StoutWORTHY:  A MONSTER Celebration of Craft

StoutWORTHY: A MONSTER Celebration of Craft

Stout Recommended Stand Outs

Halloween By Design 2019 Has It All!

Showcasing talented local designers, chefs and musicians while benefiting local non profits? That crafty combination makes this event a StoutWorthy pick!

 

What’s It All About?

Founded in 2018 by Austin entrepreneur and musician Lurleen Ladd, Halloween By Design is an annual Halloween celebration and fundraiser highlighting the best of Austin designers, chefs and artists. The festive event, inspired by Ladd’s unabashed love of all-things-Halloween, creates a one-of-a-kind Austin Halloween experience while benefiting a roster of non-profit organizations. This year’s event is co-chaired by Kip and Melinda Garvey.

Sure to delight Halloween lovers and film buffs alike, Halloween By Design’s main attraction will offer guests an exclusive opportunity to explore a village of meticulously designed sets inspired by iconic monsters of the silver screen.

Halloween By Design shadowbox at The Hill Country Galleria

Renowned Austin-based film set decorator, Bart Brown (Alita: Battle Angel, Planet Terror, Machete), along with a roster of talented Austin designers, will transform the sprawling venue into an homage to vintage monster-themed films including The Wolf Man (1941), Dracula (1931), The Invisible Man (1933), Frankenstein (1931) and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).

Additional entertainment includes readings from Mood by Moss, fantasy makeup booth by Eleve Cosmetics, casino gaming, live auction led by Heath Hale, and a curated Halloween by Design pop-up store — together, creating an unforgettable night of Halloween fun amongst the backdrop of a beautiful Hill Country venue.

Don’t Miss This Monster Celebration of Craft

When & Where:
October 19, 2019 7 p.m.- 10:30 p.m. Star Hill Ranch in Austin, TX

Featuring:
▪ Spectacular classic horror sets by Bart Brown ▪ Scratch made bites & craft cocktails from renowned local Austin chefs ▪ Aura readings ▪ Fantasy makeup booth ▪ Casino gaming ▪ Live auction ▪ Curated Halloween Shop ▪ Live music from Kelly Willis

Visit the Halloween By Design website to get your tickets now. Come out, have fun & help raise funds and awareness for four Central Texas non-profit organizations: Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM), Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center (HCWC), Goodwill Central Texas and The Shade Project.

Caroline Ladd

 
  ARTIST SPOTLIGHT  
Caroline Ladd

Project:
Monstrous Illustrations
for the Halloween By Design Classic Monster Bash

Design Goal:
My goal for this project was to create portraits of some of the most widely-known classic monster movie characters, so Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf-man, and Bride of Frankenstein. Primarily, I pulled from movies done in the 1930s-1950s, and tried to stick with the originals rather than remakes. I wanted to make illustrations that capture the intense nature of these monster characters, but at the same time, make them very punchy, fun, and colorful!

Inspiration:
I wanted to create illustrations that really captured the classic beauty of the 1900s cinematography that these movies were initially shot in. The characters had to look classic and recognizable, but also have a fair amount and color and flare. While all these movies were initially shot in black and white, the movie poster advertisements were able to be wildly colorful and saturated. So a lot of my inspiration came from studying them and their use of color.

What’s your process?
I like to do a lot of research before I start a project so I can style the piece correctly. So for this one I collected many different screenshots and images from the movies themselves. Then, I looked online to see how other artists had chosen to illustrate these movie characters. That was definitely interesting, because so many of these other artists had looked at these images and created their own unique twist. The characters are just so memorable and interesting that I think many artists are drawn to them. And of course, I watched the movies themselves. Which was very fun because even though I knew the char-acters, I’d not actually seen any of these classic movies before. Watching them and understanding the characters really helped me depict their individual personalities.

Caroline Ladd/s Monstrous Illustrations for the Halloween By Design Classic Monster Bash

Any skills or inspirations from other disciplines you tapped into?
These were all done in markers and pens, a medium that I’m still in the process of learning. I’ve worked with paint in the past and have taken a course in portraiture, and those skills definitely helped. A lot of my previous portraits were done in graphite, so including colors and markers into it was definitely a fun new way of working. I believe some of my past painting experience came through though, and I ended up treating the markers like they were watercolors. I laid down multiple layers to build form, and then worked over the final image with colored gel pens to add details and highlights.

