Looking at the Spirits: Peter Minshall's Carnival Drawings

Looking at the Spirits: Peter Minshall's Carnival Drawings presented the drawings of acclaimed Caribbean artist Peter Minshall. For more than three decades, Minshall has worked in the medium of mas, the consumed performance that is part of the Carnival tradition in Trinidad and Tobago. Looking at the Spirits focused on Minshall's deeply imaginative creative process, as seen in his lively preparatory sketches.

Peter Minshall's award-winning theater for the street involves thousands of performers and explores themes such as environmental devastation and racial injustice, as well as bold celebrations of human joy and harmony. Minshall uses a variety of materials in his costumes and structures, including natural leaves, folded cardboard, sequins and feathers, papier-mâché, plastic, and colorful flowing fabric in performances in the street, on the stage, or in the stadium area. Through the presentation of hundreds of line drawings, color renderings, and thumbnail sketches, Looking at the Spirits introduced the "thinking drawing" that Minshall uses as he works through a myriad of ideas for costumes, sets, and performance themes, envisioning a full troupe of costumed performers in motion.

Looking at the Spirits enabled audiences to gain insight into the artistic process behind some of the most compelling visual dramas in contemporary theater. In Minshall's preparatory works, drawing was revealed as the direct reflection of creative thought, capturing the vigorous and often chaotic flow of ideas from which final designs were more fully developed. To reflect both the energy of this process and that of the actual performances, the works were displayed close together and loosely hung on the walls, creating a fluttering of image and material analogous to the artist's dynamic parade pieces.

The opening reception featured a live performance by a group of young Trinidadian musicians, the Sesame Flyers Steel Orchestra. Accompanying the exhibition was a 24-page issue of the Drawing Papers publication series. Drawing Papers 56: Peter Minshall featured 18 images and essays by each of the co-curators.