Uncategorized | Art, music, film and luna riot

Hey

You may have noticed I have been away for some time… I have been working some crazy hours. Full time work seems to have a way of sucking any creativity out of you. Dont you think? Alongside working I have been studying towards my TEFL and diploma in children and young people work force. Still…excuses.

I will ensure I keep writing and updating you on lots of cool things happening in and around my world. I was tempted to move my blog to another site where it was easier to manage as I am a bit technically challenged when it comes to making it all pretty and nice to look at. I want to include a lot more reviews, rants and general posts as well as keep in the art and updates on my work. Open to suggestions too 🙂

That is all for now 😉

Trove and dynamic artist Kate spence got together to celebrate the works of James whale.

Dudley born whale goes down in history for classic horrors. The legendary films include ‘Frankenstein’ the bride of Frankenstein’ and ‘the invisible man’. Working hard in many aspects of theatre including acting and set design Whale found himself going up the ladder to stage manager and eventually director. Some of his plays even reached new york which is where Whales work caught the eye of some big Hollywood film producers. This is where Whale began his big film making career with films such as ‘journeys end’ and ‘Waterloo bridge’

Whales style was highly influenced by that of the german expresionism movement. Combining elemetns of gothic horror with comedy very theatrical and controversial pieces. His work has inspired all creatives over the years and is still relevent and inspiring to this day. Throw the switches was a celebration of Whales inspiration.

Friday Trove opened its doors and kicked off with a performance from kate spence as “the human puppet”. Suspened in the air everyone was invited to pull her strings to make her move like a real life puppet. This went down really well with everyone tugging the strings to bring life to the limp character. Kate did a great job of staying in character and remaining compeletly still and limp for the whole performance even when carried off stage a very dramatic moment when all her strings had not been untied added to the overall performance. Human puppets was a technique developed by sasori in which he was asked to create a human puppet using dead bodies. I find human puppetry to be a massive statement on society many people are walking talking human puppets having their strings pulled every day most without even realising it. Kates performance was very erie and powerful and I look forward to seeing what she next has in store.

I had never been to trove before and was sad to hear that it would be closing its doors after this weekend. A beautiful space or urban decay. The space had been used well with lots of little gruesome treats spotted around to set the atmosphere. I personally loved the blood monster an instillation from Kate spence which reminded me of a bloody fetus dancing around on screen. Not sure if you should be amazed or repulsed but not able to take your eyes off it. I found myself glued to it a number of times over the weekend.

Another regular feature throughout the weekend was the blood fountain. A great touch to see bloody gushing up really added to the grisly horror theme. All great horror settings should come complete with their very own gore I cant believe we didnt have some awesome features like this at the halloween monster movie challenge. All these little elements have given me some great inspiration to get a new fest or event moving and just proves that adding little gorey pieces really can make a difference.

Next up was an informative talk by Darrell Buxton a judge from halloween monster movie challenge last year. Mot only does Darrel really know his stuff but is also a very friendly interesting guy to talk to. Having Darrel introduce Frankenstein couldn’t have been more fitting as he was filled with facts and history about both whale and the horror genre. If you would like to hear more from Darrel not only does he teach film in derby but he also has a book available for your reading please. http://www.passthemarmalade.shorturl.com my links are not working but that is where it can be found!

In the comfort of random sofas we were able to watch Frankenstein with plenty of great snacks. Frankenstein has always been a massive fav of mine and it was great to see it in a different atmosphere. Projected onto the bare raw wall of Trove.

Saturday had more treats in store. The performance piece came from Richard Peel and George Merchant. ‘Frankenstein 2099’ would have had Frankenstein himself popping his stitches i was giggling so much. If you ever get a chance to see these guys i urge you to go will bring a smile to your face and puts a new spin on the film but watch you dont get bashed by a Frankenstein monster! Check out the website where you can see some examples of their work. http://www.richardpeel.com.

Another great talk from Darrel brought us into the amazing sequal ‘the bride of Frankenstein’. Amazing watching as the sun went down and darkness filled the room gave the film a much more dramatic effect.

Another new feature to the day was an amazing piece of art that had been borrowed to trove for the rest of the weekend a Frankenstein portrait by an amazing artist. Unfortunately I do not have a picture as i broke my phone :(.

Sadly due to soem surprise family visitors i was unable to make the last day which i was pretty gutted about as it promised an evening of short films and the invisible man.

In all it was a great weekend with a great variety of art James Whale was truly celebrated and it is very apparent that his work will continue to inspire artists all over the world in many different forms. Well done to Kate and the trove team for putting this together.