In this episode of Horror Heals, hosts Corey and Kendall Stulce sit down with veteran and miniature artist, Eerie Earl, to explore how creating eerie, quiet, creepy art helps him process trauma and heal from past experiences. Earl delves into his artistic journey, influenced by his military background and his need for a creative outlet.

From Military to Miniatures: Eerie Earl’s Healing Through Art

Episode Highlights:

• Eerie Earl's Artistic Origins: Earl talks about how creativity runs in his family and how his military career pushed his artistic side into the background. It wasn’t until his retirement, and his wife's encouragement, that he began exploring miniature art with a focus on eerie, abandoned, and horror-inspired aesthetics.
• Military Influence on Art: Earl discusses how traveling during his military service gave him a unique perspective and appreciation for the eerie, abandoned spaces he now recreates in miniature. He reflects on how his experiences shaped the way he crafts small, haunting pieces.
• The Therapeutic Power of Art: Earl touches on how art became a therapeutic outlet for his trauma, offering him a sense of calm and control over the eerie subjects he creates. He also talks about the healing power of art in the veteran community through his involvement with Artists in Arms, a nonprofit organization for veteran artists.
• Collaborative Art and Family: Earl shares how he and his wife share a studio space, bonding over their artistic passions. He highlights how his sons, each with different personalities and interests, are learning from the creativity within their home.
• Favorite Final Person in Horror: Earl names Ben from Night of the Living Dead as his favorite final character, reflecting on how both the original and remake versions resonate with him. He discusses how his perspective on the film has evolved as he has matured, making the remake’s ending particularly powerful.

Why You Should Listen:

This episode touches on the therapeutic power of horror and art, exploring how creating eerie, miniature worlds has helped Eerie Earl process his trauma. Whether you're an artist, horror fan, or someone interested in mental wellness, Earl’s story is inspiring, showing how art can become a meaningful tool for healing.

Eerie Earl, welcome to the Horror Heals podcast. Thanks for inviting me. Absolutely. You're the exact kind of person that we are hoping to reach with this podcast. Found you on Instagram. I love the miniature style art that you do. First, let's talk a little bit about that. Let's talk about the origins of how you got interested in art and particularly like in miniature form. All right. I think art is in some people's blood. My grandfather was a oil painter and craftsman and

things like that. My mom kind of creative. And then I liked being creative when I was younger. And then I spent a career in the military and it wasn't always the friendliest place to be creative. So I retired. And after I retired, my wife started hounding me on having a hobby. And I was like, I don't know what I would do. And I liked miniatures, all things. She likes small things. And I was like, I need to go with something that I

follow your passion. When art can be your passion. And if you want to be good at something, if you have passion, you're going to do better. So I was like, I like horror and creepy and eerie and abandoned. That's the aesthetics that I went for. And it's the hashtag I use is eclectic, not weird. Even before I started creating, you know, I say I was weird and had said it's you're not.

Weird, you're eclectic. And I was like, okay, eclectic, not weird. So that's why I didn't say weird. think eerie is a good term that kind of is a little broader. just followed that small, keep it small. Number one, it's manageable. And number two is just, it's one of those things I like to do. I love the word eerie because I think it conjures up some interesting imagery.

And of course now weird is taken on a whole different meaning. Yeah. We're keeping weird off the table. interesting Earl, when you mentioned that you were in the military, it immediately made me think of, and you're the military and talking about art, it made me think of Tom Savini in Vietnam and experiencing all but the horrors there. But then he used that to create his art coming back. so was that.

Do you relate in that way? Was there anything about being in the military that sort of inspires your art? The military as an experience is I got to meet people from all over. I got to go places all over the globe that I may not have. So I really got to see something other than video and pictures. It's one of those things when you're visiting someplace, it's like,

You know, the pictures and videos of the Grand Castle, but you're able to look down and say, what catches my eye is this small half window to, you know, what, what was down there, who was down there. military, said, a lot of my travels were just me, you know, getting away from my peers and exploring on my own. They called me weird, but you know, remember.

it then, you know, I still kind of embrace it, but I can look back now, go, I was like putting all that in my database. You know, it was like all going in my memories. And as far as the trauma part, most of us, the healing comes from the trauma and those are vivid memories. And Tom Zavini, you know, I think he, he used a much more visceral kind of memory for, for his work.

I try not to be overtly creepy horror kind of stuff. I like for it to be a little more, I don't want to say subtle because you can be eerie. And that's where I think the word is. It is this quiet, creepy and having small things. I've started to show people my stuff and, and I've done, I've had a couple of things in galleries and, and I've done some local markets.

