Tubular Shells

Yabadooooooo!!!!

Just finished papering the first shell, a giant conch for my new show.

Yes, a new show - (or should I say installation? But installation makes me feel like a plumber) - a new show for Weymouth's Arts Festival, B-side (the sea side).



I will be displaying these gargantuan gastropods, complete with tiny parasitical human worlds clinging to their shells, in 2 weeks, 26th -28th Sept, at the B-Side Arts Festival.

Address: Brewers Quay (upstairs shop units), Hope Square, Weymouth...come and see.. Explore the World of the Magic Mollusc......

Inside Out Performance Peices

Satelitte Arts is doing some participatory workshops for the Inside Out Festival this year, to celebrate the handover of the Cultural Olympiad this September. Next weekend Weymouth will be hosting Xarxa Theatre, a fantastic Spanish physical theatre company, doing their show Veles y Vents, on Bowleaze Cove.

We (Sally Watkins, Wendy Petit de Mange and I) are running 3 projects with young people in Weymouth and Portland. These photos show the first project at Royal Manor School on Portland in the last 2 days, all crammed in, visual, theatre and sound, into 2 days.

The masks will be displayed at the reception for Xarxa on September 26th, at the Waterside Holiday Reception area...(god knows what its name is...). So we have done a performanc peice with 20 Year 7 kids, aged 11-12, based on a mythical 'Selkie' story about a woman who is half seal, half human, is stolen away by a fisherman and whom eventually returns to her home in the sea. Wendy did amazing performance work, I did the masks, thanks again to the scrap store for supplying the best materials ever, the kids were more creative then they would have been otherwise.

Armada Photos

Thanks to Andy Sherlock for doing these amazing pictures.

The Armada was Storming!

Amazingly, the weather and all of us held out yesterday and Armada on the Esplanada went with a real bang. Excellent and many many thanks to all my friends and others who volunteered their time and talents. Together we showed that Carnival can be done in Weymouth! Hurrah!!!






15 Spanish students operatedKing Philip, waves and galleons. Given the historical theme, this felt really special, and the party far outweighed any other significance.

Here's some pictures, so far. Better ones to follow complete with children bashing each other with waves and galleons, and maybe even some film footage. Golly.

I am knackered and must drink a lot of beer.

Armada Developments...

I've been running away with the Armada this weekend.

Behold the grand birth of Phillip II of Spain. (Big Thanks to Mark R).

A bit of a pansy, but nevertheless ooozing Iberian charm, he is cultivating an artistic Salvador Dali Moustache and will wear a frill-laden ruff upon his dainty neck.














In the following days Phil will be brought to life by pupils of Wey Valley School; proudly surveying his flanks from a great Spanish galleon. (Flanks of other galleons, not buttocks.)







Below, Elizabeth in construction, with and without skin, together with young people from Royal Manor School who have been building her in the last week, what a fantastic bunch they are.

Me and my dog George as Christmas elves. Wrong time of year? Oh yeah.

Done nothing but build puppets in the back yard, Phill of Spain is now 13 foot tall, and forever expanding. He is sporting a pair of the most enormous pantaloons you have ever seen.

Pop Up and Armada Developments

More birthday cards, this one I really enjoyed doing.

I am spending all my time making, today worked with 30 school children on Portland making waves from willow and tissue paper, made a nasty mess on the newly polished floor with blue dye which took ages to remove,, lots of unhappy teachers scrubbing the floor when they should have been going home... But it was fun and energetic and the kids loved it. The waves will form an important part of the Armada on the Esplanada procession.

Making a massive Elizabeth I in the living room, from waist upwards she is so far 5 foot and has an armspan of about 6 foot, complete with english flag in one hand and a sword in the other. She looks more like Terminator and should be wielding a machine gun.


Here are the models for the Armada, except there will be 100s more waves and galleons and it will be in glorious technicolour.