After months of Leanne and I sewing the monsters are complete and have been to the BALTIC to be played with and interacted with their family audience. I am sad to say I’ve not been able to see the installation, Do Touch. I had Covid so I have had to stay at home. My husband Chris delivered them for me and the amazing BALTIC team did a fabulous job of installing for me. It is now a few weeks later when I write this, I think I’ve been a bit too sad to think about it. I really wanted to see it in situ, in the space it was design for. Vicky suggested postponing but I didn’t want to, I wanted to do it during Easter half term so lots of families could see the work and Leanne and I had worked so hard to get it ready, it seemed a shame to not do it. I thought I’d be better and able to go and see it at the end of the week but I wasn’t, I took one day too many to get my negative test.
I’m really pleased with Do Touch. The giant spikes look amazing, the colours work so well together and they feel so voluminous. I’m really pleased with the fabric, it has a good robust appearance that is friendly feeling due to the colours and visible weave. To get them so full I’ve put in foam disk in the bottom, I’ve recycled the foam from the large cushion that was in the Light Pavilion. It feels good to be doing some repurposing. The velcro spots work well, I’ve machine sewn them on so they aren’t perfect. If I was to use velcro in the future I’d find another way to attach it. Leanne did a great job of making the tentacles, they are very beautifully made, they feel really high quality. She used tape on her velcro and hand stitched them into place, I think for the size of the spikes this would have been difficult to do. The velvet makes them incredibly tactile, I’m really attached to the dark blue ones.
I’ve had some gorgeous photos of families playing at the BALTIC take for me by Barry Pells. I’d like to share those with you.
Some amazing play happened. They migrated across the space as two children need to save them from the monster sounds. Dens were created. Sword fighting took place between families and they were worn as hats.
Here we are at the end. I’ve learnt so much from the project but I think the most important thing is make the audience feel comfortable and they’ll trust you. I think this could apply to lots of different things, it could be accessibility or Covid, put the audience first and make them feel safe.
