them into one-of-a-kind Halloween dolls. She’s an outsider artist with an edge of creepy. All of her designs are one-of-a-kind and created without patterns. Even her sewing machine, which “drives like a Porsche,” is vintage.
Lurena commenced her career by working at a fabric store. She’s had a variety of jobs, even working for a technology company. Through it all, her soul has always driven her to create dolls. While working in corporate jobs, she would stay up late into the night fabricating her dolls. This was the inspiration for the word “moon” in her business name.
Lurena’s interest in odd dolls goes back to childhood. She wasn’t interested in the dolls typically marketed to girls; she enjoyed playing with GI Joes. She made dolls out of pantyhose and fiber from the bottom of the family couch. One of her earliest exhibits was a witch she made at craft store – she displayed it in the family dining room window complete a cauldron.
She works intuitively – Lurena lets the fabrics and objects tell her who they need to become. Her studio is filled with antiques and floor-to-ceiling stacks of fabrics. Lurena feels the energy of antiques. She is not tied to any particular era – a doll can have lace from the Victorian era, tattered Edwardian trim, buttons from the 1920s, and upholstery fabric from the 1950s, and more.
Attending Ghoultide Gathering helped Lurena discover her tribe. She discovered Halloween art collectors are more excited about dolls than galleries were. The Halloween art community is constant inspiration and keeps her growing.
To discover more about Lurena, visit her at https://www.tatteredmoon.com.
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Jul 29, 2021
Dennis Haynes: Halloween Renaissance Creative
A “Renaissance person” has many skills and areas of knowledge. This is an accurate description of Dennis Hayes – he collects vintage Halloween, creates whimsical art, and produces art shows.
His business name, Runamuck Studio, is a nod to his love of variety. Today you can find him sculpting with paper clay, building feather trees, and carving scrimshaw. His creative style is bright with strong influences of vintage Halloween.
His vintage collection includes over 250 paper party hats, some over 100 years old. He is drawn to pre-1960s Halloween, the more dedicate the better. It amazes him that these precious items have survived and he’s honored to be their caretaker. He also collects Day of the Dead – his first piece was a lady with a questionable occupation.
While living in California, he was a producer of All Hallows Art Fest and Halloween and Vine. When he moved to the Seattle area, there wasn’t a local Halloween art show so he created Hallowbaloo. In this interview, he gives us a sneak peek of the format of this year’s show and his predictions for the future of Halloween shows.
A Halloween evangelist, he builds support for more Halloween shows, collectors, and artists. Dennis is passionate about discovering new talent, watching collectors enjoy themselves, and the magical moment of artists and collectors connecting. He said with humor, “unless you are dead inside, you’ll want to collect Halloween.” Halloween has no rules – do what you like!
Web Links:
* Dennis’ artwork: https://www.runamuckstudio.biz/
* Hallowbaloo (The Art of Halloween): https://www.thehallowbaloo.com/
* Crypticon Seattle: https://crypticonseattle.com
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Jul 13, 2021
JR Pepper: Professional Eccentric
Professional eccentric, JR Pepper, combines her love of art and bizarre history into her entertaining lectures and spooky photography. She majored in art history with a focus on female surrealists. Today she is a Fellow and Curator, for the New York City Odd Salon, a non-profit that hosts curated talks on topics dealing with history, art, and science from 1950 or earlier.
Pepper helps us understand that monsters are visual representations of our fears. Film serves as a medium to express those fears. Film appreciation has been part of Pepper’s life since childhood. She grew up watching 1980s horror films and obsessed over Disney’s Sleepy Hollow and Beetlejuice.
Pepper shares the story of William H. Mumler, a Victorian photographer who claimed to be able to photograph ghosts. She highly recommends the book “The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult” (catalog from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) to anyone interested in spirit photography. Pepper enjoys doing her own spirit and cemetery photography and has used both historical and modern technologies. Those interested in weird historical photography should check out the Burns Archive.
