Countess Beckula

Hand Painted Denim Shorts

Velvet Scrunchies, Chokers and Bags

I became very inspired by photographs of real-life witches in the 1960s, such as Anton LaVey and Alex and Maxine Sanders. I also tried to find films about witches from that time, but they were nearly all exploitation and didn’t really interest me. Bell, Book and Candle was the closest to the feeling I wanted, but it was too modernist. I honestly never found any movies to draw from that were close to what I wanted, so I created a color palette from Tarot cards, and I made and commissioned the original paintings that appear in the film to look like what I thought a witch would paint.

The costume ideas came from her personality, the way I envisioned her as someone with intense princess fantasies who would embody her fantasies in her dress. I found some vintage Gunne Sax dresses and made a few more really romantic long dresses with a Renaissance or Victorian flair that also seemed witchy to me. A lot of choices were made symbolically or to reinforce character and theme. The décor was the same—it came from Tarot cards and from the desire to combine Victorian and hippie elements together, to go with her personality.

Lily Seika Jones’ “Songs Of Or” at Nucleus Portland.

Opening on Friday, June 7th, 2019 at Nucleus Portland in Portland, Oregon is artist Lily Seika Jones’ solo exhibitions “Songs Of Or.”

Jones says of the exhibition, “I feel like our passage from childhood to adulthood moves so swiftly from enchantment to disenchantment, and once we’ve grown up we spend the rest of our lives trying to be re-enchanted through story - whether by film, art, or music. This collection of works is my own attempt at re-enchantment and returning to a place of childlike wonder by creating spaces imbued with magical elements and artifacts, that then unfold into new narratives for the viewer to explore.  The title, “Songs of Or” is inspired by an ongoing collaboration with my husband, who has beenwriting music for each of my narratives from the perspective of an otherworldly boatman named Or - and serves as a subtle nod to our oral past and the role music has played in passing along and immortalizing mythology and folklore.”

The exhibition will be on view until July 3rd, 2019.

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Works by Casey Weldon