 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  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  

Halloween Art and Travel

Paskalini Savopoulos: Broomsquire

 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.   

Jennie Hepler-Takens: Sculptor of Stories

 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.   

Lurena Williamson: Passion for Textiles and Textures

 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  

Dennis Haynes: Halloween Renaissance Creative

 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  

JR Pepper: Professional Eccentric

 “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 found jumping around like “ninnies” when they make a new rare find.   This team specializes in Colonial gravestones. Gravestones from this era are made from sandstone or slate in a shape that resembles a headboard. They are decorated with images of death and morality, with symbols such as winged hourglasses, imps, coffins, and skulls. These symbols remind us to take care of our immortal souls. As long as these stones stand, they continue to communicate about the persons that rest under them.   Brenda’s cemetery love is seen in all aspects of her life. She once owned a hearse and rented out rides. She collects cemetery and funeral antiques. Her tattoos are gravestone symbols.    Brenda has never regretted visiting a cemetery. There’s something to enjoy at all of them. There are as many cemeteries to be explored as there are grains of sand.   You can find Brenda and team at https://www.gravestonegirls.com.   

Gravestone Girls: Cemetery Art and History Devotees

 Becky Kilimnik spent her childhood listening to storytellers in Tennessee. This helped form her passion for spooky art, design, and podcasting. Becky now owns a graphic design studio in Atlanta, GA. When she's not busy designing, she loves to listen to tales of the paranormal.  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 part of the culture. Tennesse is full of spooky stories of hell hounds, Big Foot, and tales of jilted lovers. Becky believes the blend of cultures, isolation, and being in tune with nature have melted together to create an environment for the best stories.   Becky recommended these artists, galleries, and festivals:  http://www.havenartgallery.com (Gallery in Northport, NY)  https://www.dorothycircusgallery.uk  (Gallery in London and Rome)  https://www.instagram.com/jm.aguado/ (Artist Jesus Aguado)  https://www.instagram.com/nicolasbruno/ (Artist Nicolas Bruno)  https://www.izaoctober.com (Artist Iza October)  https://witcheswynd.com (Halloween storytelling event in Kingsport, TN)  https://www.storytellingcenter.net/the-festival/ (International Storytelling Festival in TN)  Becky and Diana Doty cohost the personal ghost stories podcast, Homespun Haints. Listen to episode 20 to hear tales of her haunted art gallery. Becky creates original art for each podcast episode. You can find her podcast at https://homespunhaints.com.  

Becky Kilimnik: Spooky by Design

 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 poisonous plants are beautiful, but harmful if used incorrectly.   Sarah grew up and earned her undergraduate degree in art while living in Michigan. She attended grad school in Memphis, where she did her thesis on horror art. She now resides in Washington, DC, where she can indulge her love of museums. Regular visits to museums keep her energized.   You learn more about Sarah and her work at https://www.garlandsgravestones.com/  

Sarah Boyce: Seasonal Folklore and Celebration

 What do you think of when you hear the word cemetery? Spooky? Creepy? 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 United States.    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 and veils represent the passage from Earth to Heaven   Visit the Resources section of my web site to download a PDF with my photography of these symbols.   The following artists are mentioned in this episode:  Empty chair paintings – Amy Markham  Inverted torch necklace – Arcana Obscura   Hands pointing up clay imprints – Grey Squirrel Studio 

Victorian Cemetery Symbolism

 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 Halloween collection on a daily basis. She believes that collecting is a way to surround herself with her Halloween friends.   She recommended the succulent, Black Prince Echeveria, and the work for her late friend, Christine Phelps.   Check out Sharon and her work at http://www.sharonbloom.com/  

Sharon Bloom: The Joy is in the Connection

 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 naturally feels creepy, foreboding, and dreadful to him. He’s had his own paranormal experiences there. Everything in the haunt is connected back to author Washington Irving and his time period. Joey is an actor at the haunt and creates custom monsters for it. Joey doesn’t break character when he is acting. He reminds himself that “monsters don’t get sick of being monsters” to keep himself from getting fatigued.   Joey finished the show by giving us an overview of his latest secret project at the Curioporium.   Check out Joey and his work at http://www.grymmstudios.com   You can find the Curioporium at https://www.curioporium.com   