Pepper recommends the following places and musical group for Halloween lovers traveling to the New York City area:
* Jekyll and Hyde Club Restaurant and Bar (https://www.jekyllandhydeclub.com)
* Beetle House NYC Restaurant (https://beetlehousenyc.com)
* Brooklyn’s Green-wood Cemetery (https://www.green-wood.com)
* The World/Inferno Friendship Society (Music group, https://www.worldinferno.com)
* The Merchant House Museum (Ghost tours and Victorian funerals, https://merchantshouse.org)
* The Odd Salon (https://www.oddsalon.com)
To learn more, visit her web site: http://www.girlduality.com
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Jun 30, 2021
Gravestone Girls: Cemetery Art and History Devotees
“Keeping our dead alive” is the passion of the devoted Gravestone Girls (GG). In this episode, we meet Brenda Sullivan, the founder of this New England-based crew. Brenda, Maggie, and Melissa make history relevant through cemetery lectures and tours, genealogy work, and castings of beautiful gravestones.
It’s no surprise that Brenda grew up in a family skilled in antiques, restoration, art, and history. Young Brenda learned how to do gravestone rubbings and to respect cemeteries as repositories of history. An interest in 3D work sparkled her to move from rubbings to castings. Her business of creating castings grew over time as more and more people requested them. Brenda loves to joke that “nothing says Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas like a gravestone.” All of their castings come with an informative history card.
The best thing about being a GG is finding new images to cast. The GG get permission from the cemetery before making non-invasive castings. The Girls can be foun…
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Jun 13, 2021
Becky Kilimnik: Spooky by Design
Becky Kilimnik fell in love with spooky storytelling during her childhood in the mountains of Tennesse. Today, she expresses this passion in her art, design, and podcasting. Listen today to hear her behind-the-scenes experiences of owning an art gallery, upbeat and humorous afterlife art collecting tips, and what it takes to scare someone who tells scary stories for a living.
Becky owns a graphic design studio in Atlanta, GA. A few years back, Becky, along with family members, owned and operated 2 Rules Fine Art in Marietta, GA. Becky designed the gallery to be welcoming for everyone. In this interview, Becky shares how they selected the artists for their gallery, why some galleries don’t display prices, and how they dealt with the gallery’s ghost. Becky’s advice is to purchase art because it grabs you, not because it matches your décor. She also recommends that fans of Halloween check out surrealist art for inspiration.
Becky grew up in Eastern Tennesse, where storytelling is…
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May 30, 2021
Sarah Boyce: Seasonal Folklore and Celebration
Sarah Boyce’s love of the autumn and winter holidays will expand your understanding of the passage of time and seasons. Sarah created Garlands and Gravestones to give her space to celebrate the folklore and magic of the spookiest half of the year. In many ways, holidays celebrate the seasons and serve as markers of time. Sun dials are just one example of a visual for that passage.
Sarah loves history, especially ancient, medieval, and Renaissance. Who can resist being inspired by an Egyptian mummy? She is enchanted by how people communicate through images. Memento mori and vanitas themes are plentiful in Sarah’s work. Vanitas are still-life paintings that gained popularity during the Renaissance. They serve to remind us of the vanity of life – we need to appreciate beauty because it is ephemeral.
Sarah enjoys the technical challenge of painting skulls and moons. She can also step back and recognize that they are outright cool looking. She enjoys thinking about duality, like how…
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May 13, 2021
Victorian Cemetery Symbolism
What do you think of when you hear the word cemetery? Spooky? Do you think history and art museum? If you haven’t, you should! This episode explores some common symbols found in Victorian era cemeteries in the US.
