ECC teacher credits horror mask career to TV’s Svengoolie

Peter Infelise can credit his obsession with the macabre to TV movie host Svengoolie.

“It’s all his fault,” the Elgin Community College graphic design professor said. “I can pinpoint exactly when the fascination began for me. Specifically, it was 7 p.m. Thursday July 28, 1982.”

That was the night Svengoolie showed “Revenge of the Creature,” the 3D movie featuring the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

“The 3D was questionable at best but the monster was incredible,” he said. “I was absolutely blown away, and the fascination with monsters began that night.”

And more than four decades later, he can thank it for not only his career but the one man show, “Electric Horror: The Art and Design of Peter Infelise,” now on display at Elgin Community College’s Safety-Kleen Gallery through Nov. 30.

His mask-making journey began in spring 1995, when he was taking a ceramics class at Harper College in Palatine and assigned to create a mask.

“While most students sculpted beautiful tribal masks, I chose to sculpt a zombie mask,” Infelise said. “While I had never really sculpted a character prior to this, it came rather naturally and I found that I really enjoyed working in clay as a medium.”

Around the same time, he purchased a how-to-make-masks VHS tape from the classified ads section in a horror magazine. He watched it dozens of times and finally asked his instructor, Sam Rosby, if he could use some of the plaster in the studio to make a mold of one of his sculptures.

“He enthusiastically encouraged me to do so and in short, the rest is history,” Infelise said. “I feverishly sculpted a dozen pieces during my first year of making masks, and in 1996 I began selling masks and sculpting as a freelancer.”

That included a seasonal job making prosthetic body parts used in a live Halloween production at Universal Studios Florida.

A couple years later, Infelise built his side business by setting up one of the first websites devoted to masks. His studio, The Devil’s Workshop, is located in Berwyn, a town that’s also a running gag on Svengoolie’s show, which airs Saturday nights on MeTV.

Infelise also earned a master’s degree in fine arts from Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2009 and has been teaching new media for almost 20 years, the last five at ECC.

Infelise said about 75% of the masks he makes are designed not to wear but to be displayed.

“A mask represents something very primal,” he said. “Mask-making is one of the earliest forms of art after all. A mask quite literally allows you to transform yourself by putting it on.

“When they are not being worn, and rather being displayed, masks are unique pieces of art that you can stare at and they stare right back at you.”

Over the last 11 years, Infelise said The Devil’s Workshop Instagram account has been the best way to draw attention to his art, leading to the projects he’s done for Trick or Treat Studios, Zagone Studios and Nightmare Force. Some of his masks were used in Rob Zombie’s 2022 movie, “The Munsters.”

Through the internet and social media, Infelise’s work has connected him with some of the idols of his youth.

“In high school, my favorite bands were Metallica and Guns N’ Roses. I just about fell out of my chair when I saw a photo of Kirk Hammett, lead guitarist of Metallica, posing in front of his mask collection that included one of my pieces,” Infelise said. “I had another one of those moments when I saw a photo that was circulating online of Slash, lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses, wearing a werewolf mask I sculpted.”

And come Oct. 17, Infelise hopes to meet the character who inspired his career.

“I’ve never been to Nightmare on Chicago Street, but I plan on attending this year,” he said. “Svengoolie is going to be there, and I look forward to seeing him.”

Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The (Elgin) Courier-News.