Zan Asha: Fairy Tales, Nature, and Halloween

Meet Zan Asha, an artist who is blending fairytales, nature, folklore, and Halloween into her art.

Zan is friendly, fun, and has one of the most interesting family and career stories I've ever heard. Zan has done time in corporate life, been a vet tech, directed a dance troupe, written, traveled, illustrated, and kept bees.

Zan's family is a blend of Hungarian (Slavic), Romany, and Middle Eastern roots. Her childhood was full of fairytales and folk songs from her parents. In addition to fairytales, Zan loves mythology, ancient knowledge, secrets, Alice In Wonderland, Halloween, and forest animals.

Zan grew up in New York City and moved to Florida when she was a teenager. She returned to NYC to study film and theater at NYU. After school, she spent a decade running a dance and theater troupe. After the 2008 recession, Zan moved from dance to bee-keeping as part of an initiative of bringing bees back to the Bronx.

Zan moved back to Florida to care for her parents. A car accident damaged her back. As an active person, Zan felt miserable and lost. A lover of learning, Zan started to investigate different art mediums. An interest in working in 3D lead her to functional ceramics. A kind pottery shop owner taught her how to make hand-built pottery. Her friend Carolee Clark validated her pottery was on the right path. She will be participating in the Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween art show this year.

Last October, Zan's home was damaged during Hurricane Michael. It is still under reconstruction. The garage with her kiln has no lights yet, so when she works at night, she needs a flashlight. Her studio is crammed into her bedroom. Many of her art supplies are still in storage.

To wrap up the show, Zan shared with us a Hungarian hedgehog fairytale. She encourages us to make life as colorful as possible and to take risks.

Check her out at https://www.themagicalvagabond.com/. She is on Facebook and Instagram as "themagicalvagabond".

My website is https://www.halloweenartandtravel.com.