Every year the local high school enables students to paint shop windows throughout downtown with holiday scenes. Typical are pictures of the Grinch, Charlie Brown, or Snoopy. Year after year the same sorts of images go up, generally inspired by holiday cartoons. Last year, the Black Diamond Barbershop, which is on the first floor of my building, inspired the students with a little of the shop’s own quirkiness: the students doing the barbershop’s windows pulled imagery from “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. The Tim Burton stop-motion animation is one of my favorites and the windows surprised and delighted me. It seems that last year wasn’t just a flash in the pan, but hopefully, an ongoing tradition.
This year, the barbershop’s inspiration continues. The students, given free rein by their teacher and the shop owner, came up with wonderfully gruesome images that slap those Charles Schulz and Dr Seuss images right in the face. A snowman toasting a screaming marshmallow, a shrieking evergreen tree. The images appear to be more original than I’ve seen before, though with web animation what it is the characters could be pulled directly from animation I’m unfamiliar with. Regardless of where exactly the characters are from, the stimulus can only be attributed to the shop itself. During the off season, basically the rest of the year, the Black Diamond Barbershop features their own brand of quirky art in the front windows (and throughout the shop)- animal skulls, antiques, and artwork that are all interesting, often dark, but always able to grab your gaze and stimulate your thoughts.
It’s wonderful stuff! Thanks to the shop owner, the students, and the faculty at Bellefonte High School.