SATURDAY
This weekend there are four artist workshops at The Tetley as part of the 50 year anniversary of Leeds West Indies Carnival. Each workshop is based around this theme, and together we are building a fantasy carnival garden.
- Mechanical Flowers – workshop lead by Jim Bond
- Decorating Large Birds – workshop lead by Hayley Mills-Styles
- Butterfly Wings – workshop lead by Sarah-Jane Mason
- Mini Trini Garden – workshop lead by Mindy Goose
My workshop was to create a scene based on Trinidadian (Trini) folklore and their birds. When Carnival first started in Trinidad, the costumes were based on folklore and eventually took inspiration from environment to decorate elaborate costumes, bright colours and bird feathers.
So, inspired by this, we created hummingbirds, flying in the sky, and characters of folklore living in the forest (many of which I have chosen, because they are less macabre and more child friendly). There were illustrated descriptions to read, and photos of the birds of Trinidad & Tobago. We used collage and built 3D jumbies, Mama Dlos, and Papa Bois that lived in the trees.
Tomorrow we expect even more wonderful creations.
Saturday in photos:
More from the weekend