Room with a Boo

Our local Newspaper in the "Fun stuff to do" section, started out saying "No visions of sugarplums for Jack Roads. When he lies in bed each night, they're more likely to be turnips, pumpkins or rutabagas, with big eyes and toothy grins. And rather than bring him fitful sleep, these images ~ these brainchildren of his ~ let Roads rest easy, knowing that upon waking, he'll make them a reality." It had me very interested. Today I went to see his work of art.

Artist Jack Roads, whose Halloween works are on display at the McHenry Museum, pays close attention to the clothing his characters wear, routinely using vintage fabrics and buttons and often dying the cloth himself. Roads is fond of using old things; empty clock cabinets, vintage buttons, antique patterned cloth or cloth he dyes himself in his art. On the walls of the exhibit room are a few Halloween costumes from the 1920s and '30s that inspired some of the clothing he created for his characters. The 70 year old's work is sought by collectors all over the country. Roads enjoys doing Christmas themed papier-mache, too, but Halloween is his first choice decor. In this country, most of the Halloween decor from about 1900 to 1930 came from Germany, and it's that look he really likes. Most of those decorations were quite small, though, while his are bigger and more showy.

I found that some of his art was dark and a little more spooky than I am comfortable with. All in all, I am glad that I went. I would liked to have taken my own pictures though.

Note ~ I didn't take these pictures. Picture taking was not allowed. Information on Jack Roads came from the local newspaper.