Unveiling the Magic for 2023: It’s Almost Time for Gothtober

The Moon is out, and so is all that goes bump in the night

Hold onto your hay bales, we’re about to bring you our annual anticipated countdown of spooky and artistic Autumnal delights!

We’re pleased as pumpkin pie to report that Gothtober is now 21 years old. Gothtober is old enough do drink! Our 2023 edition contains creative offerings catered to this new milestone through the theme: “Potions and Elixirs” (in addition to the usual theme, which is simply “Halloween.”)

At the strike of midnight our calendar unveils a new contributor each day of October. In case you’ve never experienced it before, we’re taking you on a lil’ artistic journey.

Enjoy a celebration of the holiday’s rich traditions, and eerie charms, with an ability to stir the cauldron of your imagination. I don’t censor anyone, so it’s kind of a blend of both dark and delightful. For example, you can expect just about anything! There will be many short movies. Gothtober’s also got recipes, and crafts! We’ve always got a diverse ensemble ranging from veterens like Jenny Walsh, an artist who has been in the calendar since 2004 to her son, Harry, an emerging talent, who is now a Gothtober artist as well!

Best thing about the Gothtober Countdown Calendar? You don’t have to go anywhere or do anything. You can find Gothtober.com on your Desktop, tablet, or phone! While older parts of the calendar (dated all the way back to 2003) are not accessible yet, we’ve worked hard to make sure the NEW version of Gothtober can be accessed by anyone with a computer screen. As Head Candy Corn of Gothtober, I welcome you to the mysteries, the magic, the madness of this thing we build every year, brought to you, just a click away.

Yours in goblets of gross gooey gulps of rat’s blood and kitten eyeballs,

JP Head Candy Corn

Gothtober Applications Close at MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!!!

Ask not for whom the bell tolls… it tolls for THEEEEEEEE!!!!

Midnight TONIGHT the door creeks closed, the vault is locked, the tomb is shut, there is NO TURNING BACK.

When witches go flying,
and black cats go MEOW
the moon laughs and whispers,
“Apply for Gothtober NOW!”

Join your fellow autumnal enthusiasts! Share your pumpkin collection, your autumn gardening tips, a recipe for severed finger soup!

Here’s the FAQ for 2017 (theme, tech specs, etc.):
 
READ THE FAQ!
 
Here’s how to fill out the Gothtober Application by August 29th:
 
APPLY TODAY!
 
Participants will be notified of admission on September 1st, 2017.

Upon acceptance, a $25 registration fee is required.

 

Gothtober’s Application Deadline EXTENDED to Sept. 1st!!!

GOTHTOBER APPLICATIONS EXTENDED! 

 

We’re so close to our roster being complete, but we are still seeking new blood!

Make Public Internet Art and achieve worldwide FAME!!!

APPLY BY SEPTEMBER 1st!

Learn about and Apply for Gothtober, here’s the FAQ for 2017 (theme, tech specs, etc.):
 
READ THE FAQ!
 
Here’s how to fill out the Gothtober Application by August 29th:
 
APPLY TODAY!
 
Participants will be notified of admission on September 1st, 2017.

Upon acceptance, a $25 registration fee is required.

 

5 Reasons You Should Make Art for Gothtober 2017

AUTUMN WANTS YOU! 

Less than SIX days remain for you to join this happy haunted hovel of depraved creative souls called GOTHTOBER! Why should you sweat and toil to make some kind of artistic offering for the Gothtober Countdown Calendar?

1.) It’s ALL Art! Music, Photography, Recipes, Singing, Dancing, Acting, Gardening, Performing, Fencing, Drawing, ANYTHING can be art! The definition is wide open, we have some perimeters for movie and slideshow length, but other than that, there’s nothing to keep you from being as fabulous and weird as you want to share!

2.) Yes huh you can do it! You’re a human being, which means you’re just naturally curious about stuff, and creativity is an inherent part of your nature. Making, doing and sharing things is your legacy as homo sapiens. You were born to create, use those opposable thumbs and give us a whirl!

