Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Cambridge River Festival

The Cambridge Art Council's River Festival was on Saturday, featuring our tribute procession for legendary Cambridge storyteller Brother Blue. The parade to open the festival began in Harvard square and wound its way down John F. Kennedy Street toward the Charles.
It took a bunch of people to lift Blue onto the backpack harness, but once the rig was in place the (super human!) strength of two people was all we needed.
Many thanks to our friend and partner Joseph Keane, seen here on the right, for assisting in bringing Brother Blue to life! Joe collaborated closely with us to create the underlying structure of Blue's face using various wires, foams, and supports. We'll delve more into that process in posts coming soon, so stay tuned!
The beautiful butterflies that flitted and fluttered behind Blue were brought to life by an army of volunteers. Many thanks to them for keeping Blue's favorite symbol of peace and harmony with him. This procession is planned to be an annual feature of the Cambridge River Festival, and each year more unique and colorful butterflies will be added. Let us know if you have any concept designs that you would like to see come to life!
The hands, manned by head maskmaker Eric and Behind The Mask volunteer Stacie, flanked Blue's face to give him even more personality.



The parade culminated in a Festival opening ceremony, in which the butterflies took the stage behind Blue and a chorus sang an original song about his importance to the community. Thanks to the support of the Cambridge Arts Council, tons of volunteers and interns at Behind The Mask, and the helping hands of the participants at River Fest, the Brother Blue procession and tribute were an astounding success.
Writing & Photo/video credit: Charis Talcott

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