Maine artist Stacy Howe is an artistic alchemist. Her drawings meld Surrealistic and Victorian themes, from dreams and dark humor to elements from the natural world and other seemingly random ideas. She calls her largely black and white works “sanguinary assemblages on paper.” No matter how they’re described, they’re compelling and, perhaps, a little menacing.

“I’m inspired by many things,” Howe says. “I’m very interested in nature, our fear of nature, as well as Victorian material culture. I love the Gothic tropes, moody atmosphere and psychology of the era.”

Howe builds three-dimensional models constructed of paper and objects she wants to draw. She then cuts and layers the images to create a finished piece. Her works can combine pencil, charcoal, pen and ink as well as acrylic, iodine, and even blood. “I draw very non-traditionally,” she says. “I’m more like a draftsman. I’m very organized, I make cut-outs and rearrange them. They reflect my own personal lexicon.”

Howe’s lexicon is diverse; history and New England’s natural world figure prominently in her work. Raised in Northborough, Massachusetts, Howe once explored local woods and apple orchards as a child; she now prefers living on the coast, in Portland, Maine. “The ocean is so much part of life here,” she says. “I could never be landlocked.” She studied history before receiving a bachelor’s degree in studio art from University of Massachusetts, Boston (and later a master’s degree in studio art from Maine College of Art). Historic research—eclectic subjects range from London’s Great Smog in 1952 to Boston’s Great Molasses Flood of 1919—is an important part of her process; she’s especially fascinated with Surrealistic themes like death, horror, and the occult. “I have many similarities with them in my subject and practice,” she says.

Stacy Howe, FUSELAGE OF ANTIQUES AND MEMORABILIA 2015, ink, charcoal, graphite, acrylic on paper, 48” X 60”

A fan of Law and Order reruns, Howe employs the same clinically detached observation of death and horror in her work as a television cop. Her fantastical images unexpectedly pair these themes with beautiful or fanciful images like jewels, animals or flowers. “I’ll create a dead body with occult objects arranged around it in a matter-of-fact way,” she says. Her work has evolved according to what she interprets as horror. “I like the idea that horror can be the anticipation of something happening,” she says. “I like creating that bridge for the viewer so they can anticipate and bring their own ideas to what’s happening.”

Howe’s work has been featured in numerous group and individual shows around Maine, including the Portland Museum of Art‘s 2015 Biennal. Her work is included in the ArtPM Challenge exhibition at the Buoy Gallery in Kittery, Maine, through April 30; and in Bared, an exhibition at the Ground Floor Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee, starting in August 2017.

Stacy Howe — artist from Portland, Maine
Website

Top Image: Piñata Seal 2014, ink, acrylic, charcoal, pencil, 22” X 38”

The post The Artistic Alchemy of Stacy Howe appeared first on Take Magazine.

For the horror-obsessed New Englander, there’s really only one film to come out in the last year that deserves a proper evening viewing during the final days of our spooky season – Robert Eggers’ “The Witch”.

“The Witch” is a mid-1600s period piece following a puritan family in New Hampshire who, for mysterious reasons, were exiled from their community. Throughout the beginning portion of the film, we see the family battling the unforgiving, unsettled deep New Hampshire terrain, forced to reckon with rural New Hampshire’s unforgiving soil and punishing weather. It is in this remote, dark and ominous wood where the family has a truly disturbing run-in with a…well, you get the idea.

The film’s original title was “The VVitch: A New England Folktale”, which perfectly captures what’s so disturbing about the film – its authenticity, familiarity, and believability. The truly horrific moments in “The Witch” have little to do with gore, jump scares or spooky theme music. “The Witch” terrorizes viewers with its pensiveness, its ambiance, and chilling depictions of an old world where a benevolent God of the New Testament isn’t the only governing force. The film slowly leads you through a story about loss, faith, man versus nature, and mysticism. We helplessly watch in horror as characters make damning decisions out of desperation and exhaustion, leading to an end that must be seen, not explained, in order to be fully understood.

All these elements of the film are intensified if you’re a New Englander. Everyone’s heard of the Salem Witch trials, but folks from New England have a special connection with that sordid time in our history. It’s a part of our cultural consciousness, and is uniquely embedded in the physical spaces we still move through today. It’s safe to say that most of us have some sort of spooky, inexplicable story related to the menacing woods on a New England neighbor’s property.

Still from “The Witch”, 2015

Though he personally does not identify as a practicing witch, New Hampshire native Robert Eggers is still a great person to tell this story since he understands how New Englanders are connected to this disturbing history. The director uses his relationship with the subject matter as a motivator, aestheticising it, albeit a bit stereotypical, through precise recreation and familiar storytelling, as he told The AV Club, “…My earliest nightmares were about witches, and witch nightmares led to an interest in witches since forever. New England’s past was always very much a part of my childhood consciousness. If you grew up in rural New England, it was unavoidable, with the dilapidated colonial farmhouses and so on. But I had my own idea of New England’s mythic past, and the woods behind my house seemed haunted by the past to me.”

Apart from the familiar story and the setting, the film feels real. It’s well known that Eggers spent nearly four years on-and-off researching every aspect of the film. Eggers ensured that everything from the hand-stitched clothing to the dialogue, lifted, in most cases, directly from journals and court transcripts, were authentic not solely for the sake of realism, but to ensure an immersive viewing experience. “I have to really bring them back to the 17th century when that existed.” said Eggers, “I have to get all the details right in order for you to actually believe. It’s not just accuracy for its [own] sake.”

You can watch Robert Eggers “The Witch” on several streaming platforms now, or head to your local library and snag the DVD for free.

All photos courtesy IMDB

The post Watch: Robert Eggers “The VVitch” appeared first on Take Magazine.