The Circus Of Lost Dolls

Beautiful works by Marianna Nardin.

Thanks, Revenant Manor, for the heads up!

Click here to see more.

The Dean Of American Craftsmen

We traveled to Malvern, PA recently to visit the amazing Wharton Esherick Museum.  From their website:

Wharton Esherick (1887 – 1970) was an internationally significant figure in the landscape of art history and American modern design. As a sculptor, Esherick worked primarily in wood and extended his unique forms to furniture, furnishings, interiors, buildings, and more. His motto, “If it’s not fun, it’s not worth doing,” is evident in the joyful expression of his work. Now recognized as a leader of the studio furniture movement, Esherick saw himself as an artist, not a craftsman, and his concern was with form, not technique. He pursued his artistic vision in forms that might turn to furniture or other sculptural furnishings. More importantly, these were but one aspect of his art complemented by the paintings, prints, drawings, poetry, and sculpture he also created.

As a guy who creates organic stuff from old wood, I was in a blissful trance for the entire tour through this home.  As Jenna put it, "It's like stepping into a contemporary witch's cottage."  And that's totally the vibe you feel when you arrive and see the crooked architecture outside, and then again when moving slowly through each gorgeous room of Esherick's home.  A highly recommended destination for sure.

Below are some photos she took.

More information here.

Memories Of Halloweens Past

The next submission for this fun feature (suggested by Mr. Macabre) comes to us from artist Jerem Morrow.  His nostalgic Halloween possession was given to him back when he was 15 years old, as payment for cleaning the house for one of his mom's friends.  "I'd never seen anything that embodied my sense of Halloween spirit so thoroughly," he shared.  "As an artist myself, I've drawn and sculpted many spooky pieces and this still remains the pinnacle of High Holiday art for me."

As a Halloween blogger since 2007, I have seen my share of ceramic Halloween decor and I have never come across anything quite like this.  It is packed with Old School Halloween charm, and it feels like something you'd see in October in the window of a shadowy house on some lonely leaf-filled street.

Click here for Jerem's Instagram account.

For anyone interested in submitting, you can email me at pumpkinrot @ gmail . com (remove the spaces, of course!)

Gods Below

Beautiful works made with my favorite ingredients.

Click here to see more.

Neil Eyre Designs

Very neat Halloween critter.

Click here for the shop.

Rag And Bone

Works by Jana Seven.

More pieces here.

The Twisted Evil Skull Tree Of Tormented Death

Thanks, Wren!

Image source.

Ghyslaine Et Sylvain Staëlens

More images here.

And their IG here.

Mercer Museum

Saw some neat stuff yesterday...

The Mercer Museum is a six-story reinforced concrete castle designed by Henry Mercer (1856-1930) and completed in 1916.  Today, it is one of Bucks County’s premier cultural attractions and a Smithsonian affiliate.

The museum complex features local and national traveling exhibits, as well as a core museum collection of over 50,000 pre-Industrial tools. This permanent collection offers visitors a unique window into pre-Industrial America through sixty different crafts and trades, and is one of the world’s most comprehensive portraits of pre-Industrial American material culture. The museum also features a research library that is a center for local history related to Bucks County and the surrounding region, with its roots dating back to the founding of the Bucks County Historical Society in 1880.

More information here.