Heather Saenz
Painter/Administration
Can you tell us when you first began
exploring art as a means to express yourself?
I don't have a specific age or turning point in my life that
caused me to become more artistic in nature.
Since day one I have been naturally fidgety and could
never sit still so the only thing that kept me busy was
doodling on paper, whether it was on sketchbook paper
or on the side of an advertisement in the Penny Saver
and dollar bills too!
(Yes, I am weird that way just ask Bryan)
What were some of your subjects of artist expression?
I would collect pictures from ads underground magazines
like Flipside and Maximum Rock and Roll and cover
everything that had room for a cutout ad and some Mod-Podge.
I used to bring record albums of bands like Sub-humans, Misfits to school and practice drawing
the covers. In my later years of high school, I got into making and painting model kits of
Rat Fink, and Universal Monsters, my favorite being Frankenstein.
Still to this day, I enjoy making model kits and now I have my son to share
this with.
Did these artistic projects translate into other areas?
I have always been drawn toward anything taboo, from the strange and
unusual to the things you�re not supposed see or do. This lead into my
passions for cars, reason being is that girls aren�t supposed be into
cars. My first car was a 1969 Camaro and I used to race all the guys and
win of course!
But my true love is for hearses. I love to modify everything and put
my personality into whatever I have. My last hearse was painted hot
pink and I customized the back of the hearse to be my porno-love palace
with hot pink zebra interior and purple velvet curtains for privacy.
How did the creation of Arkham Studios come about?
Bryan was the catalyst to open the studio. After being laid off from
Mattel because of '9-11' we used his severance pay and we both sold our
hearses to open the studio. We put our heart and soul into this studio.
The studio is an extension of who we are and also gave us more room
to display our collection of books and curios.
The basic theme of our studio revolves around the writings of H.P.
Lovecraft, a Sci-Fi pulp writer from the 20's and 30's. He is known as the
father of the science fiction genre.
Arkham is the name of a fictional town which is in majority the of
Lovecraft's stories take place.
The decision for us to use the name Arkham started with Bryan's first
film "Cool Air" which is an adaptation of a Lovecraft story, the name of
his production company was Arkham Cinema.
So when we opened the studio we wanted to have a recognizable
connection between the two businesses and make it our brand name.
What has the response been to the out put of the studio?
Around 2005, I noticed that our sales doubled after the release of the
Anton LaVey statue. All of a sudden the demand for our private statues
outweighed the income from our toy prototyping. The word got out about
Arkham Studios after we had tables at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival
and at Fangoria. We had an enormous surge of sales. People were so
impressed with the quality and detail of our sculptures, that many became
repeat customers.
Were you surprised when the audience for Arkham Studios work became
global?
The international clientele came on gradually, mainly the United
Kingdom, Australia and Japan. When MySpace became the gathering place for
people around the world to meet others with similar interests, it opened
our website to people who would have never come across it before. Now
75% of our sales are international, ranging from Austria, Greece to
Brazil. It's very satisfying to know that people all over the world know
about Arkham Studios, and I am proud to say that I am a co-creator of
it.
Do you feel that the audience in Europe has a deeper appreciation for
your work rather than the American audience?
Yes and no. Our sculptures of H.P. Lovecraft and Brown Jenkin have
attracted the underground cult following of Lovecraft in America, which
remains a constant steady flow of our Mythos clientele.
But now with the exposure of our site through MySpace and word of
mouth, our reputation precedes itself. Our newer sculptures of the Church
of Satan founder Anton LaVey and the infamous black magician Aleister
Crowley has opened up a much larger broader base of followers of all
occult interests.
The draw back of the American society today is that it has become a
superficial "gotta have it now" society. It seems that a large portion of
the American youth read less and only craves small bits of quick
information much like the "Cliff Notes" of the past generations.
It's sad to say, but many young Americans have no idea who our statues
are of, and many are not willing to spend the money on a piece of art,
and don't want the 6 to 8 weeks for this statue to be hand-crafted by
the artist. They would rather wait for it to be mass produced to get it
cheaper.
What I have noticed with the European society is that most of them
speak several languages and are well read in literature from around the
world. They appreciate the art and architecture of the past as well as
today. We receive a lot of fan mail from people around the world that
hold Bryan in high regard for not only his talent but to for choosing to
sculpt these significant individuals who have changed history but not
given enough recognition as such.
Our global customers have never hesitated to purchase our sculptures.
They know our sculptures are a wise investment since they are limited
editions and because Bryan has become a world renowned artist
acknowledged and appreciated by some of the most celebrated prominent people in
the artistic and occult society, which guarantees the increased the
value of our statues over time.
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