International Tape Art team Erica Duthie and Struan Ashby have been inspiring audiences for over 20 years. They have recently returned from their latest residency at the Blossom Festival in Hastings.
“Creative director Pitsch Leiser asked us to do something that is quite specific to the previous history of the Hastings Blossom Parade,” says Struan. “So we did some research and watched a DVD with images supplied from the Hastings Library. We researched into some of the more interesting floats and are revisiting some of them for the festival”.
Erica adds “What you find in this Hastings Festival is there are floats that people love and they have reconstituted over the years. There is a massive swan that has been very popular so there have been three or four different swans over time.
“There have also been parade favourites which we have been referencing and then putting our own twist on. One of the ones I am working on which I am quite excited about won a parade category which involved a guy in a bath tub on a bicycle. It is really cool. I am going to change it to have a woman on a bike with a Busby Berkeley 1950s swimming cap on. She will be in the bath tub cycling. So that kind of thing will be so much fun.”