Jerome’s historic “Spook” Hall, officially the Richard Lawrence Memorial Hall, was transformed into “Spook Hallows Playground — a gallery of haunting imaginative works” by artists from Cottonwood’s Muse Studio 735 from Friday to Sunday Oct. 14 to 16.
Ceramics artist and Muse co-founder Elizabeth Gerstner said the group has presented similar shows to the community in recent times, traveling as far as Carefree.
For the Spook Hallows event, Gerstner was joined by co-founder Jeremia “Mia” Sunfellow, who is also the lead tattoo artist and co-owner of ARTery Tattoo.
Additional artists included Joanne “Jo” Agostinelli, Theresa Faulkner and David Moldt.
Sunfellow’s works included Dia de los Muertos-themed floral crowns and original paintings.
The floral crowns were originally created for the Dia de los Muertos event at Tlaquepaque in Sedona, which until a couple of years ago featured an artist’s market in addition to its colorful vignettes and Marigold Mural Project.
“I’ve been doing the crowns for seven years now, but I’m planning on retiring from that,” Sunfellow said. “My entire business model was based entirely on the Tlaquepaque event, but they’re not doing [the market] anymore.”
Sunfellow said that event “had almost 100,000 people and the traffic was backed up for miles, they had to shuttle people in, and so they had to rethink the entire thing.”
As Sunfellow spoke about traffic congestion in Sedona, the streets of Jerome were relatively quiet on the second night of the event.
Agostinelli debated whether to don full makeup and costume for the night’s feature, a zombie-themed flash mob entitled “Fright Fest.”
“There aren’t many people out tonight,” she remarked.
However, after her fellow zombies arrived, Agostinelli decided to go for it.
When Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” began to play, Agostinelli found herself leading the conga line, shouting, “If the spirit moves you, then by all means, dance!”
Agostinelli’s zombie friends included Nora Bolles, a local musician, photographer John Morey and Mark and Sandy Gifford.
Artist Theresa Faulkner works on a wood-burning piece at the show. Daulton Venglar/ Larson Newspapers
Decorating Mannequins
Before his current work, which involves collecting and decorating “Forgotten Manikins,” the event’s featured artist David Moldt was a hair stylist and former owner of a salon in Sedona.
After selling his salon a few years ago, Moldt was inspired to work with mannequins after seeing one that had been decorated with words and model’s faces.
“I thought it was so cool, but it cost like $4,000 or something and I thought, well I can’t afford that, so…
“I’ve been learning a lot; [Muse] accepted me into the group and I’ve been working hard for the last few months.”
Moldt’s hard work led him to produce a rather sizeable collection consisting of eight full-bodied mannequins and more than 20 smaller ones.
Moldt said that his work has helped him get through the difficulty of losing his mother and spouse.
“I’ve had a few years to sort of, get through it, but this last year … it has just helped so much,” he said.
Moldt’s intricately decorated creations varied in theme; however, many of them looked as though they were especially tailored for Halloween.
“I wanted to be a Hollywood horror makeup artist,” he said. “When the [Muse] girls said, can you make something scary, I was like, are you serious?!”
Moldt’s process combines decoupage, painting and sculpting.
“When I start, they’re all white,” he said of the mannequins. “I use clay … prosthetics. When I started doing this I thought, I have something here, and I never stopped.”
“This is [Moldt’s] debut,” Gerstner said. “He’s the one that kinda made the show.”
Additional activities took place throughout the weekend, including artist demonstrations and an original artwork raffle contest.
For more information about the artists, visit the-muse-gallery.com