Joey Marsocci: Creating Immersive Spooky Experiences

 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 and disturb” collectors. She uses paint and clay to bring odd and strange characters to life. Pumpkins are some of her favorite things to create.  Ellen is obsessed with Halloween art shows around the country. Since there wasn’t one in her hometown of Nashville, she got busy and started her own. Monsters and Merriment started with seven vendors and now is up to over thirty. While mostly known for country music, Nashville has a large horror art and rock scene. In addition to Halloween and horror art, the show has live music (such as the Celtic Secret Commonwealth), storytellers, and movies. Ellen is super excited to commence planning for the 2021 show.   Connect with Ellen:  Her art: http://macabrewebs.blogspot.com  Monsters and Merriment: http://www.monstersandmerriment.com  Autumn Brillance: https://autumnbrilliancemagazine.blogspot.com   

Ellen Gee: Producer and Publisher of the Macabre

 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 Stewart.   Kristen orchestrates an annual family Halloween dinner that we can all take inspiration from. Some of her themes were: Witches Dinner, Harry Potter, Gala in the Graveyard, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Full Moon Feast. The whole family gets in on the preparation, assisting with both the food and decorating.   Kristen loves the style of Tim Burton. Every year on Halloween, she watches the Nightmare Before Christmas. She will only watch it once a year to keep it special. Kristen encourages all of us to create our own holiday traditions and to save room for dessert.   Visit Kristen at https://kristenbeason.blogspot.com. She’s also on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/kristenbeason/.   

Kristen Beason: Bright and Colorful Halloween

 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 started to arrive to her more frequently.   Susie still has a hand in education. She loves being part of the Creative Paperclay Design team. She creates tutorials to help new and experienced sculptors create seasonal projects.  Susie’s creative outputs are diverse: sculptures, dolls, bags, floorcloths, and more. She’s been told it is better to specialize, but she craves the variety. She is doing what fulfills her right now, and if that stops working, she’ll adapt.   Jack-o'-lanterns are her favorite Halloween characters to create. She loves to create art dolls that have a sense of movement. Susie has drawn and sculpted mushrooms since she was a child. Some of her mushroom caps look like witch hats. Any witches she creates are friendly and nurturing.   Susie’s love of Halloween shows up in her travel bucket list. She would love to visit Ireland (her ancestors are Irish), Wales, and Salem. She often listens to Irish music while she is creating.   Please visit Susie’s web site at: https://www.artbysusiek.com/  

Susie Krichbaum: Creator of the Peculiar

 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 between creating Santas, wizards, and witches. They have pronounced noses, lots of wrinkles, and defining clothing. Nancy says you can have a conversation with her witches over their cauldrons, but if they offer you tea, inspect it before you drink it.   Nancy won a Department 56 Village decorating contest with a spooky water scene. The prize was presented by Olympic Gold medalist Dorothy Hamill and a relative of Charles Dickens. This was the genesis of her spooky scene creation. There’s always a bit of mystery in them – like a door you cannot see behind.   Nancy loves stories. Some of her favorites are Harry Potter, the works of Charles Dickens, Grimm's Fairytales, and the Time-Life Enchanted World book series. Victorian artist John Atkinson Grimshaw’s dark nightscape paintings provide a visual inspiration for her scenes.  She teamed up with artists Joyce Stahl and Laurie Hardin to create the Artistry of Three. They provide each other encouragement and honest feedback and bond over their shared love of chocolate. They have a plethora of collectors in common.   Nancy has two studio assistants, her dog Zoey and a life-size skeleton, Delta Dawn. Delta Dawn was inspired by the country song about a faded southern belle. Unfortunately, Zoey ate Delta Dawn’s rose!   Nancy has been licensed by four companies. The process is time consuming with grueling deadlines but totally worth it. It’s a thrill for her to see her work in stores. She loves meeting collectors at signing events and shows. She is filled with gratitude that people are willing to come see her. She appreciates her collectors because they enable her to do what she loves.  You can find Nancy’s web site at: https://nancymalay.wixsite.com/mysite-1  The Artistry of Three is found at: https://artistryofthree.blogspot.com/  Find the podcast web site at: https://www.halloweenartandtravel.com/  

Nancy Malay: Spooky Sweet Creator

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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Halloween Art and Travel

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