Giant Orange-Utan in need of a new coat spotted at Feastival Alternative Food Festival in Wales.
After years of creating fruit and vegetable themed characters and puppets this summer the opportunity arose to create some food art for Feastival, an alternative food festival, in Bridgend, Wales. It was decided, due to our plethora of public workshop experience, that we would attempt to create an interactive installation allowing Feastival visitors to engage in the creative process. Having always wanted to make a giant broccoli forest a bid was submitted to create an Enchanted Broccoli Forest with a resident, swinging Orange-Utan
The concept was to create an Orange-Utan using as many recycled materials as possible with completion relying on the willingness of Bridgend residents to peel oranges and add to his glorious coat. We were informed prior to the event that our Broccoli Forest would need to become a cauliflower forest due to a cauliflower glut in the area. The Enchanted Broccoli forest was transformed to Cauliflower Cloud Trees and a tweak to the paint job arranged!
The challenge – to create, build and transport an Orange-Utan without a coat and Cauliflower cloud trees without any foliage, this installation needed to pop up easily as it had to be taken down each night and re-rigged each morning. The sculptures, although unfinished, needed to have high visual impact to ensure that they stood out in an urban environment. The studio was given over to this large-scale build and hours of jig sawing, painting, wire twisting and fabric shedding ensued.
When installed the Orange-Utan was popular with children and adults alike, as were the delicious oranges which we were kindly supplied with. The Feastival visitors embraced the concept whole-heartedly and the busy peelers quickly embellished the Orange-Utans naked wire frame with orange peel. There are many expert orange peelers in Bridgend who rose to the peel in one strip challenge! The secret to successful orange peeling is to massage your orange before you begin. Next time you peel an orange have a go…..
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