Trigger Warning: Grief, loss, child loss
Some examples of the symbolism covered:
* Broken columns symbolize the end of life, usually one cut short
* Snapped flowers and buds symbolize a life cut short, usually a young one
* Empty shoes, beds, and chairs symbolize the absence of a loved one
* Lambs symbolize innocence and youth
* Doves symbolize purity, peace, and the Holy Ghost
* Wheat is found on the tombstones of those who lived long lives
* Clasped hands symbolize marriage. A hand pointing up shows where the person has gone (Heaven)
* The virtue Hope, is shown with an anchor, a symbol of a good voyage
* An inverted torch symbolizes the flame of life burning on the other side
* Ivy is associated with immortality and fidelity
* Drapes…
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Apr 29, 2021
Sharon Bloom: The Joy is in the Connection
Sharon Bloom is a visual artist and teacher who LOVES Halloween. While her education is in painting and print making, today she is best known in the Halloween art world for her vivid Halloween themed hand-built ceramics. She enjoys clay because it gives her a chance to work dimensional.
A life-long learner, Sharon is always trying out new technology, tools, and techniques. She’s had such variety in her creative journey: painting t-shirts at Nordstrom, painting thousands of cards and buttons by hand, wholesaling, painting animals in renaissance type costumes, and more.
Sharon wants her art to help people feel a sense of joy, hope, and make them smile. It’s more important that people connect to her art than anything else. She is touched that so many of her patrons come back to see her year-after-year.
Halloween is one of her favorite things in life. Her passion started in childhood while trying to fill pillowcases full of candy during trick-or-treating. She spends time with her Ha…
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Oct 30, 2020
Joey Marsocci: Creating Immersive Spooky Experiences
Artist Joey Marsocci is a story teller who uses the mediums of theme park and haunt design, creature fabrication, illustration, writing, acting, cosplay, and more to tell his stories. He’s passionate about building immersive experiences for those who enjoy his strange worlds.
Joey knew he wanted to be in arts and entertainment since childhood. He loved watching scary movies like Jaws and figuring out how they were made. Authors like Jules Vern and Mary Shelley put his imagination into overdrive.
Teaching keeps him evolving as an artist. Art is therapy for him, and he infuses this into his lectures and classes. Students leave his classes with both technical and storytelling skills.
Joey explained theme parks are stories that you can directly interact with. Studying at CalArts gave him the opportunity to work on revisions to the Disney Haunted Mansion and the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction.
Joey’s favorite haunt is located at Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow, NY. It na…
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Oct 30, 2020
Ellen Gee: Producer and Publisher of the Macabre
Ellen Gee has dedicated her life to Halloween. It manifests in her music and fashion choices, home decorating, and career. Ellen is an artist, publisher, writer, and event planner – all in the theme of Halloween and horror.
Ellen has embraced goth since childhood. As a child, she identified with the strong female leads in The Addams Family and The Munsters. Lily Munster and Morticia Addams served as fashion muses to her. In middle school she fell in love with Alice Cooper and started dressing like him. She grew up a rebel, just north of Hollywood. She would run away from home and enjoy the wild life.
Ellen blended her publishing experience and passion for Halloween to create Autumn Brillance (AB), an online magazine dedicated to showcasing beautiful Halloween art. AB focuses on all mediums of Halloween art and spooky stories. Her intention was to do one issue a year, but she’s already decided to add in a Christmas issue.
Ellen’s art business, Macabre Webs, aims to “delight a…
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Oct 20, 2020
Kristen Beason: Bright and Colorful Halloween
Kristen Beason is creating cheeky folk art for Halloween merrymaking. She desires to make the holiday memorable for collectors, friends, and family.
Kristen traces her fascination with witches back to childhood. She enjoyed dressing up as Witchiepoo from the TV show H. R. Pufnstuf. She constantly drew witches on her handwriting paper in elementary school. She loves the illustrations in the children’s book “A Woggle of Witches” by Adrienne Adams. In it you’ll find long and lanky witches flying around and having feasts.
Her mother-in-law recognized her talent for art and taught her to paint over 3 decades ago. She also introduced her to gourds, which Kristen still uses in her art today.
