Free Costume Workshops to Prepare for Fire and Ice: Wild at Heart Art Walk

This year’s Fire and Ice Art Walk Easthampton invites all to beat the winter doldrums by taking on a “second skin” in the form of animals, beasts, and creative creatures. The Fire and Ice: Wild at Heart Art Walk is inspired by such traditions as Fasnacht, where communities wear costumes meant to scare off old-man winter and wish for spring to near.

This Art Walk will include costume contests, performances, exhibitions and more. All are invited to make wearable art at workshops or elsewhere and join in festivities as part of Art Walk on February 14, 2015. Two upcoming free workshops include Wearable Arts Costume and Body Puppet:

Wearable Arts Costume Workshop

Easthampton City Arts+ hosts a Wearable Arts Costume Workshop with artist Angela Zammarelli on Saturday, January 24, (postponed to Sat., Feb 7, 2015). This free workshop will be held at Eastworks, Room 137, 1-4pm.

Workshop facilitator Angela Zammarelli is an artist who resides in Easthampton.  She is very fond of costumes in all their guises. When alone she likes to pile on textiles and pretend to be something she is not. She received her BFA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Minneapolis, MN. She has attended residency programs at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, NE, Elsewhere Artist Collaborative in Greensboro, NC, and Three Walls in Chicago, IL.  In 2011 she was named one of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s fellowship recipients in sculpture/installation.

Body Puppet Workshop: Mythic Beasts, Spirit Animals, Goofy Clowns

Easthampton City Arts+ hosts a Body Puppet Workshop with Caravan Puppets on Saturday, January 31, 2015. This free workshop will be held at Eastworks, Room 141, 1 – 4pm.

Workshop attendees will create, embody and animate our fantasy selves in the creation of body puppets, masks, and costumes. Bring any special cloth, decorative materials, totemic objects which you would like to add to the available workshop materials. Some materials will be provided but please bring, glue guns, duct tape, and scissors will speed us along!

Workshop facilitators Caravan Puppets includes Jonathan Keezing and Karen Schumer. Caravan Puppets has delighted thousands of audiences, created hundreds of puppets and facilitated scores of workshops since 1991. Jonathan Keezing brings 20+ years as an established touring puppeteer/ clinician to the workshop. Karen Schumer joined Caravan in 2012, bringing her decades visual arts, musician and 17 years as an art teacher to the company.

Both workshops are free and open to the public but space is limited therefore registration is required. See easthamptoncityarts.org for registration information. Eastworks is located at 116 Pleasant Street, Easthampton, MA.

[Photo credit: (cc) Pierre Schwaller]