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Produced By Jennifer Cushman •
Photography by Borella & Company
 Artist's Profile
“I admire folk art. I collect
folk art. There are times in my life when it’s
consumed me,” says
self-taught artist Sarah Ackerman-Hale with a laugh. “Nothing
gets my
heart racing more than a sunflower and a black crow.”
Walk into
Sarah’s home studio in Spring Hill, Kansas, and you’ll find an eclectic
collection of Halloween folk art on year-round display. An autumn
palette of
pumpkin, butternut, eggplant, and black sustains her through
winter and inspires
her in the spring. “I think people respond to folk
art because the colors and
shapes are so accessible. There’s nothing
intimidating about it. It’s just a
pure, passionate gift from the
artist to the world.”
Sarah has parlayed her
passion for art into a
career as a professional designer for Junkitz and a
co-owner of Rustic
Artisans, an online card-making and mini-book club. She and
artist
Andrew Hale, her husband of seven years, recently created a line of
primitive papers inspired by their shared love of folk art
imagery.
Haunted House
(a) Artist Andrew Hale, Sarah’s husband, created this
spooky
manor from an old cigar box and strips of wood veneer.
Architectural elements
include a foam-core chimney, miniature dowel
rods framing the front door, and a
diminutive knocker. A vintage spiral
button glued onto a chipboard octagon
becomes the upstairs window.
Black spray paint (sanded to soften the color)
unifies the project. A
black scaredy-cat in the window, drawn with a Sharpie
pen, adds the
final flourish. sources Knocker Foof-a-la, foofala.com.
Boo Crew
(b) Sarah dedicated her scrapbook to her cousins, Oliver and
Laura,
and her “insane-in-a-good-way” Aunt Marcia. While working on
this scrapbook,
Sarah simmered her creative juices by first making
embellishments out of snips
and scraps as she mulled over her
journaling. sources Alphabet stamp, Ma Vinci’s
Reliquary, crafts.dm.net.
Tricks and Treats page
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