Any struggles along the way?
The Bride of Frankenstein was definitely the hardest, she’s very fair so I had to try a couple different times to make sure that the markers were the correct shade. Getting all her hair in the picture also took a couple tries, though it was wildly fun to draw. Wolf-man’s fur was also tricky, so I had to restart a cou-ple times. Mostly to test out the best way to illustrate a face covered in fur, and still have it be a recog-nizable character.

What do you hope others experience from this work?
These characters are such a big part of the Halloween season, so I hope more artists will be inspired to make their own interpretations on them! And I really hope that people will see these pieces and get ex-cited about Halloween by Design, an event that also does a great job with combining the spooky and scary with beautiful designs. Lastly, I hope that these illustrations help everyone get into the spooky spirit as the Halloween season begins!

Who are your top influencers and why?
I just found the illustrator Adolfo Serra, his work is wildly colorful and playful. What I really enjoy about his work is that he uses a wide range of tools and mediums to make an illustration. I’ve also been heavily influenced by the New York based illustrator, Yuko Shimizu, and her fantastic skill for creating beautiful compositions that are full of colors, movement, and complex line-making.

Check out more of Caroline’s work at: Website: carolineladd.com Instagram: caroline_ladd2973

Check out A Preview

Watch the video for spooky highlights, a fabulous signature cocktail recipe and then visit the Halloween By Design website to get your tickets. Check back often for all the latest updates and more details on the designers, musicians and artists making this a one-of-a-kind, don’t miss Austin event!

 

Austin Visual Designs team Debbie Burns, Pam Kurr and their assistant Karen Jacobs
at Halloween By Design 2018

 
  ARTIST SPOTLIGHT  
Austin Visual Design

Project:
Decor for the Halloween By Design Classic Monster Bash

Design Goal:
To create a magical experience with a precise attention to detail.

Inspiration:
We have worked with Lurleen (Founder of Halloween By Design) for the past several years bringing the amazing vision to life. She inspires us to think out of the box to create the most memorable settings!

What’s your process?
Research location space, site and decor items, as well as online for ideas.

Any skills or inspirations from other disciplines you tapped into?
Set design, set decorator and property master on independent films. Designed and Manufactured our own clothing line and sold to retail national retail stores. Event and holiday decorating and activation for over 30years.

Austin Visual Design adds to the atmosphere at Halloween By Design

Any struggles along the way?
Perfection in a timely manner to make deadlines. Outside of this event are often challenged with change in the weather.

What do you hope others experience from this work?
We want people to experience a departure from the ordinary.

Can you share your design philosophy and/or influences?
When we see the joy in people admiring our work we know we have successfully accomplished creating a memorable experience. We are total opposites and we bring/draw/compliment great ideas from each other.

Check out more of the Austin Visual Design team’s work at: Website: austinvisualdesign.com Facebook: Austin Visual Design

 

Lurleen Ladd, Founder of Halloween By Design

Who’s Behind Halloween By Design?

Founder Lurleen Ladd’s love of Halloween began as a child with annual Halloween parties thrown in her family’s garage, complete with costumes, crepe paper, and bobbing for apples. She continued this tradition with her own children. Over time, the family party became a fundraiser for The Shade Project, a non-profit founded by Lurleen and her husband, Dr. Dan Ladd. Halloween by Design draws on those many past successful events but has expanded to include amazing art and design. Broadening the focus also means bringing more non-profits into the mix to raise much needed funds for local organizations.

Komal Sheth, Spaces Designed Interior Design Studio and Realtor at Engel & Volkers

 
  ARTIST SPOTLIGHT  
Komal Sheth, Spaces Designed Interior Design Studio and Realtor at Engel & Volkers

Project:
Decor for the Halloween By Design Classic Monster Bash

Design Goal:
The goals at Halloween by Design Classic Monster Bash, an immersive Halloween experience and fundraising celebration at the historic Star Hill Ranch, was to transport guests into a spectacular world of classic horror films

Inspiration:
Classic Hollywood Horror films. What more can you ask for?

