Halloween Art and Travel - Jennie Hepler-Takens: Affection for Oddity

Jennie Hepler-Takens: Affection for Oddity

08/30/18 • 34 min

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 her work. He understands her obsession for using mismatched David Bowie style eyes. Trips to antique markets with the kids are a common weekend event. Her 5-year-old daughter helps her curate materials for her work-in-progress dolls. Her studio is in her home so the whole family is always connected to it.

The materials used in her work are sourced from all over the world. She lives in a 100-year-old house filled with antiques. She dips into her personal collection for doll materials when the timing is right.

2017 was the first time Jennie and Joe produced Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween. The show has 50 artists from all over the United States. It is more than a show – it is a community. Artists and collectors leave the show charged up for weeks! The show will be hosted in Marshall, Michigan for first time in 2018. Producing a show and art work at the same time is her biggest challenge. The show is like a having a wedding every year – it needs to be magical and beautiful, so it takes a lot of planning.

Jennie is obsessed with side-shows and oddities. Her favorite side-show personality is Jo-Jo the Dog Face Boy. All of us have something inside us that we think is odd. Jennie loves this about people; our quirks make us interesting, embrace them. If Jennie could run off to the circus, she would be the Bearded Lady.

Jennie loves cryptozoology, a subculture of folklore creatures (for example: jackalopes and the Loch Ness Monster). Jennie’s favorite creature is Big Foot – she said, “I’m totally into hairy little beasts...that’s what I love.” That is just one of many reasons to love Jennie and her work.

To learn more about the Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween show, visit the show web site at: http://www.bewitchingpeddlersofhalloween.com. For more on her work, visit http://www.primpumpkin.com/.

Thank you for listening to episode 1. Please check out our website at www.halloweenartandtravel.com and subscribe to the show.

To learn more about the Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween show, visit the show web site at: http://www.bewitchingpeddlersofhalloween.com. For more on her work, visit http://www.primpumpkin.com/.

Thank you for listening to episode 1. Please check out our website at www.halloweenartandtravel.com and subscribe to the show.

Next Episode

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 time she encountered several artists that sparked her interest in papier mâché.

After curating, Laurie dove back into painting. She started selling at local art shows, many of them in the fall. She did fall florals which lead her to start painting Halloween figures. Her adventure in Halloween papier mâché figures was launched when she got the bug make her figures come alive in 3D. She was proud of her first figures at the time, but now laughs that "they were pretty bad." Her husband, Kelly, still puts out Petey, one of her first figures.

A cracking issue lead Laurie to start researching solutions. During the search she found Johanna Parker, a well known artist who loves Halloween. She made several artist contacts which lead to an invite to join EHAG (Eclectic Halloween Artists Guild). EHAG opened many doors for her and put her into an enthusiastic Halloween community.

Halloween and Vine in California was Laurie's first exclusively Halloween show. She and Kelly were overwhelmed with the positive response of the collectors. Laurie's Halloween sales outpaced her Christmas work. Halloween allows her to create virtually anything while Christmas is more restricted to Santas, snowmen, etc.

Laurie's collectors make her giggle almost everyday. It helps her work harder to bring a great collection every year. The joy Laurie's collectors bring to her is reflected the distinct smile that is a hallmark of her work.

Laurie's lastest work has a strong cirus influence. Laurie has loved the circus ever since visiting one for the first time as a child. Mike Wolf and Frank Fritz's personal vintage circus collection at the American Pickers store amazed her.

Laurie shared some trends she is seeing in Halloween art. Johanna Parker is adding a 1940s minty green into her palette. Popular commercial palettes are being worked into both Halloween and Christmas art. She's also seeing a lot of anthropomorphic work, the mixing of human features into animals. Photographers like Victor Vague are bringing back historical photographic processes.

The name Monkey-Cats Studio is inspired by their two cats, Jake and Elwood (yes, like the Blues Brothers). Jake and Elwood were naughty kittens. They had tiny bodies and long tails. When they would walk by, all Laurie and her husband would see was their oversized tails. Laurie and Kelly started calling them the "monkey boys." The name stuck and evolved into "monkey cats." Jake and Elwood are key members of the Monkey-Cats team. They play with paint brushes, climb Laurie, and drink paint water.

Laurie doesn't have a favorite Halloween character. She loves to make pumpkin figures, skeletons (she calls them skellies), Frankensteins (and his bride), and cats. One of the most unusual characters she made was a baby monkey.

Her most treasured Halloween childhood memory was making popcorn balls with her mother. Her mom's popcorn balls were so fabulous neighborhood kids would go home, change, and come back for a second round. Laurie and Kelly still love handing out candy for trick or treat. She loves to give out handfuls of candy.

If you are interested in Laurie's work, visit her blog (http://lauriehardinsaccents.blogspot.com/) and find her on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MonkeyCatsStudio/).

Thank you all for joining this Monkey-Cats adventure today! Visit my web site at www.halloweenartandtravel.com for more details on the show. Support the show subscribing to the podcast and by following us on Instagram and or Facebook (linked off the website www.halloweenartandtravel.com). Join us next month to meet another surprise artist who exhibits at Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween!