Category: artists

something about our artists

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Slaying in the Kitchen with Gothtober Day 2

sandercock

All the way from Edmonton, Canada is a dance piece that will make your face melt off by Nancy Sandercock! Visit Gothtober and click on the Book on the shelf with the number 2 on it that is titled “Of Lice and Men.”

Watch Nancy’s visceral, frenetic, direct and gloriously globby performance called “Double Headed Axe” and if you have headphones, all the better, it’ll melt your face off even more. It was shot in Los Angeles, but edited in Edmonton by Kyle Armstrong, who also did the sound.

Fun trivia about this piece is that the cat’s name is Dawa, and she’s traveled the world with Nancy.

The other fun trivia is that this piece features Canadian film and TV star, Susan Kent!  Gothtober has a history of having some fabulous Canadian contributors, welcome Nancy and Susan to our crazy calendar! Yay Canada!

This is not Nancy’s first Gothtober, however, she has been in many a piece by Gothtober Artist and Film Maker, Barry Morse, and also has collaborated with Julianna Parr in a Gothtober piece from 2011. This is Nancy’s Gothtober debut in a project all of her own.

 

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Seeing Spot Colors for DAY 1 of Gothtober!

We are LAUNCHED!

By the skin of our teeth no less, and with a few glitches here and there, but hey: The calendar is here! Big thanks to our programmer, Jesse, wooooo!

So already we have a fabulous project in store for you, visit Gothtober.com and click on DAY 1, you’ll have opportunity to download a needlepoint pattern for you all the way from Louisiana! Nicole LaBranche, a graphic designer for film and TV, who also  runs Spot Colors, a shop in New Orleans, makes needlepoint patterns for the 21st century. If you are frightened of clowns eating you in the night, maybe this needlepoint will ensure that you’ll never sleep again. Who could forget the menacing and utterly terrible Pennywise the Clown?

Nicole made this Pennywise pattern especially for Gothtober, she’s been so busy with her shop and freelance projects, she hasn’t had a moment to actually sit down and stitch Pennywise, but that’s where YOU come in! If you sew this creepiest of clowns, will you send us a photo? Nightmares made REAL!

Why Pennywise? Why needle point? Here’s what Nicole had to say about it:

I grew up with my grandmother, mom, and aunts all crafting around me and so I was taught early on how to cross stitch.  I res-erected that knowledge about a year ago when my mom gave me and my sister all her old supplies. I wanted to combine graphic design and cross stitch and I wanted to make more modern designs.  I just started making my own patterns and kits but I am loving it and I think they are getting better and more fun as I get into the swing of it.  The Pennywise Clown is a hand drawn illustration, drawn by me, I think he came out really cute and I got my inspiration from my sister and her love (and almost obsession) with Stephen King novels.

This October 17th-19th Nicole will have a booth set up at the Fear Fete Horror Festival in Biloxi, Mississippi which she’s very excited about.  As for her store, she has lots of cute and unique halloween handmade items and gifts.  So if you’re in the area, go check it out, lots of gee gaws for your hee haws.

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Zombie Throat Punch • Gothtober DAY 17

zombie_throats
We’ve seen a lot of helpful information about how to escape zombies if you are human. But how do you escape zombies if you’re another zombie? Or are you just unlucky if you’re a zombie and you both have different goals in mind for your productive day? LB Forever found some zombies and filmed them in action.

Visit Gothtober DAY 17 and click on luggage 17 if you want a glimpse of how sometimes, zombies just get annoyed with each other. As slow-moving and hygiene-absent as they are, they’ve still got stuff to do, and even the most undead person sometimes gets exasperated.

 

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A Deal’s a Deal! The Amazing Hello Circus • Gothtober DAY 15

This wonderful moody little film (Visit Gothtober, click on luggage bag #15) by The Hello Circus is about a day in the life of the Devil. When I asked about that, Lori Meeker (part of Hello Circus) explained that “There are all these stories about people being tricked by the devil, but is it really being tricked? I mean… a deal’s a deal. If you sign, you sign!”