Kristen loves to play in the dirt and garden. At one time she even had a Halloween-themed garden. She recommends the following plants for a creepy look: Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick, black pansies, fiber optic grass, and bat faced cuphea. She recommends the book “Wicked Plants” by Amy Ste…
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Oct 13, 2020
Susie Krichbaum: Creator of the Peculiar
Artist Susie Krichbaum loves to create peculiar creatures with a twist. Not satisfied to create a standard mermaid, Susie sculpted one and gave it anglerfish head. This desire to mix things up is no surprise given Susie’s career history and diverse arts and crafts endeavors.
Susie started her career as a nurse. After she became a mom, she took a break from nursing to be home with her two kids. During that time, Susie was creating part-time and selling at local craft shows.
Instead of going back to nursing, she took a position helping in a special education classroom. She fell in love with education and eventually became an office manager at a high school. While working in education, she became a certified yoga instructor.
Susie loved her job and the people, but it was stressful. Encouragement from a close friend and the support of her husband helped Susie make the decision to resign from the school at do art full-time. Towards the end of her time at the school, creative ideas star…
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Sep 18, 2020
Nancy Malay: Spooky Sweet Creator
Minnesotan artist Nancy Malay has earned her nicknames of “The Christmas Lady” and “The Halloween Lady.” Early American Life magazine named her as one of the best artists in the country. She’s been published in multiple magazines, including five covers of Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts. She describes her Halloween style as “spooky sweet.”
Nancy loves writing craft tutorials. She strives to simplify the artistic process for beginning creatives and to help them avoid pit falls she’s experienced. She loves when people send her pictures of their creations.
One of the defining aspects of Nancy’s work is her rich, detailed clothing. She got her start in creating doll clothing as a child. Her home ec teacher commissioned her to create dresses. Nancy has worked in a bridal shop and theater costuming.
Nancy enjoys collecting Santas. She’d bring them home and make little improvements to them, inevitably leading her to create her own. There are many similarities be…
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Aug 30, 2020
Melissa Belanger: Art Quite Contrary
Artist Melissa Belanger's desire to be contrary is rooted in her childhood. Her mother was supportive but didn't like candy, Halloween, and dolls, which Melissa adores. Melissa created all of her costumes. One of her most memorable was cardboard butterfly wings paired with a snowsuit. Halloweens were often cold in her Wisconsin hometown.
Melissa loved her time as a middle school art teacher. She pushed her students to explore as many mediums as possible and to focus on process over outcome. She was amazed by the skill of her students and how open their minds were. Before going full-time in art, she also worked in a bookstore and an art gallery.
Melissa is passionate about travel. She enjoys checking out places she's seen in movies or heard about in songs. In Ostend, Belgium, she checked out the resort from the 1971 European vampire classic, Daughters of Darkness. Watching tourists on the boardwalk reminded her of Edward Gorey's paintings. She's a fan of artist James Ensor (1860-194…
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Aug 13, 2020
Sian Ellis: Ghosts Everywhere
In this episode, you’ll meet British artist Sian Ellis. Sian is excited to be a full-time artist after years working concurrently in charity events management and art. Sian’s favorite events to produce were Halloween ones. She organized a children’s event that featured the crafting of monster lanterns out of tissue paper and birch. Once the children completed their lanterns, they put fairy lights in them and paraded around to the beats of a steel drum band. One of her favorite grown-up events to plan was a scary movie night in the woods.
Sian has been drawn to spooky stuff, history, and art since childhood. She loved buying ghost books from her school bookfair (she still has the books). She would set up ghost traps around her house (she never caught one). She’d use up her drawing pads and then start drawing in the family books, much to her parents’ dismay. She still loves ghost stories now, in addition to true-crime and horror. She highly recommends the No Sleep Podcast (htt…
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Jul 13, 2020
Karen Steinkraus: Heirloom Victorian Witch Hats
Artist Karen Steinkraus, of The Victorian Witch Hat, uses her experience in theater costume design to create one-of-a kind, jaw-dropping witch hats. Karen started by creating big Victorian hats for theater plays like “Hello Dolly.” She discovered it was a joy to make them. A group of women wearing crazy witch hats for a girls’ night out inspired her to start creating them for use outside the theater.
