We are firmly in spooky season, as the kids call it, with Halloween just a few days away. And to celebrate, an Arizona artisan who specializes in spooky art year-round joined The Show.
Ashley Pennington turns reclaimed wood and preserved pumpkin stems into glow-in-the-dark Halloween decor, but she also makes some eye-catching gothic keepsakes: creepy dolls. And we mean creepy.
These are mostly antique porcelain dolls that are each upcycled and unique, complete with what’s called “corpse paint,” you know, the white face and black eyes of someone in the band Kiss or the Valley’s own Alice Cooper.
Full conversation
ASHLEY PENNINGTON: It's funny because KISS is the most mainstream, like, idea that people get when they see the dolls and the face paint. ... But it's funny because KISS is so disco, and the corpse paint that I'm inspired by is more black metal-oriented. And, black metal has, like, Norwegian roots and, like, decades of lore behind it. So, it's interesting.
GILGER: Yeah, and I want to get into that in a moment too. But, OK, you've brought many of these dolls in here for us. ... You've painted them with the corpse paint. But, beyond that, I mean, they're sort of recognizable. These are like kind of, you know, beautiful, old fashioned, probably antique porcelain dolls.
PENNINGTON: Yes, exactly. My goal is to not only have dolls, but also other antiques and figurines — I do that as well. But, to take these things that might already be a little bit creepy, keep that essence of them. And then resurrect them with their own style or whatever kind of speaks to me when I'm working on the doll. For example, one of them I based off of old pirates. ... She has pennies on her base and she has skulls on her shoes, a crab on her necklace, hidden weapons and a bird skull on her hat.
GILGER: So, you have various versions of these here, and we'll talk about some more of them as well. But let's back up for a moment and just talk about how you got into this, Ashley. You said you're kind of inspired by black metal, what's that?
PENNINGTON: Yeah, black metal is a subgenre of metal that is darker. It's a little heavier than, like, mainstream radio. But there's so much horror lore. And then, of course, there's not-savory elements in there. And, so, there's a lot of research that I go through to make sure the bands that I reference, the face paint, if I have any inspiration from a band, I make sure it's not — the methodology that they believe in, if it doesn't align with mine, I won't use that.
So, I'm very picky about what black metal reference. But, just the lore behind it is what really interests me.
GILGER: So, all of this is upcycled, right? These are antique dolls. You know, all the materials are found or you have, right? Where do you get these old dolls to begin with?
PENNINGTON: Yeah. So. first, I do partner with a local estate sale company. When I would go to estate sales and thrift stores, there would always be things that would just sit on the shelves. And, like, people look at, they think it's cool, they walk by, they don't buy it. And, like, it kind of hurt my heart thinking, like, "Someone loved that item." They spent X-amount of dollars on it. They had it in their house for eons. Like, grandmothers might buy their dolls and, like, it's pristine. You grow up seeing it. And then once you're out of that phase, where does it go?
GILGER: Yeah. So, what you're doing here is sort of, I guess, spiritual in a way, right? You talked about bringing these dolls back to power. You've talked about how you do some kinds of cleansing practices to make sure that there's no negative energy around them.
PENNINGTON: Yes.
GILGER: How does that work?
PENNINGTON: So, just being mindful of all, like, beliefs, of course. My personal belief is that there's more than just this physical realm. So, when I get them in their original form, I'll let them sit outside for 12 hours. Six to 12 hours, to let them, like, get fresh air, like, acclimate.
And then when I start to clean them, like with water or vinegar, I'll, like, burn locally-sourced palo santo or cedar or just different herbs that help cleanse energy and smudge negative stuff out.
So, I try to keep them as new in a form as possible to resurrect it.
GILGER: You've mentioned this idea, when you spoke with our producer, of a spooky community, right? Like, that this fits into and that you're a part of. What's that look like? Is this a broad community? Is it online? Is it here in the Valley?
PENNINGTON: So, it's a community I had no idea was here in Arizona until a few years back, getting into this and involved in art more. I call it the Arizona horror community. It's a bunch of vendors that are artists, and then you have another group who are cosplayers. And cosplayers, like, they dress in "costumes," but become the character, and they can go really in depth with it. It's a whole other art form in itself.
And then you have just the horror genre fans that are — if you're not an artist, you are a collector. And I've grown up — my birthday's in October, so I've always been a little spooky. I always like horror movies. Like, that's a comfort for me. But there's more people like that out here.
GILGER: That's fascinating, though. So, like, someone like me who, like, I can barely get through, like, "Scream." Right? How do you explain that to folks who don't understand that at all? Like, something that is scary or shocking or dangerous, in a way is sort of comforting to you. How?
PENNINGTON: I'm not sure. I have to call my therapist, like, you know. But, I've also been a scare actor before, and ironically, one of my characters was a porcelain doll. I was at the 13th Floor a few years back, and I did three seasons back-to-back.
GILGER: Scare actors, we should say, are like actors who work inside of a haunted house, essentially, right?
PENNINGTON: Yes. ... Also known as haunt actors, where they dress up in costume and scare you.
GILGER: So you like this scary stuff. I love that. Do you think people are ever surprised that somebody who's into creepy stuff like you is like, you know, this kind of bubbly person?
PENNINGTON: I do. When I was younger, I wasn't as nice, and I feel like now I get the choice of how I want to be, and I think there's not enough kindness in the world right now. So, I like to keep myself this way. ...
GILGER: Well, it's a very cool thing. Ashley Pennington, the founder and creator of Sustainably Creative, joining us to talk about her creepy dolls. Ashley, thank you so much for coming and I really appreciate it.
PENNINGTON: Oh, it's an honor, Lauren. Thank you so much.
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