3.) Find “You Time” Who has time to make things anyway? NOBODY. That’s where getting your butt kicked by me, Gothtober’s Head Candy Corn, will help you figure out how to carve out time like a pumpkin to meet your Gothtober deadlines. You’ll begin and finish to completion something of yours, for you, for the good of the Halloween season.

4.) Fire Up Your Passion Is your guitar gathering dust? Did you forget what it’s like to spend hours working on paper puppets with joints made of dental floss? When’s the last time you shared that awesome recipe for Fall Flavor Allspice Cookies?  What happened to those ghost throw pillow crafts you were going to make and share? Get back into that feeling of making something from your hands, and feel profoundly alive and happy.

5.) Give Something to the World When you make art for Gothtober, along with your fellow Gothtober contributors, you bring something new to thousands of spectators waiting to see what you made! You might get fan mail, you might get weird comments about your work, you might inspire someone, you might surprise yourself with what you’re capable of making!

So come on down, send in your application, commit to a thing even though everything’s crazy and there’s no time! We wanna see what you will do!

Learn about and Apply for Gothtober, here’s the FAQ for 2017 (theme, tech specs, etc.):
 
READ THE FAQ!
 
Here’s how to fill out the Gothtober Application by August 29th:
 
APPLY TODAY!
 
Participants will be notified of admission on September 1st, 2017.

Upon acceptance, a $25 registration fee is required.

 

Gothtober Application Deadline EXTENDED to Sept. 5th!

ghost_extendo_2014_sidebarCALL FOR GOTHTOBER PARTICIPANTS!!! THIS MEANS YOU!!!
Due to the fact that I accidentally ERASED the Gothtober application data and it was down for a few days, some of you were unable to apply because nothing was there! I re-installed the data, and anyone who couldn’t find the form will have no trouble finding it now!

Gothtober is an online advent-style calendar that counts down the days to Halloween, and it consists of 31 “doors”, each day revealing a Halloween treat made by a different contributor! We do this because we LOVE Halloween, and we love bringing everyone together engage with each other, make and do stuff and celebrate the season. It’s ART, goshdarnit!

This blog is not Gothtober, this blog just tells you everything about Gothtober, if you want to see the calendar, go HERE. 

You don’t have to be an “artist” or an “expert” to be part of Gothtober, and we always need new blood so to speak. If all you have is snapshots and some napkins with words on them: I can help you turn that into a slideshow!

This year we will actually be handing out AWARDS for various pieces, and we’re calling it “The Ichabods” complete with PRIZES! Prizes will be announced soon, we’re working on that, but please consider scrunching up your gray matter and making something fun or frightening for Gothtober’s Ghoulish Group for 2014, APPLY TODAY!

Below are types of things that Gothtober has shown for the last decade: 

[column-group]
[column]3-minute movies
Rat Cake Recipe
Severed Head Crochet Project
Halloween Sound Effects
Board Games

[/column]
[column]Slideshows of photos/drawings
3 minute Animated shorts
Stories/Anecdotes
Music videos
Color-n-Cut Hearse Vehicles [/column]
[column]Music Mixes
Scary Reading Lists
Halloween Bicycle Tours
Haunted Socks
Pig wearing many Costumes
[/column]
[/column-group]

 

Gothtober Calling YOU!

Dear Creative Crusty Creative Creeps,

Gothtober’s crooked moon approaches and we want you to be in the pumpkin patch for our 10th Anniversary!

APPLICATIONS DUE AUGUST 29th, 2012 • Participants will be notified of admission by September 6th at the latest. Upon acceptance, a $25 registration fee is required.

1.) Apply HERE

2.) The Theme is “10” a.) The number 10 in some way (10 items on screen, 10 tips for severing fingers, 10 recipes, 10 sounds, just… 10, y’know? b.) OR you can ignore the “10” theme and make your piece all spooky, creepy, crazy, weirdy, autumny, candy, fun and freaky Halloween theme like the original Gothtober from 2003. There will be a lot of pumpkins in Gothtober’s design this year, so also… if you want to have your piece involve America’s favorite round orange squash, knock yourself out!

