projects
‘Big Bonkie’
‘The Big Bonkers Mobile Musical Carnival Contraption Project’ 2019 - 2021
‘The Big Bonkers Mobile Musical Carnival Contraption Project’ is an Arts Council funded project created by Jo henshaw, which aims to encourage young people to explore engineering & the arts as possible career choices, as well as to understand how we can reuse and recycle waste materials.
The Project involved working with an engineer and a music practitioner to create kinetic piece, made from cycled materials, that when cycled creates music.
‘Big Bonkie’ as it is affectionately named, is made from old bicycle parts, an old tent, and scrapstore and home recycled materials.
The latter stage of the project involved creating kits which can be used by young people to make their own kinetic art pieces.
‘Big heads’ Project 2020
A project by The Carnival Arts group, exploring and celebrating famous people connected to Herefordshire. These giant puppet heads went on a tour of Hereford as part of the 2020 River Carnival, and were part of a film called “Head To The River” by The Creative Arcade, which you can watch here
The puppets are based on:
Frank Oz - puppeteer, actor & director (of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Star Wars Yoda fame)
Ronnie Radford – Hereford goal scoring legend whose golden goal sank the might Newcastle in the FA Cup
Dora Carrington – creative artist and surrealist landscape artist of the 1920s & 30s – a member of the bohemian Bloomsbury Group
Walenty Pytel – one of the world’s leading sculptors of birds & beasts known for his huge metal structures
Ellie Goulding – Herefordshire’s own international musical superstar
Kiko Matthews – adventurer and environmentalist on a mission to rid our waters of plastic
Each puppet was made by a different artist using techniques taught to them by Fetch theatre company. The project was funded by the Arts Council.
The 6 ‘Big head’ Puppets
River Carnival creatures
Masks made for Hereford River Carnival’s ‘Mappa Mundi’ event in 2012, made from recycled and scrapstore materials. The masks were worn in some of the evening’s performances.