Stone faces watch, stone eyes stare and wide smiles leer as a gargoyle spouts rainwater onto unwary heads. Look around. Look up. There are carvings everywhere. Watching. We have been celebrating that watchfulness and the wonderful variety of characters that have been built into, onto and over our buildings
Part of the Heritage Action Zone’s Our Street Project, our Grotesques and Gargoyles project is a joint adventure between the Babbling Vagabonds Storytelling Theatre Company and Creeping Toad. And we’ve been having lots of fun…..
A gargoyle is a decorated waterspout that projects from a roof and carries rainwater away from the walls of a building, protecting it from damage, whilst a grotesque is a decorative carving that has no functional architectural purpose.
Gloucestershire Archives
We have shaped small faces out of clay and folded card into gargoyles.
We worked through clay and plastercloth and wild inspiration to make collections of fabulous faces
We even slowed down, stepped aside from the messy bits and spent an informative evening with Terry Newholm and the Buxton Civic Association as Terry discussed the magic and mystery of our stone neighbours (you can buy Terry's book and explore the older grotesques of our town for yourself from The Pump Room, the Visitor Centre at Buxton Country Park and all good [and some bad and other just downright deplorable] booksellers in town)
Most recently there have been more faces large and small at the Green Man Gallery
There is another round of Grotesque Making at the Gallery in January: details in the link below. Places are limited and we need people to commit to attend both evening sessions: one to make and t’other to decorate
Look out for the Grotesques, Gargoyles and Goodness-Knows-Whats appearing at the Our Street finale in later February!
For now, let’s celebrate our Gargoyles, Grotesques and the creativity of our participants!
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With many thanks to our friends who have offered spaces, hospitality, warmth and brews for chilly gargoyles, lonely grotesques and even hard-working participants
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