Paper Chair Studios pairs Denton artists to fill downtown with Halloween art

Denton calls itself the Halloween Capital of Texas, and this year a local nonprofit gave more of the city's artists a paid way to help make that true. Paper Chair Studios' new Denton Halloween Artist Mentorship Program, known as DHAMP, is the focus of a new KERA ArtsDoc short film.

The program pairs an emerging artist with an established mentor, and each team creates a Halloween installation for a local business. The work is funded by a city grant, and the Downtown Denton Foundation also supported the program. Five installations are on display through October at the Bearded Monk, Harvest House, the Brown Thumb, Barnhart's Barbershop and Miss Angeline's.

The pieces cover a lot of ground. Aurora Arellano and Brooke Chaney's "The Witching Hour" at Miss Angeline's draws on the history of the bar's namesake. At Barnhart's Barbershop, Sid Dominguez and Dan Black made "Família," which turns the Barnhart family into skeletons. Jacob Phillips and Olli Miller created "Toxic Bloom" at the Bearded Monk. Aileen Khuu and Christopher Blay's "Frankenstones" at the Brown Thumb imagines a world where plastics have become a permanent part of nature. "I Saw the Harvest Glow," by Chynna Blue, Kristin Wyly, and Morgan and Eric Grasham, puts visitors inside an interactive, oozing television.

Delaney Smith-Vaughn and Joshua Steven Bryant, both University of North Texas alumni, founded Paper Chair Studios last year to connect artists with studio space and places to show their work. In the film, Bryant explains the idea behind the program: "Why not utilize the talent we have here and provide a paid opportunity for artists to bring a more unique Denton-centered version of Halloween here?" Mentor Dan Black told the Denton Record-Chronicle that opportunities like this help make sure "artists can stick around and keep contributing to the city."

This story is based on reporting and the ArtsDoc from the Denton Record-Chronicle and KERA, with more details from earlier Denton Record-Chronicle and North Texas Daily coverage.