Simon Tipping | Route Canal Arts

Outstanding UK Carnival Artist

Simon Tipping & Route Canal Arts is a specialist in the Outdoor Arts of carnival, carnival costumes, large processional puppets, light installations, lantern parades using sustainable and recycled materials.

Over the past 30 years Simon has worked regularly and extensively with carnivals, lantern parades, festivals and events as well as schools and communities in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Somerset as well as nationally – as a freelance artist, in partnership with fellow artists or with arts organisations.

“Simon Tipping is an outstanding UK carnival artist who has been working closely with Northampton Carnival and Emccan. He specialises in using natural materials and making excellent, environmentally friendly artistic creations. His costumes are amazing and have been part of the Emccan lockdown commissions, window displays and performances between lockdown. He has a long track record in carnival arts and is very well respected around the UK. He presented at the Greener Carnival Conference in March 2020 prior to the first lockdown, in Bristol.”

• Donna Fox, Director, EMCCAN, 2020

“I never cease to be amazed by his artistic drive, attention to detail and most all his relaxed approach to the delivery of any commission he gets – big or small. Simon has the power to inspire all those around him and is respected in the sector. I will always support his endeavours and will commission him anytime I have a project that needs him.”

• Pax Nindi FRSA, Chief Executive at Global Carnivalz, 2017

Simon Tipping and Recycling:

“I have been working in the arts for the past 35 years specialising in using recycled materials, sourcing my materials from Scrap stores, skip diving, salvage trips at the end of Music festivals, donations from the public and business. I have a wealth of experience engaging the young and old in creative learning, making art accessible and participatory. In recent years I have been using natural materials to make environmentally friendly artistic creations. I have also been working on perfecting making glues and paints from ingredients found in the kitchen cupboard.

For the last twenty years, I have been working in the Outdoor Arts sector making large processional structures and puppets for carnival and lantern parades which by their very nature must withstand the Great British weather. All my skills are adaptable to any situation whether I’m making for carnival or a site-specific piece, I love making and the challenge of changing the use of found objects.”

• Simon Tipping – Developing Your Creative Practice, 2021