Practical Workshop: Charles Beauchamp ‘Making and Masquerade Mandinga style’. The masterclass is designed for Northwest artists and creatives interested in performance and puppetry and South American carnival tradition.
This masterclass will share the experiences and knowledge acquired over thirty years in the art of designing, making and masquerading for outdoors. The focus will be mainly on a hands-on approach using low, medium and high density foam as an exceptionally versatile material to assist in model and mask making, headdresses, costumes, body structures, props and street puppetry. It allows for scale, resilience and versatility, and has an extensive shelf life. Used for structure or decoration, it is waterproof, can be moulded, heat formed, painted and user friendly.
With a wide variety of examples of Mandinga creations on hand, the participants will get a real sense of where and how this material extends the design possibilities, offering potential to their own creative output, on its own or mixing and matching with any number of other materials and fabrics.
Beauchamp and Rubio trained as painters/printmakers and this visual field of the arts initially informed their approach when taking their work from the gallery to the street, yet it became clear that the costume, street puppet or accessory was not the end product rather the means to allow others (whether first timers or seasoned performers) to interpret, give life to the character they chose to inhabit.
Mandinga Arts was established in 2002 by Beauchamp and Julieta Rubio in response to a need for artists to work together and to practice, improve, educate, share, and promote carnival and outdoor arts. They have collaborated with circus, carnival, dance and community groups in the UK, Europe, and further afield including Cuba, Colombia, South Africa, Mexico, and China.
Who are these masterclasses for?
The masterclass is designed for Northwest artists and creatives interested in performance and puppetry and South American carnival tradition. The workshop is aimed at all artists with an interest in introducing new concepts, materials, and techniques into their chosen field of work.
Where is this masterclass held?
Walk the Plank, Cobden Works, 37-41 Cobden Street, Salford, M6 6WF
ELEVATE masterclasses are designed to give creative practitioners learning and development opportunities across various disciplines with leading artists.
ELEVATE is a partnership project between Manchester City Council and Walk the Plank – supported by Arts Council England and aims to support regional artists to create world-class art in the public realm.