The backgrounds and characters for this story were made by hand, sculpted, placed, and intricately detailed. Hopefully after seeing this beautiful haunting piece, you’t think twice about signing any contracts with evil spirits/deities, it’s never worth it!

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Head Down the Runway with Del Norte Presents for Gothtober DAY 14

What are they watching? They are watching Amelia… where will she go next?

Coming at you from REAL airports in southern California is Del Norte Presents (visit Gothtober and click on luggage #14). Seems like no matter how aimless zombies seem, they do have a goal in mind, and Amelia Earhart is no exception. Most zombies are known to want brains, but zombie Amelia’s a bit different.

Del Norte went all over the place getting this great airport footage! Here’s what Del Norte has to say about it:

The older planes where located at the Proud Bird restaurant by LAX. We did a gorilla photo shoot there a few weeks ago. Zombie Amelia greeted guests in the parking lot. We are thinking to do a Halloween special brunch there in costume…

The plane Amelia gets into was courtesy of our location scout and resident Colombian who’s uncle owns a plane at the Compton airport (that is right we went to Compton)…Awesome yellow van also thanks to our location scout/translator and his uncle.

The brains Del Norte Presents used for the film were sourced in LA, they made jello brains, found gummy brains and plastic brains all in the name of Gothtober! Magnifique!

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Impress Talks Travel for Gothtober DAY 11

When Impress speaks, people listen.
When Impress speaks, people listen.

She’s here, she’s dead, and she’s Gothtober DAY 11 (luggage #11) to you! Clutch your pearls and kick up you heels, this is Impress’s ghostly debut, and she’s going to wash those gold-plated problems you’ve got right down the Airbus toilet.

She knows that American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by removing 1 olive from each salad served in first class, and she wants that olive BACK. 

She also knows that cocktails are an airline’s third biggest expense, after fuel and maintenance. She has directly contributed to that statistic.

She remembers a time before now, when planes were planes and chicken was fish. Sit back, put your tray table down, order a gin and tonic, and enjoy!

 

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Totally Tubular Tulips for Gothtober DAY 10

Fast & Funsters (visit Gothtober and select luggage #10) bring you a variation on a classic, their interpretation of  Totally Tulips. Just like in the original, every single custom shirt/wearable showcased item was made by Fast and Funsters, this film was months in the making! Tulip fabric paint is still on the market, going strong, you can use “slick” or “puffy” versions to sass up ANY piece of clothing, as demonstrated by Fast & Funsters. After seeing their video, it’s pretty much a given that you’re gonna be feeling tulip. Totally. Tulip. 

Of special note is the “stump dress” which was also sewn completely from scratch. You’ll see it when Lecie pops up from out of a tree stump. Coco the cat, a big fan of Gothtober, who likes to crash Gothtober films often, has outdone herself this year, in a spectacular rainbow-jumping/riding stunt that has to be seen to be believed. Don’t try this at home!

We’re hoping to see “the director’s cut” one day, or when the DVD comes out, hopefully there will be some exclusive outtakes from “the making of” or any footage that was left on the cutting room floor. The credits, by Zola, are featured here as their own movie, if you’d like to know more about who was involved in this early-90s-tastic tour-de-force, just press play!

And if you’d like to see the original vintage Totally Tulips video that served as the inspiration for the updated Fast & Funsters version, here it is below. I can’t stop hearing the song in my head, it’s very inspirational.

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Health Fair with Doctor Paul! Gothtober DAY 9

At the stroke of midnight, on October first, 2013, Gothtober launched…. and so did the shut down of the US Government! For Gothtober DAY 9 we have a special reminder and musical presentation brought to you by Dr. Paul (doctor, musician, artist) and animator, Lori D. that Healthcare is a Human Right! 

The Doctor recommends that you visit Healthcare.gov right away and get started on your health plan, otherwise your taxes will go up, and if a gnarly haunted tree bops you on the head, you won’t be covered! Neither vampire bites or werewolf scratches are covered either!

If you’re in California, you can also visit Covered California!

