Celebration, folk tradition and festival spirit are at the heart of Dorcas Casey’s new work, Mayday. The fabric sculpture hangs from the RWA’s dome for a showstopping welcome into the Dance Out exhibition.  

Loosely based on the folk tale The Musicians of Bremen, three animals – a bull, a ram and a cockerel – hang one above the other, adorned by ribbons handmade out of 70s fabrics.  

“They are animals commonly associated with Morris dancing. In that dancing tradition you often have a kind of mascot figure – sometimes it’s a green man, sometimes it’s a monster and sometimes it is an animal. They are all rural animals that are part of farming tradition and therefore folk history.”  

Casey, who grew up in Glastonbury, is deeply influenced by the local folk culture. “I grew up understanding the significance of traditions such as May Day and Beltane in the countryside. It’s very natural to me.” Folk tradition was also part of family life. “My dad was a Morris dancer and so growing up I was used to these beasts he had made that lived in the loft. His Morris dancing ribbons are still hanging up on the TV aerial, which I love, because it looks like an antler.” 

The ribbons, which flutter in the wind, are clearly a source of inspiration for Casey as she adds, “I love that aesthetic of something that has been an animated part of a processional ritual, which is then stored or hung up. It maintains some kind of energy about it that it wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been out and part of these human rituals. You feel like they could move out of the corner of your eye.” 

Humble materials and pieces of everyday fabrics are central to the scrappy nature of costume and prop making in folk tradition. Casey reveals that the animals in her sculpture are actually made of socks. “I like the ordinary being transformed into something that's kind of magical or feels like something from the unconscious. There’s something about the process I really enjoy when you get to a point when it goes from being a bunch of old socks and stuffing and thread to being the body of a thing.” 

For those familiar with Casey’s work, the socks may come as a surprise. Two of her latest art projects, a four-metre long crocodile in Bristol’s Temple Quarter, and a deer in Old Market are both cast in bronze.  “I like working at those two completely opposite ends. One’s really enduring and rigid and grand, and the other is humble and flexible, squashy and domestic.” But their combined appeal make sense in the historical context of folk tradition. The first speaks to the resilience of a community, but the latter is the freedom to celebrate and be expressive between the more serious moments.  

You can see more of Dorcas Casey’s work at www.dorcascasey.com