Karen sews without patterns. This skill commenced in childhood when she learned to make her own Barbie clothes. In addition to sewing, Karen creates using a variety of skills including weaving, sculpting, and painting.
She is enchanted with Victorian handiwork. She loves to stash antiques to put on her hats, using items like jet, feathers, taxidermy, and jewelry. She creates three kinds of hats: typical Halloween, pretty, and authentic hats with antiques/taxidermy. She offers full and fascinator sized hats. The signature of her hats is the ruched style and the curly stems. The ruch…
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Jun 30, 2020
Tom Taggart: Making Monsters and Mischief
A man of many talents and skills, artist Tom Taggart is creating monsters and myths. Tom has a long list of artistic experience, including comic book covers (including Batman, Swamp Thing, and Doom Patrol), toy fabrication, movie sets, mini-golf design, and more. A New Jersey native, he currently lives in North Carolina.
Self-taught, Tom stands out because he always puts his own take on characters. He loves coming up with this own designs and stories. When he was younger, he didn’t think he could make art his career. His friend Dave Devries (author of “The Monster Engine”) helped him realize that art could be his career.
Tom is creating bookshelf monsters, a natural progression of his clocks. These are one-of-kind monsters sculpted into boxes, that can be displayed in between books a shelf. The monsters love to reach outside their barriers. They may transport us to another dimension.
Tom is a fan of classic horror, fantasy, and science fiction. There is a beauty to old monster…
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Jun 13, 2020
Isaac Bidwell: Thrills, Chills, Monsters, and Fun
Isaac Bidwell is a designer and illustrator. The inspiration behind Isaac’s business name, Pickled Punks, comes from side-show specimens that were displayed in jars. Isaac is into side-show gaffs, an example of one is the jackalope. He plans his road trips around weird museums and attractions.
Isaac is inspired by spook shows. Spook shows started in the 1920s as live magic shows with creepy stuff. They eventually evolved into late night movies wildly popular with teenagers. All kinds of crazy stuff went down such as turning off all the lights and squirting the audience with water and telling them it was blood.
Isaac gave some great tips for collectors: get to shows before they open, ask if there is anything in the back, share your interests with the proprietor, and try out multiple search terms online. Isaac collects cryptozoology specimens, horror clippings, oddities, Halloween items, and spook show posters. One of his favorite pieces is a Fiji mermaid sculpture by Cody Ryan.
Isa…
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May 30, 2020
George Coghill: Life of a Monsterologist
George is a monsterologist who studies creatures, creeps, and cryptids. His web site is https://monsterologist.com.
Ever since childhood, his radar has been on to look for Halloween stuff. He doesn’tremember a time he wasn’t completely obsessed. He would even put skeletons and bats on cards he drew for his mother. He dreamed of working for Mad Magazine and illustrating heavy metal covers.
After studying art in school, he did freelance illustration. Unfortunately, he became burnt-out and considered leaving art for landscaping. A musician friend and he made a pact to reboot their creativity by vowing to create something every day and share it.
He started to draw everything that would make 8-year-old George happy – including Halloween, monsters, and skulls. He drew a Big Foot patch which caught a lot of attention online. He originally thought the patches would be a one-time deal. However, he found success with sharing his patches on Kickstarter. This was his gateway to becoming…
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May 13, 2020
Kevin Buntin: It All Started With Clay on a Stick
Today you’ll meet artist Kevin Buntin from Ohio. Kevin creates fantasy, seasonal, and Halloween based sculpture.
Kevin’s childhood Friday nights were spent watching Indiana horror host, Sammy Terry. While watching the movies that gave him nightmares, he would create clay monsters complete with internal organs.
