The Patchwork Dragon
Awakening the Dragon
The Patchwork Dragon is a 36 ft long glove puppet, patchworked by hand & on a treadle sewing machine, he was assembled & has evolved over a series of 4 festivals between 1989-2004, and has been hibernating since.
Born 36 years ago in the Fairy house in Darkwood near Thora, Northern NSW.
The Dragon started as my way to use up fabric scraps. He has always been a community project, many hands have sewn his patchwork scales over the years, many have contributed fabrics to get him to dance. It takes 6 people to operate him, he is articulated & moves like a big goanna & is designed to do the traditional moves of a Dragon dance, but is much more fitted.
Created at a time before we all had computers, before we all had phone cameras, when to get photographs of performances at night took technology I couldn’t access in the bush. These are some of the only photos I have.
Now is the time to make the Dragon dance again
Follow the Dragon on YouTube
Workshop enquires & contributions are welcome.