The Wayfarer

I was super stoked recently to work with my good friend and brilliant performance artist China Blue Fish on her new theatre show, 'The Wayfarer'. I made a large, rustic antlered headdress to be worn by actor Danny Balla during the Wayfarer's ritual dance - here it is in action!

The Wayfarer is running all this week, 17th - Sat 22nd Dec, at Hamilton House, Stokes Croft, starting at 8pm. Go see it!

goodbye summer sun // new costume pieces!

amazing photos courtesy of joe-clarke.com

So, I've been up to a few things this summer...

As some may already know, when I'm not making things, drawing or writing, among other occupations I'm also a professional stilt walker. Which is why summer often finds me in a field, being a lot taller than usual and dressed as something ridiculous whilst surrounded by thousands of people.

First up on our festival circuit this year was Sunrise, which turned out to be the mud apocalypse so sadly no stilting there, but as my first muddy festival it was certainly... an experience. And I don't mean a bad one! Though bringing a pair of wellies might have helped me out a bit, rather than enduring the, erm, lovely damp feeling of trench foot in a pair of second hand walking boots I immediately spent a fiver on as soon as I slid my way on site. But trifles such as appropriate footwear and keeping vertical were no problem for these two legendary loons who showed everyone how it's supposed to be done:

Next, I was very excited to be at Secret Garden Party for the first time, which fully lived up to the hype. I was blown away by the sheer enormity of the creativity and effort that goes into making the site installations and the whole experience so special. Friday and Saturday were still no shows for us peg stilters, due to the lingering mud, but come Sunday the prevailing sunshine had given the ground a slightly firmer, yet rubber-like density, so it was off to join the New Orleans-stylee voodoo parade and finally have a stilt boogie.

Nozstock was a fun little adventure into the heart of Herefordshire with the Pariah Circus crew....a sweet, chilled out kind of festival, with a more family-orientated vibe...

....and after much anticipation, BOOMTOWN FAIR happened - the craziest, biggest, most upside-down inside-out festival I've experienced yet. My last time there was two years ago; unfortunately culminating in driving myself to hospital afterwards with chronic asthmatic problems (a long time coming really - don't smoke, kids! Assmar sucks!). Hence, I was really looking forward to being able to enjoy it this year. Finally, we were blessed with four days of beautiful sunshine too! And the cherry on top would probably have to be witnessing the fiery awesomeness of the three-legged arachnid Arcadia stage in action. The Arcadia crew put on the most incredible shows - if you get the chance to see one, don't miss it.

I was also excited to proudly unveil the new crow-inspired feather mohawk I made especially for the summer performances. 

I love wearing this piece, it's big, showy and totally rockin!

More crow inspired-costume pieces to come.

by the way - I kicked ass at Stilt Pong, hosted by Kings of Ping. I think it's my new favourite game! Also, check out the bearded dude posing effortlessly in the background with a can of red stripe:

Sunday Brunch, Channel 4

Just heard the news that our Tree Man music vid for Admiral Fallow, which I worked on the costume for, is being shown this Sunday at 10am on Channel 4's Sunday Brunch. Keep your eyes peeled! x

Admiral Fallow, 'The Paper Trench'

Latest collaborative work on the music promo for Admiral Fallow's 'The Paper Trench'. I worked on the design and making of the tree costume, as worn in the video by actor Jez Hellion, also known as Hagrid's body double in Harry Potter! That's a big tree suit.

'The Paper Trench' is the new single taken from Admiral Fallow's brand new album 'Tree Bursts In Snow'.

Director: Gregory Davenport
Producer: Licia Shirin Conn
1st AC: Emilio Schlappi
2nd AC: Alistair King
Gaffer: Raz Khamehseifi
Grade: Toby Tomkins
Costume Design: Ashley Clarke
MUA: Sammm Agnew

Admiral Fallow, the making of Tree Man

Last month I was contacted by fabulous director Greg Davenport of Epoch Films, London to help him find a solution to his urban 'Tree Man' character idea for a music promo for Glaswegian band Admiral Fallow. He quickly shot over some pointers to be included in the design and I sketched out some rough visualizations for the costume...

NB - The actor donning the tree suit was eventually confirmed as Jeremy Hill, who played Hagrid's body in the Harry Potter films, not Tom as I originally drew in the designs! Either way, both actors are exceptionally tall. 

In the original design I had intended for the skin on top of the framework to be mostly made out of lightweight and organic materials like real bark and branches/twigs/etc which I knew I could fairly easily acquire around Bristol, and would also make the costume fabrication achievable within the 1 week timeframe and low budget restrains. But after the logistical decision was made for me to work as part of a team in London instead, this part of the design was difficult to implement. Fortunately, the discovery of a dead tree in Sammm's back garden the day before the costume was due to travel to Glasgow meant that parts of the costume could still be fashioned re. the original design (ie. head/shoulders/collar - the parts to be mostly seen in close-ups), with extra bark and tinted tissue paper/latex laid over to blend the other parts that had already been made. Sammm Agnew MUA is the other half of team Tree Man and my fellow collaborator on the project.

It's nice to have soft, warm friends to cuddle up to after an exhausting night tree surgeoning...

After a 9 hour road trip with the film crew up to Glasgow (kudos to our lovely driver Leandro who kept stoked on caffeine and never once tired!) and a much deserved rest, we headed out early the next morning to begin shooting. Our wonderful actor Jez is an absolute trooper and wore the costume from morning to sundown, being bundled into the back of a transit to travel from location to location - now that's dedication! He looked treemendous on film too hahaha sorry there really has been no end to the tree jokes.... Special Branch anybody?.....ahhhaa cough cough.

Sammm and I with Jez inside our tree man creation

A great big thank you to all the film crew, my fellow tree maker Sammm Agnew MUA, our amazing tree man Jeremy Hill, the band and producer/director Licia Conn/Greg Davenport at Epoch Films for a fantastical Scottish adventure.

Expect the music video for Admiral Fallow 'The Paper Trench' to come out later this month! 

Cabaret Abattoir

Had a great night performing and stilt walking for Cabaret Abattoir on Saturday. I made some Dogma-inspired bloody wing stumps with beautiful feathered shoulder pads for the occasion, photos are now up at www.joe-clarke.com