It's when people come up to my table or my work that's displayed and big picture on the wall, they can look at it at a distance or, sometimes they make it a little closer, but my stuff, they get closer and they bend down. And it, when I've observed this, it is that other people are aging in a way that maybe they wouldn't if it was something larger and more visceral. And it's like,

When they see some of the things, one of my favorite pieces I've done is this empty baby carriage, you know, the kind of old fashioned pram with a teddy bear with its ear, ear, you know, worn off. And it's just, it's all alone against a fence, know, a brick, brick wall and an offense. And it's kind of moldy covered in leaves. Okay. There's a story here. And again, it's not visceral. There's no.

There's no missing, you know, the person's present, but in awful shape kind of thing. is, there was a story behind creating that, you know, it's like what happened to the baby and what happened to the person pushing it, you know, and that kind of follows through with a lot of the things I do. And I don't know why recently it seems to be, you know, it's just, it's kind of like this baby face instead of having to build bride, you know, this build

Child. Now, again, we all have experienced things in our lives where it touches us. And now that I'm a parent, I think the child part touches me more. And I, one of your previous guests, well, she mentioned Cujo and it's like when you're younger, you, you feel the place of child. And as a parent watching it later, it impacts us differently because now as a parent, we're protecting.

I don't know if that went anywhere close to answering your question. No, for sure. No, it absolutely did. I love it. But you use the term quiet, creepy. I love that because I think the stuff that really gets me and I think Kendall too is like the stuff that lets your imagination go wild because you're not being overtly shown everything. That's the kind of artwork that I'm really drawn to. You know, it's the kind of artwork that I'm really drawn to. And it was, I came back with a couple of new pieces, like gifts for Kendall since he didn't get to go to the convention and he stayed here and took care of all the critters.

But that's the kind of stuff that we love. And I'm just going to announce this now, just kind of, I kind of hasn't heard me say this, but one of my goals for this podcast is to collect a piece of art from each of our artists guests. cool. Because that's the reason why we're asking them to come on is because there's something about, wait a minute. I just, okay. This is cool. Something different. You know, we've got a ton of artwork we've been collecting for a long time. It's like, and limited wall space. Sometimes it's nice to just.

Stop and stare at something for 30 seconds and think about what went into this. What was the inspiration behind this? What was the mindset of Earl when he created this? Yeah. And I don't know if you want to know the mindset. That's always the thing. But when you hear the stories, it really comes full circle that people can look at something, but their own story to what it is. do some stuff that are very, I'll say simple as far as.

But then some things I'll do. I'm like, you have to know what you're looking at to get it. Whether it's inspired by literature, Ed Grahlenpoe. on. curious. know your wife encouraged you to get a hobby. And what does she think about the quiet, creepy nature of your artwork? Well, she knew I was different a long time ago. When we met, we made space in our home for one of the smaller rooms.

And we changed things around and now we share our studios. It was a formal dining room, but it has great light. So we share a studio space together. We are able to spend more quality time creating. And she does her stuff, watercolor and mixed media and textile. just, she does all kinds of amazing things. My stuff is a little more on the real.

she's not necessarily that person still that we can be in the same room and bouncing ideas off of each other. It's great. And she's been so supportive and she's so happy that I have the ability to go out and show people my stuff. She's very reserved in what wants to show people, but then I'll, I'll take some of her stuff with me. If I go to a market, we were in a market.

two weekends ago and we had one of her mixed media and when that art finds the person, you're just entirely verified. Okay. It's that relief. am not the only person out there that feels this way about whatever it is that you've done. And cause you know, there's plenty of time with my stuff and they're interested. They'll look down and go, that's really neat. They're like,

toy kind of thing. Yeah, not so much. It's a lot more than that. It's a lot more feeling goes into it a lot more emotion and that just that internal stuff that we all have have brewing inside of us and finding a way out. My wife knew I needed a hobby because of my own struggles and the therapeutic value of art.

aiding and getting those things out. So that I was doing something therapeutic that was good for me, which in turn was good for our entire family in our house here. When the art finds the person you're validated that, that it is touching to someone else. Those emotions that you felt are shared by others. About a year ago, I actually joined a nonprofit group that is a group of veterans that are artists.

on the board now, it's artists in arms. And we all did that same thing, but this is therapeutic for all of us. We don't do art therapy. It's just like, do art and it's therapeutic. In the military, you don't necessarily find that support group peers. We have this group now. It's good for us to be able to be creative, but to support each other and this real military word here, the camaraderie.

But it's continued camaraderie and having community where whatever reason you weren't supported before, but now you are. And so it's been a great experience with them as well. And of course, when you're supporting other artists with their works, then we're able to collaborate and helping each other. Number one, have some confidence in what we're doing and showing other folks that you're creative. Cause people think art or artists and they go, you must do paintings and sculpture that are in the museum.

Art is anything you create. love that. and I hope people go back and listen to the last five or six minutes because you touched on so many really interesting, great things, but I want to reflect on them one by one here for a minute before I forget. First, just the whole idea for the art, finding the right person, just at that moment. And I know you've, sure you felt this and we feel it through the podcast and we get feedback. just, it does something to your heart in a good way. It's just, it's good. It's good for the heart. It's good for the soul.

