Sharon Bloom: The Joy is in the Connection

04/30/21 • 58 min

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/

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/

Previous Episode

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 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

Next Episode

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 and veils represent the passage from Earth to Heaven