BURNING BRIDGES!
November 2022 saw us re-light our annual bonfire, and this year we were burning all our bridges. At 60ft long and over 20ft high, this bridge is the largest thing we’ve ever built. True to form, it was built using sustainably sourced or completely recycled materials.
As is tradition, the event opened with a shadow puppet show extolling the stories of lovers, the struggles against societal pressure, and how best to deal with the trolls of this world - culminating in a (quite literally) explosive finale! Following this were the fireworks, the burn, and a beautiful homemade meal, before the bar opened and we all settled into a night of great tunes, tasty local beers and the amazing company of all who came along! Once again we’d like to say a massive, massive thank you to everyone who lent us equipment and volunteered their time to make this event as mind blowing as it could ever be!
PIRATES OF THE CARAVEAN
Latitude Festival 2022 saw us taking to the high seas with Pirates of the Caravean - our maiden voyage aboard the Beige Pearl. Returning to the Trailer Park, our theme this year was again inspired by looking to the near future, with the proclamation:
"Pirates of the Caravean, That’s what they call us! Ah, and tis as grand a tale as was ever told too! Ya see, as the icecaps was meltin’ into yonder oceans, those of us what frequented the more…low-lyin’, caravan parks was faced with a dilemma. We could either sink, or sail. What followed was the greatest armada ever assembled under the Caravan Club flag! But lo, it was not to last, infighting, and the haughty attitudes o’ them land lubbers from the more alpine pitches led to a breakin’ o’ the fleet. Now it’s each caraboat for ‘emselves, in this new, and exciting Caravean!"
Alongside guided tours and impromptu play sessions, the Beige Pearl offered a range of exciting events such as Mermaid Life Drawing, and a guest performance from visiting shanty bands, before casting off for nights of fun and frivolity hosted by our on-deck DJs!
BLAST OFF!
In 2021 we celebrated ‘BLAST OFF!’; the return of our annual bonfire event. The evening’s space-themed story was told through a traditional shadow puppetry performance: our protagonist - fed up with the tediousness of everyday life - builds a ramshackle rocketship in her garden and blasts herself into the atmosphere. With curtain-twitching neighbours, humorous vegetable metaphors and shady government agencies all making an appearance, the show was capped with fireworks and the burning of our 30 foot handmade rocket-ship! After the blaze, we supplied a beautiful meal that was cooked on site alongside locally sourced beers and ciders from our bar. Our dance tent hosted a large ceilidh followed by the best playlist this side of Ibiza.
True to form the build was completed with almost entirely found, salvaged or recycled materials. All cups and dinnerware were biodegradable, and at the end of the event we cleared the space and left nothing but a faint circle of charred earth. We'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped make this years bonfire particularly special - from assisting with the build, to generously supplying us equipment or coming along to enjoy the show - we love you all. Here’s to 2022!
BARN FIRE
‘Barn Fire’ was 2019’s edition of our annual alternative bonfire event. This year we based the event around a farmyard theme: this saw us perform a puppetry show that told the story of the forbidden love between a farmer and his scarecrow, culminating in our 20ft+ barn structure being set ablaze. Alongside the fire, we lit fireworks, cooked up a big pot of dinner using pumpkins grown on site with locally sourced drinks, and finally, played music and hosted a communal barn dance. Maintaining tradition, we proudly made use of almost entirely salvaged and found materials. We had a brilliant time, thank you to everyone who generously provided materials, helped with the build and came along.
KEEP CALM AND CARAVAN
For Latitude Festival 2019, Frog & Bone were invited to be part of the ‘Trailer Park’ with our three-tier caravan.Our sign outside the caravan read: “After the disastrous Brexit deal of 2022, no-one is allowed to leave Britain. This has caused the number of caravan holidays to go - quite literally - through the roof. By 2021 the Caravan Club rivalled the Catholic Church. By 2022 it was bigger than Jesus. Everyone is a member; if you want to go on holiday you do so at a caravan site, and every one of them is under CC control. Last month, the Caravan Club issued a new decree; caravans can no longer take up more than 120 square feet of floor space, but they never said anything about height…”On top of it being a place for festival go-ers to relax and take in the décor, we lead a host of playful activities at the caravan site: Some examples of events include the aptly named ‘Itchy Yoga’ (stretching while scratching mosquito bites), ‘Shite Zumba’ and late-night parties in which wearing hi-vis and hard hats were encouraged.
Following this, we accepted the invitation to take the caravan to Electric Picnic Festival in Ireland, which took place in August 2019.
TALES OF THE FOREST
In June 2019 Frog & Bone created a large picnic blanket out of second hand materials for Frog & Bone member Esme Hodes’s community picnic event. The community picnic was a feast of making, music and food that was part of a wider series of events, organised by Esme, called ‘Tales of the Forest’. In the spirit of the event, the more musical members of Frog & Bone came together to perform an upbeat selection of folk songs.Tales of the Forest is a Bristol based ecological art project themed around storytelling and trees, woodlands and forests. The project is created by emerging artists, and founded on the belief that art, collaboration and storytelling can form a path to more sustainable and inclusive futures.
See more of Tales of the Forest at www.facebook.com/talesoftheforest2019
HOPE STREETS
'Hope Streets' is a project in which we worked with the charity Curious Minds (winner of North West Cultural Education Awards 2018): a project engaging young people with arts and heritage.In February 2019 Frog & Bone embarked on a tour of the North West of England, running workshops with youth groups in Padiham, Winsford, Bootle, Carlisle and Bolton. In April 2019 we returned to each site to lead celebratory processions with the projects' participants and the general public. These finished in front of our hand-built ‘pop-up museum’ wagon, which was stationed in a central public part of each location. Frog & Bone then presented shadow puppet performances, taking place out of the top of our wagon, accompanying a contemporary folk story inspired by the heritage of each place and the stories that we had gathered from the young people.Frog & Bone have been commissioned as the launch project for Hope Streets, which is set to last 5 years and aims to dramatically change museum culture in the North West. This will be achieved by placing young people at the heart of decision making to interrogate, agitate and re-present their local heritage in ways that are meaningful to them.
scroll through images
HOPE STREETS WORKSHOPS
In February 2019 Frog & Bone embarked on a tour of the North West of England, running workshops with youth groups in Padiham, Winsford, Bootle, Carlisle and Bolton in preparation for our project 'Hope Streets', which can be seen above.
FIRE IN THE FENS
‘Fire in the Fens’ was our alternative Bonfire Night event: an evening that saw us perform a shadow puppetry show that recited the stories of folklore in the Fenlans. The narrative culminated in our country-pub set being set ablaze alongside an array of fireworks, immersive three-dimensional puppets, food and music. The project proudly made use of almost entirely salvaged and found materials such as dead trees, pallets and cardboard and had an audience age range from 2 to 86 years old.
