Magic Mind helped fuel our noggins during the making of this episode -to give your brain some choice fuel, use ARTSLICE20 for 20-48% off your order!

VIDEO VERSION HERE: https://youtu.be/9Y4po7xiX5o

We’re back with the 2nd dose of our CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE series, featuring the mysterious 1944 lithograph “Whodunit?” by artist, illustrator, printmaker and children’s book author: Wanda Gág!

We also discuss her work bringing German fairy tale energy to children’s literature in “Millions of Cats” from 1928.

In this episode, we discover Wanda Gag’s life lesson through her winding, warping, wonky, and wobbling images of interiors and landscapes.

Wanda was raised in a Bohemian community of German immigrants in New Ulm, Minnesota, in a house built and designed from scratch in the Queen Anne style by her artist father, Anton Gag.

Wanda’s story really is that of a modern fairytale involving a magical childhood, German Märchen, creative energy, (unfortunately) tragedy, and a coming of age lesson we can all glean from: life is what you make it and despite the forces telling you otherwise, it CAN be full of whimsy and creativity.

Her struggle as a young artist doing commercial work to stay afloat while attending the Art Students League in NYC NYC reminded us a lot of Dorothea Tanning’s story - finding yourself working odd jobs like ‘lamp shading’ for Wanda or serving canapes to men in suits dressed in hula skirt like Dorothea.

The grind is part of being an artist, or really most of us, in the modern world and we found Wanda’s story not only relatable but extremely relevant to our times.

As we learned more about her ethos and way of working, we found that she and Charles Burchfield, another Art Slice fav (ep 12) have SO MUCH in common: their works come from hours of observation of their subjects, beit the mundane indoors or sublime outdoors, and their results complement one another, yin and yang, if you will.

Topics include Howard, non-euclidian fun, Russell’s version of “Kiss the Girl”, dog stables, bedazzled witch boots, and grey soup.

MUSIC:

"FIRE WALK WITH ME" by Kenobit - kenobit.bandcamp.com

Magic Mind helped fuel our noggins during the making of this episode - to give your brain some choice fuel, use ARTSLICE20 for 20-48% off your order!

ᓚᘏᗢ Special thanks to the folks at the Wanda Gag House - click here to learn more ᗢᘏᓗ

Our SCARY releases continue . . . well, RE-RUN in this case.

WATCH HERE: https://youtu.be/hYONIhxxKUQ

In celebration of our new 2025 Creature Double Feature episodes, we went back to the vault and added VISUALS to our Creature Feature episode with Japanese printmaker Hokusai (1760-1849) and Celtic Spook School alum Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1864-1933) and their terrifying contributions to spooky art history.

Both works were inspired by female protagonists who were WRONGED: one from ancient Japanese folklore and the other via the imagination of a fascist Italian playwright.

Real talk: this was one of our favorite episodes we recorded years ago! Hope you enjoy it, NEW EPISODE OUT SOON. <3 Russell + Stephanie

We are back with another edition of our CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE where we discuss TWO different artworks by TWO different artists and compare what makes them so terrifying!

Video version ⟶ https://youtu.be/NpOsfts4sgU

Usually, we are able to squeeze them into one episode but not this time!

And we kick off our 2025 CDF edition with illustrator, painter, and stained glasser Harry Clarke (1889-1931).

Harry hailed from Dublin, Ireland and grew up during the Celtic Revival.

Harry was just as popular for his book illustrations during the Golden Age of gift-books as well as his other-wordly religious stained glass in churches.

While his masterpiece is the Geneva Window, a breathtaking example of Harry’s skill and mastery of stained glass, we will be focusing on an illustration from the book of Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allen Poe (1919, 1923).

Yes, horror-ific Edgar. Allan.Poe.

The work in question is that of “King Pest” from 1919, a story about two drunken sailors bumbling about a 19th century plague-stricken London.

Sounds chill but the combo of grim and gory Poe plus Harry’s scary talent of visualizing such tales will give you the heebie-jeebies (not all speaking from experience 👀).

Click PLAY if you dare and get ready to be HARRY-FIED!

Topics include E-Girl socks, El Chavo del Ocho, island getaways, pampooties, Derry Girls, Guinness, TB vaccines and much, much more!

Song: "Yesterday" by Holiznacc0 https://holiznacc0.bandcamp.com/track/yesterday