Pangaea: Vol.1 | Stendhal Fest | Pangaea: Vol.2

Following the end of Unit X and our first taste of freedom for the summer I found myself getting restless without an exciting creative output. This brought me to contacting the organisers of Manchester festival night 'Pangaea' to enquire about possible voluntary work for a week. I have begun to grow an interest in the possible opportunities of festival decor and application of textiles to installation so I was excited when they eagerly took me on board to help them design the decor for the upcoming summer party. Pangaea is a festival which takes place 3 times a year in the University of Manchester's union and has been running for almost 15years. The original spirit of the festival was grounded in the idea of a festival 'for the students, by the students'. 

I absolutely loved giving them a hand and ended up being Volunteer Co-ordinator. This was a great first taster, as its interesting to see the runnings of an event not just in terms of decor, but the bookings and promotional side of this as well.

scene from the 'Disco Appocolypse' decor

willow arch in Stendhal

Back home in (not so sunny) Ireland, I managed to get a week and bit of hard graft working with Stendhal Festival of Art and Music in Limivady. This is a family oriented folk festival whihc prides itself on an imersive whisical festival experience. Although my tasks were mainly quite menial, I spent most of the time painting signs, erecting willow arches and having a laugh down in the 'Wooly-Woodland' helping yarn bomb over 50 trees. This was a fun experience, and a great way of making contacts for future festivals, perhaps securing a chance for an installation next summer. 

Stitching the yarn bombing to trees

Wooly Woodland set up

Wooly Woodland at night

In July I was contacted by the organiser of Pangaea, and offered a paid creative internship, leading the decor team for the September instalment of Pangaea. I jumped at the amazing offer, and the chosen theme was a dream come true; so from the start of September I worked towards transforming the Union into Peter Pan's Neverland. This was possibly the most stressful month of my life, as I was learning completely on the spot with little help, but I feel I've gained invaluable knowledge and experience from this endeavor. I co-ordinated volunteers for decor, compilled room and stage plans, laiasoned with outside contractors whilst simultaneously having to adhere to saftey regulations and budgets. This was a completely new concept for me, working creatively in an actual industry; it took a lot of organisational skills, and forward planning, but I found the most useful skill I learned was the ability to just run with it, as unforeseeable problems always cropped up. I feel like this experience has helped me to start to consider how my work as a textiles student can be contextualised to the real world.

swamp decor mad from paper

'The Village' teepees