3.) More information on how to make a Gothtober piece is on our Gothtober FAQ

4.) All the latest news about Gothtober can be found right here on the Gothtober BLOG

5.) And of course… if you want to gain inspiration from Gothtober itself, visit GOTHTOBER! 

Slimy Slippery Slugs,

JP Head Candycorn

 

Day 2: Miniature Madness

Jessica Hlavac The PieMY LORD, what’s she going to do with that razor blade??? Will she cut her own wrists? Hijack a plane? Enter into an eternal blood oath with Lucifer himself? What terrible horror awaits you, dear viewer?!

Oh wait. What’s that cute little pie doing there? Hang on, let me check my notes. OH. It’s Jessica Hlavac, the mad genius behind i’m so tiny, where she showcases minuscule foods meticulously crafted with her very own, non-threatening hands! She makes everything from breakfast to dessert, all about the size of a quarter. You know, that thing in your pocket that’s only about an inch in diameter? Yeah, that. Just look at this croissant sandwich sitting on one of them:

Jessica Hlavac Croissant SandwichShe even admits to being a little crazy, having “made a whole damn tiny ham just to slice it up” and make perfect ham slice edges for this diminutive sandwich. CAN YOU STAND IT.

So here we are, on Day 2 of Gothtober 2011, wondering what sort of miniature madness Miss Hlavac has cooked up this time. Ok, it’s a pie. But if you think you can follow her steps and make your own pie, as if the sheer smallness and perfectness of her handiwork isn’t mind-boggling enough… well, she’s thrown you yet another curve ball. Just try and catch it.

Apply for Gothtober 2011!

IT IS TIME!

In the words of Madame Leota, my favorite dismembered head inside of a crystal ball…

“Goblins and ghoulies from last Halloween. Awaken the spirits with your tambourine!

Creepies and crawlies, toads in a pond; let there be music, from regions beyond!

Wizards and witches, wherever you dwell, give us a hint, by ringing a bell!”

The sluice gates are officially open, it’s the 10th anniversary of the Gothtober Countdown Calendar, and we are accepting applications for the creepiest, spookiest, weirdest, wackiest, craziest and disturbing works for 2011! Get your applications in by August 21st, and we’ll let you know if you made it in by August 29th!

APPLY TODAY! Gothtober wants YOU!

Day 25: NO YOGA.

We’re starting your week with an uplifting, mind-altering experience called The Waller Family Singers. The Wallers set out for the desert with the specific purpose of not doing any yoga, but instead to create a film combining the collaborative input of all family members.

Scenes were shot in Joshua Tree and 29 Palms, and you may catch a glimpse of some native chaparral, a ruddy desert landscape at eventide, some scampering gleeful kid jewel thieves, perhaps some toast made of felt, and an emblematic figure whose face is concealed by a gauzy and ornamental headdress.

The desert is a magical place, no one knows this more than The Wallers. Do not seek to understand, simply seek No Yoga.

Day 24: Interpretive Brains

I don’t know what your brain is up to, and sometimes I don’t know what mine is up to either, but now you get to decide what brains are doing in Oonstein’s “Horrors of Demography.”

Shannon Dedman invites you  to interpret for yourself some intriguing little dioramas featuring small sculptures of cerebral matter in mostly domestic settings.

There isn’t a “wrong” or “right” way to look at these scenes, which is kind of refreshing, no? In the day and age of everything being so darned “spelled out” all the time, having room for imagination is pretty special.

Feel free to tell us any stories or ideas you come up with from looking at these scenes, Shannon likes hearing what people decipher from them. Maybe the pictures will inspire you to write brainy songs, or leave extra long and poetic answering machine messages that sound smarter than ever before. Maybe you’ll channel your inner algebra teacher and suddenly be able to solve bizarre polynomial equations!

The lil’ brains are made from Sculpey, the larger brain in the “kitchen” scene is about the size of a golf ball. Shannon (aka “Oonstein”) built all the little environments/props herself, and as you can see, they are rather detailed little worlds. It is Dedman’s great hope that there will be more exciting brain pictures in the future, the Gothtober blog will keep you posted should they become available on an internet near you.

See the Brain Show!