Halloween Art and Travel

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....

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 strive...

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....

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...

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 thea...

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 charact...

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 stu...

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't remember 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. ...

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 care...

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...

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 hersel...

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...

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...

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...

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 evalua...

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....

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...

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 w...

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 Enc...

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 seve...

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 Sc...