'Love what you do until others love what you do'

From haunted houses to living art, Nova Scotia artist passionate about creating

After surviving a brutal dog attack as a toddler, Jaimie Peerless has always found herself turning to art as a creative outlet.

The Kentville, N.S. woman was just two-and-a-half years old when she was attacked by a German shepherd and rushed to the hospital with major lacerations and face damage.

Her doctors initially focused on fixing the damage to her face. It was soon realized that damage and scarring had been done to her brain as well.

Peerless spent six months in the IWK as she recovered.

"It makes you grow up faster and see things differently," she says now.

"The IWK saved my life." She admits she wasn't the world's greatest student, but drawing kept her from disrupting the rest of the class. It was her way of expressing her emotions and bringing beauty into her life.

At the time, she never really thought about what she wanted to be when she got older — she very much lived in the here and now, largely thanks to her near-death experience, she says — but it's not surprising she found a career that helps the facility that meant so much to her as a child. She now works full-time at the IWK Health Centre with research services, specializing in web development and running two elearning platforms.

When not working, Peerless focuses on her art — the painter has become particularly well-known for what she calls her “living art” portraits — and runs Phantom Effects and Phantom's FreakShow Haunted House with her husband, Aaron, and works to support business growth and events in Kentville.

LIVING ART

Peerless says she was always a budding artist, but her artwork was something she created for herself.

That all changed when she was inspired by a high school classmate. Annapolis Valley mouth painter Shane Lynch, a quadriplegic who holds his paintbrush in his mouth to paint and create, encouraged her to open herself up creatively to others. Via social media, he told Peerless that people would rally around her — support that would push her to be a better artist.

And he was right, she says. Although she loves painting, Peerless says she rarely finishes her pieces, as they take so much time to complete that she often gets bored and moves on to another canvas. That's where the idea of creating living art was born.

In 2018, Peerless says she was asked by the local art gallery in Kentville to come up with something artistic for the annual Apple Blossom Festival. She wanted to take advantage of the gallery's big picture window and use that as a frame for a big piece of art, which involved a real person that looked like a painting.

Using herself as the model, and taking inspiration from artist Frida Kahlo, Peerless ended up combining makeup artistry, photography and graphic design to make a display of living art portraits.

Instead of painting canvasses, Peerless says, she paints people.

“What I enjoy the most about these portraits is that it is instant gratification,” says

Peerless, noting that with about two hours in the studio, and two hours at home editing, she has a unique and artistic interpretation of her clients.

Peerless has developed several makeup techniques to achieve her look. She loves being able to change her style on a whim and having the fluidity to try anything she is curious about.

Her biggest challenge is scaling things back. Often, when working a canvas, she overworks details and muddies the results.

"The same thing applies to makeup and it is key to restrain myself and allow the client and model to shine through their piece," explains Peerless.

“Their light needs to shine just as loud as my work in order for it to be balanced."

INSPIRED BY THE SCARY

Some of Peerless' work reflects her fascination with the macabre, whether it's vivid imagery or tales.

“My father had a slight obsession with WWII documentaries, slasher films and classic monster movies,” says Peerless, noting that the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

In 1995, Peerless met her now-husband Aaron, who she describes as a James Deanlooking quiet guy with a private school background and dimples.

“That boy might have looked innocent but deep down inside, he was a freak — just like me,” she says, noting he loved horror just as much as she does.

Together, they joined forces to create Phantom Effects and Phantom's FreakShow Haunted House, a special effects makeup studio in Kentville that specializes in prosthetic makeup, casting and molding. Prior to COVID-19, they also offered a wide variety of workshops.

Peerless says her strengths are in theatrical makeup, costumes, decor, details, marketing, promotions, public relations, event planning, support, and "being a total boss."

Phantom Effects works with theatrical productions, whether it's for the creation of a single prop to more detailed involvement, like producing, directing, marketing, costumes, construction, set design, makeup, lighting, prosthetic applications, and troubleshooting stunt and effects that create theatrical magic.

GETTING HAUNTED

Since 1998, Aaron has been working on different haunted houses, and when Peerless joined the scene in 2012, they branded as Phantom's FreakShow Haunted House.

"Haunted houses are very much an extension to what we do at Phantom Effects," she says. "We create the stages, build props, enhance with characters development and create an atmosphere to transport those who attend, to another world or reality."

It's along the same lines as film, theatre and Peerless's living art portraits, she explains.

"It's all part of the magic," she says.

“There is a science behind everything we do, whether it's a chemical process for making materials, a psychological trick for triggering fear, the physics needed for building a prop, or the biological understanding to capture a realistic effect. It's all relevant in the creative process."

These annual haunted houses have moved to several different locations over the years but have settled into the Main Street Station (Cornwallis Inn) in Kentville.

"Each year, we always build a new haunt interior to keep things exciting, and we always test ourselves to better the years prior," she says.

"Part of what we do is building something out of nothing and evolving."

They have a motto that they live by, she explains:

“love what you do until others love what you do."

“We pour everything into anything we produce. We may not always get paid what we're worth, but it's about more than that,” she says.

As for what's next, Peerless would like to paint more murals, like the 46-foot piece she did recently inside the Kentville Centennial Arena. Phantom Effects is also about to begin production of its own fan film, based on a well-known cult classic horror movie, a fun activity they wanted to try with friends.

Learn more at phantomeffects.com.

MISNER

recognized. Along with other Acadian dikes and roads near the Canard River, these sites get little mention in history books.

I recently learned about this little-known Acadian site when Misner invited me on a tour of Steam Mill and Canard. Misner works out of his home in Chipman Brook and is a professional deed researcher. His work consists of the arduous tracking of land transfers, from one person to another, back to the original Planter and Loyalist grantees. Misner told me that in the searches he learned a lot about old roads, discovering that many have disappeared due to agricultural activity and land-use changes. However, traces of the old roads can still be found around Kings County, Misner said.

I was surprised to learn that the kilometre-long Reid Road, connecting Upper

Dyke with Steam Mill is of

Acadian origin and was once a piece of running dike. Reid Road runs parallel to the Canard River. Actually, evidence of Acadian diking was found on Reid Road in the 1890s. This site was along a stream that today runs under Reid Road, and is about 100 metres or so from the Canard River.

Thanks to his searching of old deeds and early maps, Misner has a lot of local history at his fingertips, especially on areas other than Acadian sites.

On our drive, for example, we went through Meadowview where Misner pointed out traces of old roads and the problem he was having in determining the original course of Tupper Road. We drove over what was once known as Knockwood Hill, named after a Mi’kmaq family who had a seasonal camp there, and a site in the heart of Meadowview I’d never heard of before called Indian Springs.

On the early maps he accessed, Misner made some surprising discoveries about the various roads running

north of Kentville and off Belcher Street. For example, Cornwallis Street, where it runs up the so-called Gallows Hill, isn’t on a map Misner found — a map dated 1819. On a later map, dated 1834, Cornwallis Street is only lightly drawn in with a pencil.

I was further surprised when Misner told me that Nichols Road and Oakdene Avenue also aren’t found on some of the older maps. Campbell Road, which runs parallel to Nichols and Oakdene, is the only road shown on early maps. And, says Misner, Campbell Road for a time was the only way people to the northeast could access the Belcher Street, Kentville area. It’s interesting to note that Campbell Road connects with Upper Church Street, which then loops around and then runs east into the area where the Acadians not only farmed and built dikes, but may have built a church as well. Misner thinks the church once stood close by the crossroad area known as Chipman Corner, and he’s on a crusade to prove this.