This week Ellie and Ryley are celebrating a small milestone by hitting episode 10! We celebrate this achievement by sitting down with Sheryl Schroeder, one of the original tiki artists. Sheryl was so much fun to talk to, and with her years of experience in the tiki scene, she’s done it all. Our Artist Spotlight this week is Johnny and Shanna Lowe of Rita’s Lost Weekend. Not only do they have one of the coolest home bars around, they also make lamps, candles, shirts and so much more. 

Sheryl Schroeder was raised in San Diego and was exposed to tiki at a young age by being around places like Shelter Island. Sheryl spent her time growing up surfing, being outside, and making art in any form she found interesting. Sheryl started out like many others— by getting into punk and slowly hearing the alluring call of tiki that harkened back to her childhood in San Diego. Inspiration struck one day when Sheryl was walking on the beach and she found pieces of a fallen palm tree on the ground and decided she needed to paint tikis on them. Here we are years later, those palm tree tiki paintings are still available but so much more has come along with it. Sheryl has done art for Tiki News back in the ‘90s, she has painted countless pieces of palm, done art for wine bottles, and even designed a tiki mug for Tikiland Trading. Sheryl also is a big cat lover, and we don’t mean big house cats. Sheryl is an avid conservationist and has travelled to South Africa to support lion sanctuaries. Sheryl also does work to support big cats native to Southern California. You can find Sheryl at her Instagram at @schroederville_art.

Johnny and Shanna are the proud owners of Rita’s Lost Weekend, an ode to the vessel that carried that fateful voyage into the Black Lagoon in the summer of ’54. They combine their love of horror and tiki into a unique blend that compliments each other so well. They are lamp builders, candle makers and some of the nicest people around. In this interview we talk about how they designed their bar, how they started building lamps, the illusive scent of their favorite candle that has lead them to attempt to replicate it, and so much more. They offer lamps you can buy on their Etsy but also offer the ability to order custom commissioned lamps too. They are the absolute best, and Ryley really had a great time talking with them. You can find them on Instagram at @ritaslostweekend. 

Thank you for joining us on The Tiki Talk Show. If you are interested in being interviewed or highlighted as our artist spotlight, send us an email at [email protected]. Click the link below to see our link tree and find us on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also fill out our Google Form to get on our postcard mailing list. It’s been good talking to you.

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-Ryley and Ellie