On my return from Italy I was approached by Gillian Twaite to design and create a set of masks for her new childrens show ‘Don’t Blame It on The Wlof’. There seems to be an interesting trend occuring here as one of my previous commisions was a wolf for Sir Rhubarb and The Green Wolf.
The first of this set Mrs Pig is now complete.I look forward to up loading more pictures of her in action at ArtsFest and on stage at The Library Theatre in October.

The process:

Mrs Pig Ready To Go

Mrs Pig Painted

Unpainted

Straight from the mold
( the ears had to be cast separatley)

Clay design about to be cast in plaster
There were various technical concerns with the making of Mrs Pig as she needed to be a full head mask but I wished to make a negative mold of the clay design. This meant the ears had to be cut from the design and cast separately and the head itself was cast in two halves and joined together in the making process.

Clay Design Complete

Mrs Pig Design
I sometimes work through another stage of the process which is to make a clay maquette to explore design possibilities but I was quite clear with Mrs Pig from the outset and did not feel the need to do this.
Creating a Maquette can be a valuable way of exploring your ideas and uncovering any potential flaws in your design before creating it full size.

Maquette for Naive Mask Design

Final Design for Naive Mask
Categories: Masks
Tagged: Mask Making
This year as well as leading a range of projects and workshops I have also been focusing on my own Creative Professional Development with a range of companies. The course that has perhaps pushed my own practice the furthest and inspired me the most, not only in the creation of performances but also as a mask maker was the amazing Summer School led by Michael Vogel of Familie Floez one of the leading mask companies.

Taking place in Italy the whole experience was an amazing week of Sun masks and play with a truly international group of participants. We are all still in touch which I think expresses something of the work itself.
The work was demanding in the best possible way with Michael pushing each of us to work that bit deeper to reflect upon the process and create performances that conveyed truth. It was both technical and incredibly creative.
The bit I wasn’t expecting was that Michael, during siesta time, shared some of the making and particularly the finishing skills of the Floez masks. Si
The week culminated in two presentations of our work one at the farmhouse where we had lived and worked and one on the streets of nearby San Casciano where our masked characters roamed the streets.
One person who really does need a mention here is Gianni, Floez company manager, responsible for making this unique experience happen. Getting us all to and from the farm house, co ordinating, sorting, and just generally being a great guy. It was his parents who cooked for all the participants each day. It was he who arranged all the transport and made it all possible.
Amazing, stunning, beautiful. One of the best experiences. I now have a sketch book packed with notes, sketches and inspirations that I will be taking into my own practice this Autumn and beyond and I am already thinking that going to Berlin to spend more time with the company will be my next mission.
Categories: Creative Professional Development · Masks
Tagged: Creative Professional Development, Familie Floez, mask
I have just been doing some preliminary research for a new project that will begin in October and got all excited and inspired about possibilities and masks
The project will involve working with BRB’s education team and young people from a youth group to create a performance piece incorporating mask making and mask work inspired by the ballet Cyrano. The process should be a highly creative one and will be led by the groups response to the performance.
There are several other artists involved in the project, which is being co-ordinated by Juliet Raynsford. And there will be a day of sharing the work at The Patrick Centre just before Christmas.
Categories: Drama · Masks · Workshops
Tagged: Birmingham Royal Ballet, Cyrano, Drama, mask, Mask Making
Despite the torrents of rain that started the day, a day in the park in a marquee proved to be lots of fun. The new Dramask banner, of which I am rather pleased with received it’s first outing and Jen and I enjoyed mask making with all the amazing people who turned out despite the rain. A backdrop of chilled out music was provided by Marc Reck (mr elephant presents) and Mark Smallman (Custom Made).
There was lots going on that was both fun and informative and it is definatley worth checking out for another year if you missed it on Saturday.
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There has been a lot of hard work going on over the last few months to put together a quite different Project X. This is going to come together this Saturday in the heart of Mosley Village with a range of art works, performances and great music.

The venues are The Church, The CDT building and The Cross upstair with performance also happening at the cross roads. It all starts at 12pm and goes on until 2pm.
I have been developing some performance work with two other artists Rahil and Lucy. This time it has been heavily influenced by the fantastic structural costumes created By Deb Mingham
To find out more about the event check out the project X website here
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As part of the CBSO’s school concerts programme a variety of creative projects are organised. I have enjoyed being a part of these for some time and have been developing a strong working relationship with musician Jackie Tyler within this re mit.
Our most recent collaboration, developing a teachers pack exploring Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet through drama and composition is now complete and yesterday we co facilitated a CPD day for teachers.
The staff who came from a range of primary school s in Birmingham, Telford and Northhampton really impressed us both with their enthusiasm willingness to take part in a very practical session.
The feedback was very positive and I hope to hear from the schools again as I am interested to find out how they will use the exercises, drama work and music with their classes.
A copy of the pack will be available as a resource in the near future by following this link to Jackie Tylers’ website.
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