This October, Inspireland’s Halloween Art Camps will dive deep into the strange and the spectacular. Forget ordinary mask-painting, we’re talking papier-mâché creations, pagan forest deities, and full-on Wicker Man Samhain madness.
For four days, young artists will conjure creatures, stories, and animations that blur the line between myth and mischief, all while celebrating the ancient Irish festival of Samhain and the playful spookiness of Halloween.
What’s in store this Halloween:
Day 1 – Pagan Samhain Masks & Books of the Dead
We begin with myth and ritual. Students design and sculpt masks worthy of an ancient forest ceremony, while also creating their own Book of the Dead — pages left overnight to “age a thousand years.”
Day 2 – Finishing the Masks & Ancient Pages
Masks are painted and finished, the aged pages are bound, and stories begin to take shape. The workshop fills with eerie colour and texture as each creation takes on a life of its own.
Day 3 – Compendiums of Creeping Things
Here, the imagination truly runs wild. Students invent their own creeping creatures and write their ghastly tales, building a compendium of monsters and myths to carry into Halloween.
Day 4 – Flash Scare Animations
On Halloween itself, the camps come alive with short, spine-tingling animations. A mix of art, storytelling, and digital play, these projects capture the thrill of a scare — just enough to raise a smile as well as a shiver.
Why we do it
At Inspireland, we believe Halloween should be more than costumes and sweets. It’s a chance to connect with Ireland’s ancient traditions, to explore imagination, and to bring whole new worlds to life through art.
This year, our aim is simple: to dress Ireland up for Halloween night in a way that honours Samhain while tipping our hats to the spooky fun of modern Halloween.