What’s your process?
The first thing I do is understand the project & the end users’ aesthetic and functional requirements. I then go through my curated set of inspirational images to (re)immerse myself to different thoughts and styles that I can adapt into that project. I’ve also been known to visit certain spaces that have always inspired me. It’s my way of brainstorming and sparking creativity. I tend to visit the space one or more times after the first walk-through, taking pictures of the before space. After that, it’s time to start sketching and drawing the layout to get the thoughts out of the head and on to paper.

Once I have a good handle on the design front, next step is a bit less creative but just as important – creating an outline and a step by step to do list of what needs to be accomplished for the project. A detailed Project Plan in other words. To make the design process more tactile, I like to print the photos, sketches, project specs and the Photoshop slides, so it is all in front of me as I put the elements together. I draw on the white-board in a 3-D or an axonometric view to understand how it will be built and come together. The act of creating the project board helps focus the thoughts and client’s wishes before starting the detailed design.

I start with my favorite task, by starting with a single element around which to anchor the design and that sparks a chain of events that makes the project more enjoyable and free-flowing. Or sometimes, I start with the most difficult task and once that is figured out, that makes me feel accomplished and allows me to enjoy the rest of the project with fewer issues. I make it a point to write down what went well and what needed improvements and I refer to it from time to time while working on new projects. Sometimes it’s good to get a reminder of what you’re capable of – I com-pile some of my best work and think about what made each piece great. Is there something that unites which I can pull from for the new project? Or were they projects that I enjoyed for a specific reason? By examining myself, I might able to replicate the successful outcomes.

Any skills or inspirations from other disciplines you tapped into?
I love the thrill of horror movies, especially the spine-chilling ones you watch on a late Friday night so that definitely helped pull together the Halloween bash.

In my ‘normal’ life, I am also a Real Estate Advisor with Engel and Volkers and have helped Clients buy and sell residential and commercial real estate in the Austin area for the past 15 years. For my Interior Design clients, this gives them the added advantage of working with a Realtor who under-stands what improvements provide the best bang for the buck when it comes to resale. For Real Estate Clients, my Interior Design background provides a significant advantage when it comes to uniting buyers with their dream homes and sellers with maximizing the curb appeal and therefore the sale price. Once Sellers start working with me, they understand how my design background comes in handy and helps them make their home so much more desirable and unique when selling, and how easy it is for them to have a team of people helping them prep and sell their house. Buyers appreciate how I am able to identify unique features of the house and envision potential shifts in space design. With new construction, I am able to help them with all their design selections at the design centers. I am able to see more options (or lack thereof) in any given property. With my interior design experience, I help clients create a vision that matches their preferences. With that common vision, I then and go and identify properties that would fit the vision. The extended Engel and Voelkers network enables me to go a step further and look for many properties in the Austin/Westlake area even before they go on the market. This process of finely blending Real Estate with Interior Design is referred to by trade insiders as ‘real estate interior design’. Best part is – I am a one-stop-shop for both.

Any struggles along the way?
With Halloween by Design, the challenge was to determine what all materials are needed and how much ma-terial we will need until we start decorating the space. We seemed to run out of props and materials all the time since there’s so much to borrow from the classics and so many ways to make things spooky. For Design projects, struggles are generally related to scheduling and time Management, managing Client Expectations, finding the right people to do the job, and above all, managing costs.

Any surprise insights?
Putting together the Halloween homes reminded me that I’m still a kid at heart (and that’s not a bad thing at all). As for work as an Interior Designer, even after all the thorough planning, there is always a surprise how the space is going to look when everything finally comes together. How the colors are going to come together and how will they look with the lighting and so on. It’s always a learning experience to understand how the materials are going to behave when put together.

What do you hope others experience from this work?
It is all about immersing in the shared love for monster classics that we’ve all grown up with. Hopefully visitors to the Halloween Monster bash were fondly reminded of the ‘old’ times when they had sat terrified watching the classic Monster movies

Anything you’ll like to share about your philosophy?
My designs are always about the people that are going to use the space the most. These spaces should embody their spirit and complement their energy so to speak. Every person is unique and so should the spaces that reflect their personalities. The one common theme is to ensure Form meets Function so each space is optimized for its use while being welcoming and warm.

Who are your top influencers and why?
Sincere, creative artists that take joy in their art and are happy to share their creativity to bring a sense of wonder to the world. Their art comes from their heart and is free of material instincts.

Check out more of the Komal Sheth’s work at: Spaces Designed and Engel & Volkers, Austin