After high school, Kevin wasn’t college bound, so he dismissed going into art as a career. Kevin worked multiple factory and labor jobs, including cleaning up roadkill. After her health crisis, Kevin’s wife helped him remember at one time all he wanted to do was create and write. She encouraged him to go for art full-time.
One of Kevin’s favorite pastimes is researching mythology and fantasy. These help him conjure up his characters. He is a writer and his experience includes writing background information for Dungeons and Dragons.
Kevin loves to create with gourds. When he looks at them, he sees faces. Many of his gourds come from Fulton Farms. Watch out for the on…
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Apr 30, 2020
Amber Leilani: A Doorway to Her World
Meet artist Amber Leilani, a creator of folk surrealist paintings and mixed media. When I met Amber, she was sculpting. Repetitive wrist injuries made sculpting painful for her. She discovered painting is better suited for her wrists and she is obsessed.
Amber recently changed her main focus from Halloween and Day of the Dead to nature-based topics. This change was deliberate. She still likes to have her gothic look come through. One of her favorite things to paint is ladies with skull faces which she often revisits.
She is using her stay-at-home time as an opportunity to take classes, practice, and experiment without the pressure of selling.
Amber reads daily. Her love of the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire inspired her favorite piece of all time. Two of the characters from the books are twins named Jack and Jill. Amber interpreted them as Frankenstein's monsters, with a twist. She made them conjoined (even though they aren’t conjoined in the book).
You'll find her lis…
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Oct 28, 2019
Nicole Johnson: Have Monsters Will Travel
Meet artist Nicole Johnson, monster specialist. Since childhood she has been drawn to creepy stories and things – she doesn’t know why. She jokes that “something’s wrong with me.”
She wanted to make realistic art when she was a student. She tried religious art, but it ended up looking creepy. With experience she came to the realization she is better at making cartoonish art. She has devoted herself to full-time monster making. Her favorites are the classics like werewolves and vampires.
Some of Nicole’s monsters were inspired by environmental disasters. She imagined what chemicals in Lake Erie and Love Canal, NY would look like if they were brought to life as monsters. Love Canal was a housing development built on a chemical plant dumping ground. Tragically the chemicals seeped into the water and inflicted serious illnesses on the townspeople.
It would be bad news if one of her monsters came to life. She said, “…my monsters are kind of mean, if you were to bring one…
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Sep 30, 2019
Gina Iacovelli: The Modern Legacy of Victorian Hairwork
Hairwork is the art of making jewelry and other sentimental objects out of hair. If you like Halloween or history, you’ll start noticing it at oddities shows, incorporated into Halloween art, and at historical museums.
In this episode, we meet hairworker Gina Iacovelli, who helps us experience the sentimentality of this artform. Gina taught herself hairwork from Victorian journals and then created her business of making sentimental and memorial jewelry. She loves expressing the past in modern way.
Hairwork is about sharing love. Just think of how we still save hair from children’s first haircuts today. Gina recommended the book “Love Entwined: The Curious History of Hair Work in America” by Helen Sheumaker to those interested in learning more.
In addition to her hairwork, Gina is an interior architecture designer and creator of The 8th House Collection, a modern mourning and memorial emporium.
Gina grew up outside Gettysburg, PA which helped spark her love of history. She c…
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Aug 31, 2019
Zan Asha: Fairy Tales, Nature, and Halloween
Meet Zan Asha, an artist who is blending fairytales, nature, folklore, and Halloween into her art.
Zan is friendly, fun, and has one of the most interesting family and career stories I’ve ever heard. Zan has done time in corporate life, been a vet tech, directed a dance troupe, written, traveled, illustrated, and kept bees.
Zan’s family is a blend of Hungarian (Slavic), Romany, and Middle Eastern roots. Her childhood was full of fairytales and folk songs from her parents. In addition to fairytales, Zan loves mythology, ancient knowledge, secrets, Alice In Wonderland, Halloween, and forest animals.
