Our art business of which my husband, Jeremiah, and I, Alexandra, have trademarked the title October Cult, has been a huge part of our lives for the last few years.

I create both Mixed-Media Art and Fine Art Photography, while Jeremiah does the Framework for my artworks. He also scouts out sites and places for me to shoot photos. We also say our cats are a part of October Cult, as they always amuse, inspire, and amaze us!

As much of an undertaking as our October Cult project has been, it wouldn’t be what it is, or where it has gone, without our loyal patrons.

We have such a love for our patrons, and so many of them stick with us for the long haul. We behold the belief that treating them like royalty, like true Kings and Queens, is not only necessary, but it’s what they deserve.

This is why we make sure each and every single creation we put together within our artwork collections always possesses a perfectly pristine finish, down to every last detail, no matter if it’s a pricier piece or something more economical.

When we have online orders, we go above and beyond to ensure protection against any possible mishap during the shipment process. We even decorate the shipment boxes we place our artworks within, just to give our fans an experience in and of itself when they gaze upon the box and start their unboxing. I have had patrons personally reach out to us to say while they deeply love the artwork they purchased, they also adore the unboxing experience and cannot wait for the next!

At in-person art shows and events, we have really cute and endearing shopping bags we place our Dream Boxes (Mixed-Media Collages within Shadowbox Frames) into, with extra packaging protection still always readily available. Regardless of shipping not being a part of in-person transactions, we always want everyone to go home smiling when they see how safe and cushioned their October Cult artworks are.

We also give out our personally-handmade stickers to our patrons when they buy multiple items, as well as other gifts and perks whenever possible.

We want our patrons to know we love their devotion and passion for our art. We make sure they are appreciated every single step of the way, from the time and work we put into creating, all the way to our displaying and packaging of our artworks. It goes from the biggest to the littlest of details.

We find this creates a relationship of trust and a true bond. The time and effort is worth investing to build these beautiful rapports between ourselves and our beloved October Cult fans.

We also want to mention here something that we are very proud of and also love doing in order to honor our patrons, many of whom, like us, are cat fanatics. We have a specific Dream Box style with a Snow Leopard that we hand-make often, and we donate a portion of proceeds every time it sells to conservation efforts via The International Snow Leopard Trust. In fact, this style Dream Box is featured in this article. Feel free to reach out with any inquiries regarding this.

Our business name and brand, October Cult, came to be in 2020.

While many people embarked upon an art endeavor during the pandemic, my husband Jeremiah and I have actually always been artists, but we just never collaborated in such a way until then. We hadn’t put our 2 art backgrounds together until this time.

We both attended art schools back in college. I studied Fine Arts & Art History, focusing on Media Arts & Photography. Jeremiah studied Fashion Merchandising and Industrial Design. Beyond education, however, we both had a knack for various art forms and put our heads together to form October Cult.

We made a motto, or a mantra of sorts, for October Cult: “Dreaming in the Darkness”. This idea is what our brand embodies. We combine dreamy, bright colors and imagination with darkness.

October Cult focuses primarily on 3 art forms.

Our Dream Boxes, our own invention, are 3-dimensional, Mixed-Media Collages that are within Shadowbox Frames made of high-end glass & wood. These Dream Boxes have hauntingly beautiful imagery, mesmerizing colors, and romantic horror-like qualities. They are fastened shut, sturdy and secure, made with and of the finest materials. I do the collaging and artwork, while Jeremiah frames these pieces and adds decorative embellishments to the frames themselves.

October Cult’s second art form is our Fine Art Photography. I shoot Moody, Atmospheric Photography. Unlike my Dream Box artwork where I often prefer some sort of human-like imagery to a degree, I often avoid having people in my Photography because I want the focus to be on the setting. This way the viewer feels they are a part of things, rather than seeing others be a part of the scenes. Jeremiah scouts many of the sites I shoot in, especially the cemeteries. Cemetery Photography is a huge part of our body of work. I also shoot a lot of Dark Botanicals, florals and trees, as well as seasons and weather being a primary focus as well. Jeremiah, again, puts a ton of work into the Framework for this art form.

And our additional October Cult art genre is the Framework, in and of itself. Jeremiah often rehabs frames and completely changes them. We come up with various ideas together for our frames. Jeremiah paints them, carves them, adds embellishments to them…. You name it.

Our patrons are always very excited by the fact that we are consistently doing something new and fun to keep our brand fresh. We appreciate the concept of growing and enhancing our work. We know we are never going to be satisfied remaining stagnant, so we always challenge ourselves to make additional styles and come up with new ideas within our art forms.

We notice our patrons’ eyes light up at in-person art shows when they see the latest creations we are working on and how we have built upon our artistry. That makes it so worth keeping ourselves on our toes in order to always build upon our brand and make it better at every possible angle.

Maintaining a relationship with our patrons and creating a sense of loyalty is a major priority for October Cult.

When October Cult first started, and were building our following, everything was so new. It was new to showing our artwork publicly. It was new to doing in-person art events. It was new to showing our work on social media.

We wouldn’t say it was intimidating, but we were still feeling things out and proceeding with much caution.

One thing that is very reassuring is that the public has been highly receptive to October Cult. People seem to really resonate with our work and express true enticement whenever they stop by our booth at art shows. We have been met with a lot of “oooohs” and “ahhhhs”. We still get those reactions to this day, and that’s always something we recognize the value in and never lose appreciation for. October Cult remains humble to people seeing something in us, and we never lose sight of being grateful for others enjoying our hard work.

Once Jeremiah and I had more experience with doing in-person art events, as well as showing our artwork on social media, we gained a lot of knowledge, and overtime we became seasoned exhibitors. We are quick learners, and we like to focus on the future, not just the present.

It’s very important to maintain relationships with our patrons so that they not only understand October Cult is always working on something new to keep things interesting, but also so they know how valued they are. A lot of our patrons have stuck with us by following us on social media @octobercult on our Instagram page.

We prefer relationships with our fans to be organic and never feel forced. We also maintain dialogue with them through direct messaging so this way they are always aware that we are available if they ever need anything.

October Cult also has a mailing list that we have plans to emphasize going forward. This will show our patrons our latest collections that we are making, so they could be some of the first to see what’s new.

In-person events are most ideal as well, because everything is right there for all to see. October Cult has a following of people who will literally come to events just to see us. We feel very honored by this, and will always let our fans know when we are going to be local, as we tour the Northeast yearly and are currently broadening our tour scope to go beyond the NE.

I would love to tell the story of how I met my husband Jeremiah, who is also my business partner!

We both lived in Seattle at the time. I was focusing on my Freelance Makeup Art career, and Jeremiah was focusing on Music, as well as selling and helping to make Kilts for a company called Utilikilts.

We met organically. We were separately out with friends on an August night, seeing an 80’s cover band play in the Fremont area of Seattle. We noticed one another right away with a pretty long gaze, but we didn’t speak at first, as we both are a bit on the shy side. But we happened to have a friend in common, who ended up introducing us that evening.

Jeremiah to this day tells me I was a little standoffish at first. Haha. I was just timid, as I’m often that way at first with new people. Fortunately, he didn’t give up. I quickly warmed up and knew right away that he is one of the kindest people I would ever meet. There is a warmth and beauty to him that I have never really seen in anyone else before.

That’s the story of how we met. At one point, I moved back East to NYC. He soon followed and we got married. We have been pretty inseparable ever since.