I recently was in Denver on a home tiki bar tour. About thirty of us climbed onboard a chartered bus and it drove us all around to three home tiki bars in and around the Denver. One of the tiki bars was about forty minutes outside of Denver so to kill time we did tiki trivia and I actually won! The prize was a tiki mug made by Chrissy Weena. This mug was beautiful! Chrissy has also made mugs for some of the local bars in Denver like Hell or High Water. Here is the story of Chrissy and Ceramics by Weena Bee…
What is the tiki scene like where you live?
Chrissy- Colorado has a pretty diverse and strong tiki scene with both newcomers and long-established tiki groups that get together both locally through the Denver Tiki Tribe & out of state for many tiki events! We have amazing tiki bars and more home tiki bars than public which makes for some strong connections within the tiki scene.
What brought you into the ‘Tiki lifestyle” and how long has it been part of your life?
Chrissy- It was in 2018 at Trader Sam’s In California, I was drinking a zombie when everything clicked. All the little pieces of tiki that gathered in my memory banks throughout my life came together. From watching “Blue Hawaii” as a little girl to stumbling into Three Dots and Dash on a trip to Chicago in my twenties. So, I guess tiki has always been a part of my life but I’ve only been concisely aware of it for 5 years now.
Can you give a little history of how you became a tiki mug artist?
Chrissy- I was, and continue to be, “one of those crazy tiki mug collectors”. I wanted to make tiki mugs from the moment I first held one, but it wasn’t until 2021 that I decided to dedicate my time to making art primarily for the tiki scene. I had just left my job and for the first time ever in my life, I had no clear idea what I was going to do! The push or inspiration to make art my career came from the other artists while attending Tiki Oasis San Diego that year. The talented Ken Ruzic was a giant contributor in encouraging me to pursue art both then and now. I’ve always enjoyed taking my passions and making them into creations whether through painting, drawing, or sculpting. I started with resin hula dolls and small resin-casted tiki trinkets and jewelry.
I eventually started customizing and repairing tiki mugs, thanks to a push from Jeremy Harger at Tiki Maniacs. Per Jeremy’s suggestion, I zombified one of his “Groovy Greg” tiki mugs and we sold it at Tiki Oasis Arizona 2022. The response we received filled me with so much positive energy and further encouraged me to continue down the tiki mug path. I continued customizing and repairing tiki mugs along with making small batches of hula dolls while I waited for my pottery kiln to arrive. SKUTT kiln’s are made to order and can take up to 9 months so it wasn’t until January of this year 2023 that I began making tiki mugs. Up until then, I had made molds from plaster before, and I had used pottery kilns before, but I had never done slip casting. I gained the knowledge and inspiration necessary to slip cast from all the ceramic artists in the tiki scene from Tiki Rob, Riki Tat Tiki, Oak Wash, Elle Tiki, Coxswain, and of course Van Tiki’s technical Tiki Tuesday. I started small with a mini hula bust I named the “Weena Wahine Muglet”. I’d make small runs of 20 or so and sell them online. I made my first full-size tiki mug in April of this year for Hell or High Water Tiki Bar in Denver, CO. It was a run of 50 tiki mugs paying tribute to the bar’s mascot a pp snail named Gary created by an artist named Rick from Clay Per Day. To sum it up, it was the love for and support from the tiki scene that helped me evolve into a tiki mug maker.
How would you describe your style?
Chrissy- Cute and or Macabre. I enjoy making cute things that give that sticky sweet warm feeling or visceral art that makes you slightly uncomfortable. My true style comes out when I combine the two.
Who or what would be some of your influences?
Chrissy- So many things and people influence my art it’s hard to pick. Mid-century everything, classic cartoons, horror films, Japanese culture, Polynesian culture, pop culture, and world history to name a few things.
Before tiki I’d say artists like Mark Ryden or Mab Graves influenced me but now my biggest influences come from within the tiki scene. I think all the artists in the scene influence me in some way or another but to name a couple of mug makers Daniel Mann from Black Lagoon Room, Van Tiki, and Tiki Rob have been major influences for me.
What is your favorite Tike drink?
Chrissy- Jungle Bird made with Campari.
What does the future hold for you and your tike mugs?
Chrissy- I’m excited to bring to life quite a few mugs I’ve been designing over the years as well as bring to life other people’s tiki mug visions. I plan on vending at more of the smaller tiki events next year and continuing to make mugs for local bars. I want to expand but not too fast of course. I’m hoping to add another kiln in 2024 and up production to 100 or 200 mug runs but we’ll have to wait and see. I’m just excited to be making tiki mugs and that people actually want them in their collections.
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