Halloween is the time of year for gore and pumpkins, but it’s also a time for artists to hone inspiration and create art that reflects what the season means to them.
Students were able to do this through an art show hosted by the Booth Honors Program, College of the Arts and the Humanities and Philosophy Program in the North Commons Building. It celebrated various art students at Utah Tech University with a gallery that had multiple forms of artwork including digital, photography, acrylic and ceramic work. The event was judged by Sam Heimer, a Halloween artist from Philadelphia.
Brittany Cowley, a junior art major from Port Aransas, Texas, created two ceramic pieces for the art show.
Cowley said: “When I decided to go to school, I knew I needed to pick a major. I know I like to do crafty things, so I went to the art department and thought ceramics sounded fun.”
Cowley had never touched clay before signing up for classes, and she has enjoyed ceramics ever since.
One of Cowley’s ceramics pieces was a tribute to Día De Los Muertos with fun skeletons and a more upbeat vibe to the art piece. This piece received the third-place award in the show.
The other ceramic piece titled “Forever Mine” captured two hands, both looking dead and realistic. There is a small bottle of poison to establish the fate of the hands.
“I like dichotomy, and so it is like showing a form of tenderness, yet there is a menacing aspect to it,” Cowley said.
Brooklyn Ollis, a sophomore art major from St. George, submitted a pen drawing titled “Sleepy Hallow.” A blank canvas and three pens later, Ollis created a work of art displaying the story of “The Legend of Sleepy Hallow.” This drawing was one of the honorable mentions in the show.
“I love illustration,” Ollis said. “When I think of Halloween, I think of old magazine illustrations they used to do.”
Ollis has been drawing since she was a kid but didn’t start taking it seriously until after she graduated high school. Now, she wants to continue doing art throughout college.
Marcus Wetzel, a junior art major from Lehi, has been an artist since he was a teenager. He submitted an art piece to the show and got his inspiration from old Halloween movies.
Wetzel has always wanted to be an artist and has drawn inspiration from John Singer Sargent and old Walt Disney Studios movies.
His painting submitted to the art show was an inspiration from an old Halloween movie, “Nosferatu.”
“I love old films…I painted ‘Nosferatu‘ because it’s a fun movie, and I just wanted to be spooky,” Wetzel said.
Even though there were prizes given to the awardees, the atmosphere in the showcase was about celebrating each other and this Halloween season.
