Pipsqueak Production founder and artist Mary Badenhop shares her behind the scenes stories in the Pipsqueak Blog series “Journey to Pipsqueak Productions.” Follow our weekly interviews to discover the history of Mary as an artist and a business owner.
Mary started thinking about her career and what she wanted to do with her life when she was only five years old. She recalls the people she looked up to at that age and how they impacted her career path. Her parents were her greatest influences. Her dad founded and ran his own construction company. He was a builder and he designed the homes. Mary smiled fondly when she described watching her father design a new building on his huge drawing board. She used to sneak into his office and run a make believe company using his old metal rolodex, which held all of her imaginary clients, and work with numbers on his tossed-out green ledger paper.
Mary also attributes her creative nature to her mom. Her mom was a fabulous home decorator. Holidays were a particularly fun time for Mary and her mom. Together they would make the house look festive and also make greeting cards for friends and other family members. When there weren't any holidays coming up, Mary and her Mom would do other crafty projects like making macaroni pictures. Mary's interest in art continued to flourish in school as well. Her kindergarten teacher was a creative person and one of the people Mary looked up to. Mary remembers,
I loved to watch her paint and play the piano–so I decided that I wanted to be in my own business, draw and play the piano, at the age of five. It made me so happy inside. I had a goal.
It wasn't until her early teens, however, that Mary applied this creativity to fashion. In high school she started to draw seriously and was preparing her portfolio to become a fashion illustrator. Mary's talent was noticed and she was invited to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. It was a dream of Mary's to live in the city as a fashion illustrator and her artistry and hard work enabled her to start working immediately in the fashion field after graduation. In just a few years, she had over 30 accounts ranging from advertising agencies and buying offices to department stores and showrooms.
Mary was Bloomingdale's exclusive Children's illustrator, designing ads for 5 years. Mary illustrated for Bloomingdale’s, Avon, Wrangler and Burlington Mills, and many more. Her favorite memories of this time include seeing her art in The New York Times or a fashion magazine and living in her studio apartment on Madison Avenue and 68th Street–she was in heart of the fashion scene.
Visit the Pipsqueak blog next month to learn about how Mary's move to Australia influenced her path towards Pipsqueak Productions. Have anything you want to know more about? Message us! We'd love to hear from you.
