Work and play come together (with video and gallery)

Instead of making patterns, she just hacks. The more uneven the better. He is the polar opposite. Sketch, sketch, sketch.

“More often than not, I sit down with a piece of fabric or an old piece of clothing – a lot of stuff is made from old clothes friends give me – I just start,” Jennifer Mae Hill said about her fabric creations and sock oddities. “One time Lyon said, and I think it’s true, that I sew like an ax murderer. Or something to that effect.”

Her husband, Lyon Hill, didn’t dispute her claim.

“I’m envious of just being able to go at it like that,” he said.

The Hills – she makes dolls, from voodoo to the tuck-me-in kind, and he’s a puppeteer, painter and live-action puppet filmmaker – are two of the many artists pushing Columbia’s arts scene. Both will contribute to events during The Indie Grits Festival, which kicks off tonight. Lyon helped organize this weekend’s Spork in Hand Puppet Slam, while Jenny Mae, as she is called, will display her work at next weekend’s Crafty Feast.

Her creations appeared in the film “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium,” which starred Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman. His live-action puppet film “Junk Palace,” (click to watch an early stage production) a star last year on the independent film circuit, was produced by Heather Henson, daughter of Jim Henson, who created The Muppets. Click here for a trailer of the film.

They work in a shared space, and their home is a place where the term “play session” also applies to adults. The purple front door, adorned with a skull and crossbones, lets guests know as much.

Painted clouds in the mural on the living room ceiling provide atmosphere. Curio cabinets, made by Lyon, are both art and storage. One is for his used asthma inhalers. One not hanging contains preserved animal fetuses and remains – a rat, kitten, beaver and scorpion. Surrounding a dining room table is a library of books, from the exotic to the erotic.

Jenny Mae’s collection of original Strawberry Shortcake miniatures is on the shelves of their kitschy kitchen.

“I just couldn’t ever get rid of it,” she said while giving a guest a tour. “We were both the kind of kid that held onto a lot of stuff. I was really obsessed with them. I still am, obviously.”

She then pointed to her vintage Avon It’s a Small World collection of figural perfume and shampoo bottles. Lyon proposed to her on the It’s a Small World ride at Disney World. They met — and were married — at the Columbia Marionette Theatre, where Lyon still works as a puppeteer and puppet maker.

He has a toy story, too, albeit one without a happy ending. When it was time for the Swansea native to leave home for college, he decided to play with his toys as he never did as a kid because he was always protecting them. He went to a clay pit.

“I just trashed them and got it out of my system in one big play session,” Lyon, 36, said.

The couple’s 2-year-old son, Oliver, has done something similar to Jenny Mae’s old Barbie dolls.

Artrageous

The branches of the painted trees in Oliver’s playroom stretch from the walls to the ceiling, creating the appearance of a misty forest. The room was once the couple’s studio.

“It was ridiculous,” said Lyon, whose hairstyle of late makes him look like he’s been recently electrocuted. “I was starting to scale my work down to be super small.”

“I moved to the living room floor because it was too cramped,” added 34-year-old Jenny Mae, who is from Chapin.

The solution was to build an art studio as an addition to the house. The space, with its pool house-like exterior and garage-like interior, has crowded shelves with fabric, paper, models and, of course, toys. Lyon’s puppets dangle from the ceiling waiting to spring to life at the behest of someone’s hands. When the Hills are working together, they watch movies or TV series on DVD.

When they listen to music, Lyon prefers electronica and atmospheric dub step. Jenny Mae prefers music with lyrics, like Broadway musicals. Their art may look different, but their work is in many ways complementary. Jenny Mae will show her work at Trustus Theatre during the summer run of “Avenue Q,” a musical for which Lyon and the marionette theatre are creating puppets.

Years ago, Jenny Mae made a sock monkey for Lyon as a Christmas present. Then she started making the once-creepy creatures for friends. She also made disfigured dolls by assembling used doll parts. Now, she creates fabric oddities like Vampire Girl, who is cuter than Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams.

“Things have gotten a lot sweeter since Oliver was born,” Jenny Mae said.

She’s also a living statue artist, one of those people who can stand mannequin stiff in public while people stare – or walk by because they think she’s the real thing. She’s been the Ghost Bride on Main Street. And she bakes. At Crafty Feast, the Jenny Mae Creations booth might also have cookies called Unicorn Poop.

It was a big step for Lyon to move the computer into their studio.

“It’s just the changing times that even someone like me, who really ultimately is a traditionalist in terms of materials and how I make art, I spend a lot of time on the computer with it,” he said.

Lyon, who usually has multiple projects simultaneously, is working on film that’s based on one of Jenny Mae’s dreams. In the dream, a woman is chased through dark, empty streets by shadowy figures. Lyon, who is working with an animator, has to construct every piece of the set. Sketch, sketch, sketch. Then draw and scan.

The film, “Supine,” was commissioned by Heather Henson, who also provided a grant for the Spork in Hand Puppet Slam.

“She’s a proponent of live puppetry in film,” Hill said.

“He’s super talented,” Henson said about Hill.

“Junk Palace,” which screened at Indie Grits last year, recreated the world of Homer and Langley Collyer, two hoarders who piled junk and garbage into their Harlem brownstone, through paper puppets. The film was selected for the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and Lyon has performed the production live. It was a clever and touching portrayal of the brothers.

“I hope it was a sympathetic portrait because I totally get,” Lyon said. “I have hoarding tendencies, but Jennifer helps me combat those. I don’t have a problem getting rid of garbage. But I’m always accumulating.”

The stuff keeps the Hills weighed down. Fortunately, they’re not planning to take their art anywhere else.

“Especially in this day and age, you can operate out of any city you want,” Lyon said. “You can get your stuff seen. It doesn’t preclude you from being a part of anything if you’re motivated.”

“You just have to be good about putting your stuff out into the world,” Jenny Mae said.

This story was originally published April 19, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Work and play come together (with video and gallery)."