We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Marie Halliwell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Marie below.

Marie, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I always knew I wanted to pursue some sort of creative path. Since as far back as I can remember (I’m told around about four years old) I’ve been picking up any drawing tools I could get my hands on and drawing on any surface, even if that meant the walls, haha!
That always remained a basic need for me, to create things, and I realized pretty early on that was what I wanted to do.
I’ve always gravitated toward some sort of pop surrealism style, but I like to switch it up and do realism, too. I like to branch out with the things I make, whether it’s a digital illustration or a replica of a movie prop. Again, whatever I can get my hands on! I also discovered a passion for tattooing, so I hope to one day get my foot in the door of the industry.

Marie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I may have been creating since childhood, but up until about eleven or twelve years ago, I was quite afraid to pursue any of it. Between that age old “you’ll never be able to make art a proper career for yourself” statement and being worried no one would like my art, it was scary to me.
However, diving deeper into the community I’ve come to love and feel safe in, I realized something…
To quote Aggie Cromwell, “Being normal is vastly overrated”.

Now, do I love making people smile with my art? Absolutely! But I like when it makes me smile, too. I mean, I wouldn’t have put myself out there if I didn’t appreciate my eccentricity enough to do it!
It took a while for me to find my place. I was always exploring different subjects in many genres (honestly, I still find myself doing this) but it wasn’t until a few years ago when I was approached for Rogue Syndicate’s Bizarre Bazaar, an annual Halloween/spooky themed vendor market that I started networking and gravitated toward the wonderfully spooky community I’m in now.

Whatever medium it may be-paint, digital illustration, clay, pencil, etc-my work mainly focuses on the beauty I find in the surreal, the dark, and the macabre. I’ve always had a love for painting and illustrating, but in recent years I have found myself elbows deep in sculpting. Most of it being within the realm of custom doll repaints and figures (which I have seem to become known for), I feel this is sort of a gateway into sculpting full-on custom figures from scratch. I haven’t done many, but I’m on my way for sure!

Quite a few of my clients over the years have tasked me to bring their visions to life with my art. While I very much love having the creative freedom I have been blessed with on many occasions, I love to pick my clients’ brains and bounce ideas off of each other in order for me to create something for them specifically; something unique that is special to them.

There are so, so many incredibly talented artists that do similar things to what I do, but I think what sets me apart is my perspective. Any one given subject, for me, can have so many different interpretations. Take clowns, for example-something I have also become known for creating a lot of-I see them in so many different ways. They can be cute and sweet, gross and terrifying, funny and odd, anything in between, really! The thing is, I can appreciate all of these different aspects of them. This is true for a variety of subjects. I tend to lean toward darker things, but sometimes I like to give them a cute twist in their interpretation. It’s my way of letting people know they don’t have to be afraid of these things!

Ever since childhood, I have had an extremely vivid imagination, and as many ways as I can translate a subject to make it as unique as possible, I will!

Ultimately, I take the most pride in inspiring others to begin or continue their creative journeys. I have been fortunate enough to be validated by people who I have idolized and those who have provided me with the utmost support. To be able to do that for others, that is a big reason as to why I do what I do. I believe creatives should keep creating. A world without artists exploring their talents is a world full of untapped potential to fill the world with more beautiful things.

What I really want people to take away is that I’m passionate about what I do. I’d like to think that comes through in my work. I want people to understand the time and effort I put into every single project I make, not to garner sympathy or to justify my rates, but so people know just how passionate I really am about the work I do. I want to be taken seriously; this isn’t just a hobby. This is my life on paper, on screen, in ink, in pencil, in clay.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think a lot of artists will agree with me on this. The use of AI nowadays to create art has become an epidemic that is killing artists’ careers. With technology that can bring a vision to life simply with the click of a button so readily available to us at any given moment, it’s so easy to forget who created the art said technology is taking from to generate those visions. How do we think AI learns? It takes elements from things it’s shown: things real people have created.
I think people are starting to forget this. The convenience of it all bears too much weight. Not to mention it’s cheaper. I and many others like me have unfortunately been met with the “that’s too expensive, why pay what you charge when I can have AI do it for free?” question. Us artists-we are not machines. We use our hands and our minds.
We are real people. Yes, we make art because we love it; but for some of us, this is our livelihood. Real art takes effort and time. It takes heart and soul that only real, authentic human beings can provide.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

At the end of the day, I ultimately want to extend my open mindedness to others with what I do. I find there are people who tend to misunderstand a lot of the subject matter I gravitate toward; a lot of people tend to shy away or express a strong opposition to the things they don’t understand or deem acceptable.
I feel my purpose as an artist and a creative soul is to broaden horizons-and not just mine. It is to convey that there is a sense of beauty and wonder in the bizarre. One just has to open their mind enough to see the possibilities.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.saintcem.com
• Instagram: cemthespookly
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saintcem

Image Credits

Personal photo: @rockandleafdesigns for Eogue Syndicate’s Bizarre Bazaar