Who is Peter Minshall? What is this white man? Somewhere as he was stumbling along in life he took a good look at himself and said, my God child there is nothing quite like you anywhere ells, you Dougla, Malato, spiritual freak! You African, Indian, European, chine mix up! In an interview these were the words of the great mass man describing himself as a Caribbean man. He studied at London's Central School of Art and Design and became deeply involved in West Indian theatre in England. It developed his sense of what made "good theatre, or good art and what didn't," he said. But his roots were calling! Minshall study the quotes of great fuluserfers such as Balanchine, in an interview (Carnival.com) he said that Balanchine’s quoted in his choreography that he wants the audience to be able to see the music and hear the dance he claps his hands and said “in mass that is exactly the purpose”. There is a thread, however loose, that links all mass activities together dance, music, theatre, etc. It is not only their involvement in and commitment to mass production but the simple fact that whatever their imagined rivalries they are all linked by the interconnectedness of their shared experience.
Minshall’s took on his mentor George Bailey a Carnival legend and history pioneer, in 1963 Minshall was further inspire by one of Bailey’s creation Beauty in Perpetuity from the Bailey band Bats and Clowns several years latter Minshall recalls this watershed era in mass and raise the tensile town image to a true artistic art form by transforming his ideas and inspiration that paves the way to a new generation of mass.
At one level, some of the things that influence great mass men such as Peter Minshall are generally the same with their life experiences providing the stimulations for the intellectual processes that takes shape as fantasy, representational or kinetic art, costuming, sculpture, comedy, drama, music, and dance, in an article Carnival.com it said that Peter Minshall has been the foremost artist working in the field of ''dancing mobiles'', a form of performance art that combines the three-dimensional quality of large-scale sculpture with the dramatic and choreographic expressiveness of a live human performer. The ''dancing mobile'' is one of many forms to grow out of the mas' -- the masquerade tradition of the Trinidad Carnival -- and was the subject of a fellowship awarded to Minshall by the Guggenheim Foundation in 1982 (Peter Minshall Mass Designer Carnival.com). all these dramatic elements combine with indigenous art forms is formed can be identify as a Caribbean culture.
Some mass men get their inspiration from cinema, television, magazines and newspapers; others by traveling abroad or observing their native surroundings and still others by imitation of other mass creators or recollections of things past. Iconic mass designer such as Minshall believes that all these at some point, whatever the source, the mass creator must wrestle with that wretch, inspiration, until it is tamed through design and transformed by assistants into a find art collection and an approximation of the original vision, one of Minshall’s greatest cotes is “I am a tip of a spear that leads into the future” and so he believes that the mass could be seen in the same parallel making it into a Caribbean universal brand.
In Minshall’s work one can see many aspects of materials in surprising ways, making of prosaic materials: cardboard, cocoyea, bubble wrap, PVC, and steel drums one of the Callaloo Company signatures is the papimacia and wire bending to create the originality of the product all these and more is used to demonstrate the artistry of great craftsmanship. Minshall not only well known for his Carnival creation but also as an painter/artist so far as Minshall is concerned, he comes from a stage designer background some of his paintings do no more that tell a story or plain and simple making a statement. I think that a lot of what he produced was very, very fine. I think he matured into other things, particularly Carnival, introducing the kinetic sculpture into our space and imagination. His early experience enhanced his ability in the mass; but so far by appreciating the painting, it just has to be seen in the context of his earlier stage design background.
Perhaps the most important part of Minshall work is that he has developed his own approach to art. He strives to maintain his originality and believes that it is important for artists not to copy other people’s work. In his early years in the industry, some of Minshall’s Carnival designs had been criticized as ‘entering into a realm not of Carnival’. However, he continued to challenge the ‘history book syndrome’ that carnival costumes of that time had, and was persistent in his creation of fantasy costumes. Minshall maintains that Carnival costume designing is just like poetry or storytelling. He incorporates a theme that finds its basis in an actual incident or a series of incidents that are typical of human nature. In this way, Minshall appeals and connects to masqueraders of all ages, ethnicities and nationalities. As a result, Minshall’s Carnival designs changed the face of Carnival and today many of his costume design concepts have become the norm.
In an article (Peter Minshall Mass Innovator) it said that in the earliest year’s one of his innovations was the articulated bird wing, which allowed for the complete freedom of wing-waving movement and dance seen in his costume From the Land of the Hummingbird (1974) and many others. Another signature Minshall structure is the fixed wing attached at the shoulders, often depicting magnificent angel or devil characters. Radial veins give the wings shape, body, and sometimes scalloped feather-like tips as in Paradise Lost (1976) and The Golden Calabash (1985). Another innovation was attaching elements of the mass structure – ribbons, flags, panels – to the performer’s feet, so that they rise and fall with each dancing step, as in Fire Fire, from Paradise Lost (1976) and Zodiac (1978). Minshall continued to leave his trade mark on some of the world largest stage in July 11th 1992 Minshall create and choreograph the Barcelona Olympics, Atlanta and Salt Lake City Games in 1996 and 2002, respectively Minshall shared an award for outstanding costume for a variety of music programs for the broadcast of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Some of his most memorable and legendary work can still be flashing through the minds of any proud Trinbagonian such as in 1976 the “Paradise Lost" for Stephen Lee Heung and it won the Band of the Year title, the Great mass Trilogy in 1995, the controversial Hallelujah that raise the eye brows of Christians throughout the nation, Song of the Earth in 1996, and Tapestry in 1997 all these and more shows the demonstrated the brilliance of a through mass man Minshall continue doing his work throughout the would on a more private and smaller scale through the Callaloo company.