Other recommendations from Doctor Paul include: 

  • Getting your flu shot
  • Eating low sodium kettle corn
  • Don’t exceed three gobstoppers per day
  • Avoid listening to excessive amounts of news media, it causes anxiety!

Who is Tommy Douglas, you may inquire? A CBC Television show voted Tommy Douglas “The Greatest Canadian” based on a viewer-supported survey! The leader of the Saskatchewan CCF elected 1942, The Honorable Douglas built a program to offer free hospital care to all citizens—the first in Canada. Doctor Paul hails from Canada, and suffice it to say, is a huge supporter of health care for all, and so is Gothtober! While we don’t have socialized medicine in the good ol’ US of A, Obamacare is a good start! The US needs affordable health care, we voted on it, it’s time! Let’s all pitch in and take care of each other.

And who is Lori D? Only one of the coolest animators we know! She lives up in Portland, OR.  Check out her work, glad to have you aboard, Lori D! 

You should check out this wonderful piece she did for Yo Gabba Gabba featuring Paco’s Listen. 

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The TSA Took My Baby Away! Heather Harkins, Gothtober DAY 8

Banjolele
Heather “Hard Time” Harkins, showing off her 1920s banjolele!

It’s “Tawdry Tuesday” for Gothtober DAY 8 and Heather Harkins is pushing the limits of our delicate nature by bringing us this revealing piece about airport scans! 2013 marks the end of nude scans in U.S. Airports! Gothtober International Airport is no different, it’s still using the nude scans until they go out of service, and Heather documented what goes on with these machines!

Heather lives in Nova Scotia, that’s right, you heard me: Nova Scotia! That’s very far away from Los Angeles, the home of Gothtober. This is very thrilling because the beauty of internet art is that you can be thousands of miles away and STILL be part of the Gothtober Countdown Calendar. Gothtober hopes to keep luring artists from all over the world to it’s creepy countdown crypt!

About this piece, Harkins says

I don’t know anyone who enjoys going through airport security, so I thought that by setting my piece at an airport security checkpoint, there would be an element of squeamish terror. Once that creepiness was out of the way, and I let myself be entirely goofy with my drawings and the accompanying jingle.

avion

I asked Heather, when she sent in the jingle that goes with her piece if she was playing a banjo or a ukelele, and the answer is YES! She’s playing a 1920s banjolele that she found in Rochester, NY and took back with her to Nova Scotia. This is the banjolele’s VERY FIRST public debut! You heard it on Gothtober!

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Playin’ Games and Takin’ Names with Dianne Chadwick for Gothtober DAY 7

Work in progress, as Dianne was designing...
Work in progress, as Dianne was designing…

Happy Monday! To start off the week, Dianne Chadwick made you a BOARD GAME!!! OmigoshOmigosh how fun is THAT?!? All you have to do is visit DAY 7 on Gothtober.com and download the game, follow the instructions, and you’re ready to experience the thrill of victory, or the agony of defeat. The game is called “Trick or Treat” and it consists of three pages that you print out, cut and assemble. It’s for players 5 and up, Dianne used her very own 5-year-old as her test subject, and said that

He loved it, but mostly just wanted to eat the candy.

Dianne wanted to make a game that you can pretty much play anywhere, all you really need is access to candy and coffee container lids (to serve as “cauldrons”) Here’s some info from the official “box instructions” of the game

It’s Halloween and mischief is in the air! Collect as much candy as you can and return home before your house is trashed by marauding tricksters!

One of the great things about this game is that if you lose game pieces, no worries. Just head to the snack bar and purchase some more jelly beans. Dianne hasn’t played this game with four people yet, so if you want to give feedback or tell us how you did playing “Trick or Treat” with four or more players, let us know. You should be able to extend game play by acquiring more candy. “Trick or Treat” can be played at the park, at recess, during your lunch hour, on the train, practically anywhere, it’s made for travel. We’ll be playing the game at CraftNight (at Akbar) this week, thanks Dianne for giving us this very clever and beautifully designed diversion for the Halloween holiday!