When light and water meet, magic emerges… 
 
The Spirit of the North has been summoned this winter…A bringer of light and hope into the hearts and minds of our community.

As the rain falls
And we bring light
The spirits will come out to play
 
Will you bring your light this winter to summon the Spirit of the North?

THE SPIRIT OF THE NORTH
 Mother of the spirits. A bringer of hope. A beacon in the darkness.

THE LIGHT SPIRIT
 Golden, sparkling, bringer of warmth and light. 

THE WATER SPIRIT
 Free flowing, transformational, bringer of life.  

THE RAINBOW SPIRIT
 Combiner of the elements and bringer of joy.

We worked with the following Tameside-based organisations to tell their stories on The Spirit Of The North lead figure:

– Age UK
– The Anthony Seddon Fund
– Khush Amdid
– The Townhouse (Stronger Together Tameside)

Our partners Mossley Writers worked with these organisations to tell their stories based on our theme of light and hope. We took their ideas and stories to inspire our designs, which were then turned into hand painted fabrics as part of our main figurehead reflecting ideas, feelings, and cultures of the local area.


Here are some images of the making process, we cannot create this or any large-scale work without the help of our volunteer community of Mas makers.

 

Credits & Thanks

Team Cabasa:

Artistic Director: Emily Wood
Executive Producer: Kate Rothery
Digital and Comms: Dan Jones


Spirit Of The North Lead Figure:
Lead Artists:
Mel Roberts (structure)
Kate Rothery (textile covering)
Lizzie Rigby (silk batik designs and painting)
Mike Pattison (engineer)

The Light Spirit: designed by Iola Weir with Global Grooves Future Leaders students and further developed by Cabasa.

The Water Spirit: Created and designed by Iola Weir, with thanks to NDP Circus

The Rainbow Spirit: created and designed by Rowan Taylor.

Assistant Artists:

Nina Smith
Stacey Wood
Becky Taylor-Christian
Jo Cutting
Holly Farmer
Dan Jones
Mollie Mills

Costume Team:
Lead Costume Makers: Vikki Salmon, Marium Mohammad

Costume Assistants:
Jude Webb
Monika Balicka


Writing workshops: Pat Baker and Maralyn from Mossley Writers

SON stories and silk design inspiration developed with: The Anthony Seddon Fund, Khush Amdid, Age UK Tameside, The Townhouse (Stronger Together Tameside)

Studio Assistants & Volunteers:

Sue Ferner
Janet Gorman
Katherine Wyers
Fiona Doyle
Kitty Aurora
Anne-Marie Cauldwell
Ruth Balmforth
Kush Amdid
Deepak Distri
Rachel Hirst

Massive thanks to the whole team at Global Grooves and The Vale Mossley for their continued support and beautiful space.

First Produced for Tameside Council as part of Northern Lights 2022.

Photos by: Sam Orchard, Richard Tymon, Mark Waugh