Here Comes The Sun from alex mckenzie on Vimeo.
Having talked about this year's Cowslip Sunday play with its writer, David Longford, I discovered that he was having the Sun and the Moon created as props - and that the actors would then carry these across the stage, at certain points in the play, to evoke the passing of time.
It occurred to me that filming the creation of these props (particularly the Sun, which would be based on the 'Sun' graphic I created for the leaflets and posters - see below) might be a nice 'detail' segment of the film I am making about the event. The intention of this filmed extract would be to suggest that the Sun was an object that needed to be created anew for the forthcoming Spring.
So yesterday afternoon the artist Stephen Jon was kind enough to let me spend a few hours talking with him - and filming him at work on the prop - in his house and studio in Sherwood, Nottingham. You should be able to see a very short extract of the footage I took at the top of this post.
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| Stephen Jon's studio - March 14 2012. Photograph by Alex McKenzie |
Stephen's main area of practice is the creation of masks - for theatre and street performance - as well as running 'mask-making' workshops. Here is how, on his website, he describes his interest in masks:
As an artist I seek for ways by which to address contradictions and paradox. “The Mask” has given me a form with which I can play with the paradoxical nature of human experience. “The Mask” is an object of concealment which will also reveal.
“The Mask” acts as a doorway into the world where the imagination is free to wander among mythic beings that transform and transport the mask player to where the unexpected can and will occur. I use “The Mask” as a utilitarian object, not as a piece of decoration. This tool of theatre might draw upon the sister arts of poetry, movement, sound and music to support some kind of ritual or drama.
My intention now is to return to see Stephen next week - and film his work on the Sun as it progresses.
