The Jurassic Jockeys on the road

The Jurassic Jockeys on the road 

So, I managed to secure Festive Road some Arts Council funding for research and production of the Jurassic Jockeys - a concept that I had been prototyping. 

And in the Spring, a group of us -7 artists from the South East and London - went on a Research and Development trip to see La Machine's workshops in Nantes, France. For me this trip was so inspiring. It rekindled my ambitions as an artist and my desire to make big scale sculpture again; to make amazing structures for Outdoor Arts. I needed to get back into the workshop and out of the office! 

On our return from France a core of us went into production. It was a really great opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other; there was studio exchange, skills sharing and lots of creative debate. 

We also went on a research trip to the Natural History Museum where I made lots of drawings and had a good look at the Triceratops skeleton that they have there. Clive Doherty and I built a booth for me to carve the bones and skulls in polystyrene. It's a long time since I'd done any carving and I'd forgotten how rewarding it is turning a block into a 3-D shape -despite it being very toxic and getting everywhere! 

Initially we were aiming to present the new work at Luton International Carnival at the end of May. 

Throughout the make period the stilt walkers came in to try things on and test things out and began to get quite attached to their creatures: There was Clive on Abigail, Zena on Bruno, Vicki on Bernard and myself on Vanessa. 

Meanwhile we were also working on a Pterodactyl which was mounted on a boom from a Pashley 3-wheeled bike. Clive went off to work with Mike Pattison on the design of the bike frame and boom. Mike is a very experience Theatrical designer and maker who has made large scale puppets and structures for Emergency Exit Arts, Kinetika and others. 

The boom turned 360 with a puppeteer operating Terry's wings, head and beak movements. I made the puppet out of polystyrene and latex and the movements were all made through ropes and cables running down the boom. 

Lots of people helped with the costume making. Also the narrative behind the Jurassic Jockeys was developed a bit more to give the performers something to work with -it was all still very much in development!



We managed to get four stilt walking Dinosaurs finished for Luton Carnival as well as the chassis and the head of the Triceratops. It took me about 4 days to carve the head of Hilary, as she became known. The bicycle-powered chassis for Hilary was largely created by Clive in his dad's garage -the first of it's kind.


We also brought in some of Mike Pattison's bikes -a collection of amazing contraptions that he'd been commissioned to make for the London 2012 Olympic ceremony. 

The carnival was long and it was a hot day; a marathon for the stilt walkers and not all of them made it to the judging point!

The Jurassic Jockeys were without doubt the peoples favourite: we were interactive, highly original and oozing with dynamism but we did not fit comfortably within the traditional 'carnival arts'. The judging criteria, which is geared towards Caribbean style, particularly in Luton, doesn't accommodate the kind of work we're doing. 

This has made us all the more determined to start presenting at more Outdoor Arts events where we can properly interact with audiences and develop the performance elemenys.

After Luton Carnival we began to work towards completing the Jurassic Jockeys as a perambulating show which could be toured and hired for events. We aimed to present the finished work at The Walking with Giants parade which Festive Road director Simon Tipping organises annually in central Milton Keynes.

As the project progressed we decided to bring in Nick Garnett's wood carving skills too. Nick created a beautiful wooden rib cage, shoulder and hips, and horns for Hilary the Triceratops.

By the time we got to June we had created a cycle-powered Triceratops called Hilary, a stable of four stilt walking dinos and a flying Pterodactyl on a bicycle. 

But not only had we skilled ourselves up -had the chance to test and try out new ways to make puppets, mechanisms, combine materials and develop a narrative- we had also built a close group of performers, puppeteers and makers, with tones of skills to offer Festive Road in future projects.

Jurassic Jockeys do Dino Dressage

Story so far: The Jurassic Jockeys are an ancient and indigenous clan with a special gift. These extraordinary explorers, (otherwise known as the Dino Whisperers), navigate time on the most wonderful bespoke bicycle-like contraptions! Once they arrive in town they round up and bring to life the skeletons of Dinosaurs which have lain dormant for billions of years. They have been known to tame and even train these old skeletons, so watch out for the most amazing Jurassic ‘Dino Dressage’ displays!

At the Festive Road workshop in Milton Keynes I've been working on a prototype for a new production, The Jurassic Jockeys. 

The ideas have come from our stilt walking group, The Extreme Ramblers, who meet regularly at Festive Road for some wild stilt walking adventures. 

Over the last few months a couple of us have been working on designs and testing out different materials; we are almost at the point of going into full production... pending on funding!

I've been carving our first polystyrene dinosaur skull,(I've named her Vanessa) and Zena has been cutting and gluing. Clive has been working out how to best animate our dino-puppet.

The final piece will be in two phases of production. Firstly, the creation of a herd of stilt walking, raptor-like, creatures (of which Vanessa is the first), which will premiere at Luton International Carnival in May this year. Secondly, the creation of a very large scale creature which will be designed over the summer by a group of lead artists from Festive Road, in collaboration with Theatrical Engineer, Mike Pattison.

The ideas for this piece are still in development and we would expect that over the next couple of months, during the devising and rehearsal period, the narrative, characters and designs would develop further. 

We are thinking that the jockeys will have the feel of a cross between cowboy midnight robbers and steam punk palaeontologists.

We are aiming to create a part promenade, part site-specific show which will feature stilt-walking dinosaur puppets, physical performance and some large scale bicycle based and motorised structures. We're also thinking about a specially designed sound-scape created by Steve McDaniel, a Milton Keynes based artist.  

For the Luton outing, our Jurassic Jockeys will also be riding some wonderful bicycle-like contraptions which we are borrowing; they were fabricated by Mike Pattison for the Para Olympic closing ceremony.

 
So, look out for a herd of Jurassic Jockeys doing Dino Dressage at a festival near you this summer! And take a look at the video of Vanessa causing havoc at our workshop this week!

Finger crossed we'll get the funding we need to go into production...