I love, love, love. I'll speak for both of us. We love, love, love that you and your wife share a studio space together and work together because we'll tell you Kendall and I been together for almost 20 years and we'd talked almost since the beginning about let's do some sort of creative project together. And we've helped each other out on projects. There's been collaboration over the years, but until we created that first podcast together, two and a half years ago, that was the first thing that we started from scratch together. And it's just been great. mean, it's like you learn to bond.

in new ways. It's not, it just, it strengthens the relationship. And I'm sure your sons have probably seen that too. And you're, demonstrating to them like, Hey, here's, here's another way you can collaborate with your partner. And three sons, three different people. I don't know how that happens. My oldest won't wear a black t -shirt. I don't get it, but my 16, he has come to the market with me. He's not creative in the way I, he loves food. likes to cook.

He has a lot of fun and he's there with me, supporting me in his way. He's present. My youngest son, he is our artist as far as visual arts and that young man, we have to tell him, you can't take this to school. can't tell your friends at school because what you're doing is too close to what they're doing, but we're supporting what he does. It is all family. I love that.

I'm like the final question that we ask each guest is who is your favorite final person? I'm a huge fan of zombie movies. And unfortunately the Ben character in the original, I think was a reflection of the time. remake where Ben survived. I'm like, awesome. They got it right. He was the fighter that I hoped to have survived. And it's two different stories. It is, but that.

that final moment where it was almost relief that he survived in the remake. And then I loved George Romero stuff, the social impacts from the original and how things have changed in society from the remake. know, it's like, again, you can be the young person that watches it and you're like, this is who died and this is who lived. But we get older and we understand things.

a little more globally than we did when we were younger. And again, think that was a success that there was a change, fundamental change to the ending in that movie. Shout out to my father, my adoptive father who raised me because I remember he and I had a debrief about that ending. Really? After it happened, he was like, so how do you feel about that? And I was like, I can speak.

openly with him and I was like, that's pretty shitty. And I got to express that. He wanted me to have recognized it first. And then he got on his soapbox and said, yep, I'm so glad you noticed. And it really led to a great conversation that needed to happen. original was that kind of parallel to the Anomor and times changed. when the remake was made, I even felt more in touch with Ben.

than I did when I was much younger watching that movie. So again, our view on things globally and as we mature, we understand things differently. So that's so cool. You had some, but deep brief you, I didn't get so much support on when I was younger and on being the little weirdo. If I tribe. Well, thank you for bringing up the remake because it hasn't been mentioned on the podcast. Any episode recorded yet.

And I need to introduce Kendall to that because Kendall's not a big fan of remakes in general. But I will say my friend Jason and I went to see that at the theater because we're huge Savini fans and zombie fans, Romero fans, and loved it. Savini does, you know, because the original, we know zero budget. The zombies weren't creepy scary. So Savini takes the gore level up to the Savini levels. The acting is great. I love that the Barbara character got to become a badass by the end.

And I will say, Kendall could care less about autographs. Whenever I say something like, I got to get that one. He's got to get that. But I will say one of our prized pieces is a Polish poster of the remake that is signed by Romero. It's signed by Savini. It's signed by Bill Mosley. It's signed by Tony Todd. It's signed by Judith O'Day. It's signed by John Russo. I don't have Patricia Tallman and I would need to get Patricia Tallman, but I love that piece.

I was able to interview both Romero and Savini and talk to them about the remake. And I loved hearing how much Romero really appreciated the remake. it could have gone a different way. Yeah. So that's, think I know what we're watching tonight because it's so good. And yeah, I hadn't had not been mentioned yet as final person. So also thank you for that. It's just, it's so interesting to hear the answers that people have. And it's, that's been one of

my favorite parts of the interviews is just hearing the who and why. You guys are doing awesome. I appreciate what you're doing. I am so humbled that you would want to talk to me about what I do and experiences. it's great to find fellow eerie folks out there. You're the kind of person that we're looking for for this. And you're the kind of artist that we're drawn to. And so love getting the opportunity to introduce.

artists to people who might not have found them otherwise, just via the podcast and social media and stuff. And now this has been fantastic. Like I get like good tingles when like I'm hearing really interesting stuff and I was getting the good tingles when you were talking a little while ago. Thank you for the nonprofit work that you do as well. think that's so important. And I love that people are going to get to hear about that because we're all dealing with some kind of trauma. And if we can find an outlet for it, a healthy outlet for it and

There are so many, as you mentioned, art is anything that you create. Find your niche, find your medium and just do it. There's so many clubs and organizations and stuff. Surely you'll be able to find something in your region where there's already a collective getting together and doing this kind of stuff. Yeah, that's great. Thank you so much, Earl. No problem. I really enjoyed this. Awesome.