MAKERS SPACE WITCHES STITCHES

How one local artist’s passion project made its in way into a major motion picture

By Jim Fischer / Photos by Jordy Middlebrooks Story Design by Victoria Smith

Columbus-based artist Julia Barrett has loved the movie “Hocus Pocus” since she was a little girl. The spooky-comic escapades of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy appealed to the youngster and to her mother–indeed, they have been known to dress as two of the trio for Halloween.

“I’ve wanted ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ to happen for a very long time,” Barrett said. “I’m that kind of nerd.”

And not only did it happen – the film was released on Disney+ on Sept. 30 – but Barrett’s original art made an appearance in the movie.

Last fall, she was contacted by the movie’s production crew, asking if she’d be willing to have the original spell-book pillows (that she creates and sells on Etsy) be featured in the film.

“They’d seen them on my Etsy store, I guess. They’d reached out to a handful of artists around the world if they could use their work in a scene from the movie,” Barrett said.“Once I figured it was real, I was kind of shaking with excitement.”

That excitement continued right up until Barrett watched the movie with her family the evening it was available to stream.

“I thought we’d decided to just have a small gathering with close family but it ended up with my family coming in from around the state to watch it,” she said.

Barrett, of course, had not pre-screened the movie, so there were some pins and needles as they waited to see if and how her work would be included. Eventually, hands pointed and voices raised during one particular scene.

“When I saw (the spell-book pillow) come up on screen I was trying like crazy to get it to pause,” Barret said with a laugh. “It was a surreal moment. I was like ‘OK, that really happened.’ I admit there was some anxiety that passed right then.” →

“After that, it was just nice to be around family.”

The evening also had a delightful coincidence. The Barrett family gathering doubled as a 20th birthday party for the family cat, Winifred, so named for Bette Midler’s “Hocus Pocus” character. The first scene in “Hocus Pocus 2” (minor spoiler only) is a birthday party for, you guessed it, Winifred.

Barrett has been making and selling the spell-book pillows on her Etsy store since 2017. She was asked to make new, proprietary ones for the film.

While the work she sells on Etsy is not a large part of her total body of work, Barrett said, the idea of feminism – both films feature multiple women as lead characters – and celebrating the quirky or unusual outsider are ideas present in most of her work. →

↑ Julia Barrett, painting

↓ Julia Barrett, with crow

“Body positivity, feminism, prochoice… these are things that my work addresses. And educating and normalizing things society might deem as outliers,” she said.

Barrett, a mixed-media artist who regularly delves into painting, murals and installation, lives and maintains her studio at Milo Arts in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood.

She admitted her current work has taken a back seat to curating, organizing and advocacy, but that’s not to say Barrett isn’t still creating. She’s currently curating seasonal exhibitions at Pokebap at the Budd Dairy Food Hall (check out “Roots,” a Barrett-curated multi-artist exhibition at Pokebap on exhibition November through January) and is also the current Curation Director for Wild Goose Creative. Additionally, she is working on an exhibition of work by Milo-based artists at 934 Gallery.

We’ve heard you can see her work on the big screen as well.

To learn more, follow Julia on Instagram @jlb.art