Zan grew up in New York City and moved to Florida when she was a teenager. She returned to NYC to study film and theater at NYU. After school, she spent a decade running a dance and theater troupe. After the 2008 recession, Zan moved from dance to bee-keeping as part of an initiative of bringing bees back to the Bronx.
Zan moved back to Florida to care for her parents. A car accident…
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Jul 16, 2019
Cara Bevan: Gourd Life
Listen to this episode to peek behind the vines of gourd life with award-winning gourd artist, Cara Bevan.
I saw Cara’s work for the first time at the 2018 North Carolina Gourd Society Arts and Crafts Festival. I was floored to find such a passionate group of gourd enthusiasts. I knew people made crafts out of gourds – but I didn’t know the extent of it…the creativity includes everything from kids crafts to fine art. Cara brought several amazing Halloween-type pieces of work to the show, including a skeleton that won First Place in the Halloween category.
Cara grew up on an animal rescue farm which sparked her love of nature and animals, the subject of her work. All the animals she creates come across as beautiful and admired, even those traditionally thought of as creepy.
Cara started her career doing acrylic paintings of animals and fantasy creatures. Cara’s grandmother is a gourd lover, having over 3 decades of art and growing experience. In 2007, she gave a Cara a gour…
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Jun 11, 2019
Stacey Walsh: Lover of Old Cemeteries, Handmade, and History
Artist Stacey Walsh is a lover of old cemeteries, handmade goods, imperfection, and history – just some of the things that have led her down the path of Halloween artistry. Stacey creates sewing patterns under her Raven’s Haven brand and art dolls as the Goode Wife of Washington County.
Stacey’s father was instrumental in helping her develop as an artist. He taught her techniques and how to evaluate, critique, and grow. As her family moved around during his military career, they were constantly being exposed to new artists and locations. Stacey’s father once modeled for artist Norman Rockwell.
Surprisingly Stacey was graded “D” on some projects in her Home Economics class. As an adult, Stacey was inspired by her friend and business partner, artist Netty Lacroix, to try making sewing patterns. Her business name, Raven’s Haven, comes from her connection to ravens – her spirit animal. Her Goode Wife name harkens back to colonial days.
Stacey loves the stories old cemete…
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Apr 29, 2019
Amy Schneider: Obsessed Curator and Photographer
Curious about the destinations of Halloween art pieces? The story doesn’t end with the artists finishing the pieces of art…their stories continue in the hands of collectors.
I’m pleased to introduce you to Amy Schneider, one of the most Halloween obsessed people I’ve ever met. Amy has collected Halloween art for over two decades. She is a passionate advocate for original Halloween art and artists.
Amy loves collecting Halloween treasures and oddities and using them to build magazine-cover worthy displays. Each year she conjures up a new theme. Once the display is up, she welcomes community groups, students, friends, artists, and more to come enjoy her collection. You may also see Amy capturing the magic at Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween this year – she’s the show photographer!
When she isn’t busy with Halloween activities, you may find her with her husband and sons, working at the town veterinary clinic with her dad and brother, or taking pictures of shelter pets loo…
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Apr 12, 2019
Avery Applegate: Mourning Glory Jewelry
Avery Applegate is a jewelry artist who loves hunting for forgotten treasures with a dark twist. She mixes these findings into assemblage art jewelry. Avery explores nature, sidewalks, and thrift/antique shops to collect treasures such as photographs, vintage jewelry, bones, and typewriter keys.
Her original jewelry line, Just My Type Jewelry, features vintage typewriter keys. After attending the Ghoultide Gathering Halloween art show, she was inspired to add a darker, more serious line. She named it Mourning Glory Jewelry.
Avery taught art for three decades.
As a child, Avery’s mother needed to check Avery’s pockets before doing her laundry. Avery would bring home shells, bones, nightcrawlers, and more from her explorations of the small family farm. Avery’s mother nurtured her collecting habit. She taught her how to make a ring out of a bone, which Avery still has. Avery’s mother sparked her love of Halloween, reading her bedtime stories that spun-up her imagination.
