1. QimmyShimmy, whose real name is Lim Qi Xuan, is a Singaporean artist and designer known for her surreal, “creepy-cute” miniature sculptures that combine hyper-realistic body parts with familiar objects like food and toys. Her work explores the tension between beauty and horror, frequently creating unsettling yet alluring pieces such as human hearts in pies or baby faces in ice cream cones. QimmyShimmy is a multidisciplinary artist who works as a designer by day and an artist by night, with her work exhibited internationally.
2. Lisa Lee is an artist who creates handcrafted leather art toys, most notably whales and other creatures, under the brand Leather Monsters. The Vancouver-based artist has been crafting these heirloom leather collectibles since 2012. Lee’s work focuses on crafting unique, one-of-a-kind art pieces with stories and personalities, meant to be passed down through generations. The creation process for each Leather Monster is intensive, with Lee meticulously designing, assembling, and sculpting each figure. The leather is deliberately stuffed firmly to make the toys resilient and durable, lasting 30–40 years or longer.
3. Evan William Plunkett is a photographer known for his “photo impressionism” style, which uses long exposures, light, and intentional camera movement to create atmospheric, dreamlike, and cinematic images that capture the mood and fluidity of time and memory. His work often features quiet roads, vacant interiors, and Americana, aiming to evoke a sense of fleeting moments rather than literal representation.
If this sparks interst in a monster lesson you might check out the book Closet Monsters: Stitch Creatures You’ll Love from Clothing You Don’t.
4. Sophia Rapata is best known for creating whimsically eerie characters who live in a dark, yet strangely comforting world. She draws inspiration from nature, humans, music, silent films, surreal introspection and all things Halloween.
5. Lowell Massachusetts Artist John Brickels is “a self-taught artist known for ceramics of American architecture, motor vehicles, and machines in a state of entropy.”
6. Sonia Soberats is a blind Venezuelan-born photographer based in Queens, New York, who creates ethereal and haunting images through the “light painting” technique. Her work is a therapeutic and expressive response to personal loss and visual impairment. Read more about this astonishing photographer here.
7. Emma Witter is a London-based artist known for creating intricate sculptures, often resembling botanical forms, from salvaged and repurposed biological materials. By transforming discarded elements like animal bones and shells into delicate works of art, her practice explores themes of life, death, beauty, waste, and our ecological footprint.
8. Marilyn Sunderland is known for turning gourds into detailed works of art by carving, etching, and painting them. She also draws inspiration from the landscape of the Utah valley where she has lived for over 30 years.
9. Sarah Graham is a British artist known for her photorealistic oil paintings of candy and toys, which evoke a sense of nostalgia and childhood wonder. She creates large-scale works that capture the vibrant colors and textures of everyday treats, often using techniques like close-up photography and blurred backgrounds to achieve a vivid and realistic finish.
If this sparks the imagination, check out the book The Complete Book of Gourd Craft.
10. Louise Bourgeois started making spider sculptures in the 1990s. She chose this animal as a subject because it reminded her of her mother, who “was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and as useful as a spider.”
More about her in this great book, Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry.
Who are your favorite spooky artists? Share in the comments!
