All The Fun Of The Fair
Roll up! Roll up! Step this way to marvel at the wonders of make up artistry and special effects! The Yorkshire Craft Centre café/bar is a riot of colour and all the fun of the fair thanks to spectacular work created by second year students on the Foundation Degree in Make-Up Artistry & Special Effects. Last y
ear students devised wigs/headdresses, costumes and make up designs based on the musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and this project has been repeated this year but with a more specific design theme of ‘all the fun of the fair.’
As well as creating wigs or headdresses suitable as an exhibition piece, they had to design and produce a complete costume, making or customising everything right down to the shoes, with the aim of appealing to all the senses. They also had to submit their show notebook, as they have to approach the project as if working in the professional theatre, and so they are assessed on durability, and practicality (factors such as weight and ease of movement), as well as colour, design and execution. As if this wasn’t enough, they then had to rope in boyfriends, dads and male friends to act as models for a professional photoshooot!
Course Tutor, Katherine Brenton explained, “Students have drawn inspiration from funfairs, the circus and old fashioned carnivals. Some used funfair rides; some incorporated fairground food such as candy floss, popcorn or toffee apples; while others looked at darker elements of carnival. The Priscilla project was so successful last year, pressure was on them to achieve but they thoroughly researched and thought about the project. They have produced impressive styling, a very professional finish and have been more imaginative than I thought possible. Because this is such a practical course it is easy to underestimate the volume of research or written work that goes into it. Every little detail has been included. For instance, Lyndsey Sherratt who did a wonderful headdress with a helter skelter, carousel and train made her own jewellery as well as embellished dress.”
The level of work involved in each creation can be seen from Claire Breen’s fabulous exhibits. Claire disclosed, “My inspiration was vintage fun fairs and travelling circuses in nineteenth century America, particularly tattooed ladies. I wanted to do something with the mechanical aspect and incorporate all the different senses so the top section of the headdress is loosely based on chair-a-planes you find in travelling fairs and spins around and lights up. I spent two hours on each of the three Barbie dolls used for the headdress and the corset; recreating the tattoos I had seen on old photographs of tattooed ladies which featured roses and religious iconography. I also hand glued gems on to reflect the risqué drag queen feel. My model had a full arm tattoo and I painted roses on to his chest. I customised the corset and boots and I made a skirt out of a feather boa, with fairy lights and roses running through. I even perfumed the costume with rose oil.
The project was all consuming! It was a chance to experiment and explore different skills. In College you can learn all about different materials, body shapes and tailoring, while using your imagination to take an idea as far as you want, before you go into industry and are more restricted. I plan to stay on next year to do the top up to gain the honours degree. Ultimately I would like to work on special effects in the film industry.”
You can see images of the exhibits here
You can see images from the professional photoshoot here
Private View Thursday 19th January from 5pm until 8pm.
Exhibition continues from 20th January to 22nd February 2012.
Open Monday to Friday, 11am until 4pm.