She l…
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Feb 26, 2019
Tanya Casteel: Painter of Cosmic Animals
My guest for episode 4 was artist Tanya Casteel, painter of Cosmic Animals. Tanya helped us explore what we can learn from animals that are associated with Halloween. I first met Tanya when she was creating beautiful sea-creature pottery through her business, Cephalopod Ink. She wrote and illustrated her first children’s book “Waiting Just for You Lullaby,” after having her daughter. Tanya now works in watercolors and paints animals in a cosmic, galaxy style. She lives in Asheville, NC.
Tanya has been creating since childhood. In college she majored in photography and took ceramic classes. She started her career working in pottery. She does not miss working in pottery; she did it to her fullest and was excited to transition to painting. Her transition to painting was inspired by her mediation practice. During her practice, she was visited by a raven who appeared in the cosmic style she paints in today. Tanya loves animals. Her favorites are raven and octopus.
Tanya explained wh…
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Nov 28, 2018
Joyce Stahl: 20 Years of Enchantment
Episode 3 is a special 20th anniversary celebration. My guest is artist Joyce Stahl, of Enchanted Productions. Joyce’s whimsical dolls are the stitching together of her experiences in theater costuming, 80s hair, teaching, painting, illustration, and a love for Halloween. Joyce will share with us a retrospective of her art journey so far, including two of her mentors who are invaluable to what Enchanted Productions is today. Joyce’s work has been exhibited at Roger’s Gardens, Ghoultide Gathering, and Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween. You may have seen her doll, Mary Venom the Widow Queen in the Fall 2018 issue of Art Doll Quarterly. In addition to her role as an artist, Joyce is a wife, mother, and Ohioan.
Joyce was creative from her beginning. Even from the age of 3, she was drawing all the time. She knew she wanted to be an artist. She learned to sew in home economics class. She still isn’t good at functional sewing (like hemming pants) - her love is in creative sewing. As a…
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Sep 27, 2018
Laurie Hardin: Smiling Halloween Art
Let’s meet artist Laurie Hardin of Monkey-Cats Studio. For over 14 years, Laurie has been creating playful Halloween papier mache figures and paintings. Her work spans from traditional characters like jack o’lanterns, to non-traditional ones like foxes. She has been featured in Art Doll Quarterly magazine and quoted in the book "Halloween Nation" (by Lesley Bannatyne). Laurie has exhibited at several national level Halloween Shows - Halloween and Vine, Ghoultide Gathering, and Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween.
Laurie was an art major at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (undergrad and grad degrees). She started college painting and drawing, but ended up finding fiber arts with a focus on weaving. After creating art and teaching for a few years, she became the curator at the Museum of Nebraska Art. As the curator, she built exhibits by focusing on materials and processes used - while many of her peers were curating from a perspective of philosophy, time, and place. During this…
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Aug 29, 2018
Jennie Hepler-Takens: Affection for Oddity
My guest is artist Jennie Hepler-Takens of Prim Pumpkin. Jennie creates dolls using vintage fabrics and found objects. Jennie's work is beloved by collectors and has been featured in magazines – including the cover of Art Doll Quarterly in Autumn 2016. In 2017, Jennie and her husband, Joe, produced their first Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween show - their take on the magic passed to them after Scott Smith and Bill Gilmore retired the Ghoultide Gathering show.
Jennie creates from a place of childlike wonder. She loves Halloween because it takes us back to a magical time in childhood. She is 100% dedicated to Halloween; even if she tries to create for other holidays, she always finds herself swinging back to Halloween.
Jennie’s work is a family endeavor. As a child, Jennie’s mom took her to a circus side-show, which continues to inspire her. Jennie and her grandmother owned a Victorian gift shop, where she earned her chops in antiques and sourcing. Joe creates the glass eyes for…
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