Peter Minshall

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Peter Minshall
Born (1941-07-16) 16 July 1941 (age 83)
Georgetown, Guyana
Education Queen's Royal College;
Central School of Art and Design
OccupationCarnival artist
Awards Chaconia Silver Medal (1987);
Prince Claus Award (2001);
Trinity Cross (1996)

Peter Minshall (born 16 July 1941) is a Trinidadian carnival artist (described colloquially in Trinidad and Tobago as a "mas-man"). He has been the artistic director for the opening ceremonies of three Olympic Games: Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), and Salt Lake City (2002). [1]

Contents

Early life

Peter Minshall was born in Georgetown, Guyana on 16 July 1941. [2] He moved to Trinidad as a small child after his father took a job as a cartoonist. Growing up in Port of Spain, Minshall was exposed to Carnival from a young age. He made his first costume at the age of 13. He attended Queen's Royal College, then went on to study Theatre Design at the Central School of Art and Design in London.

Minshall designed Carnival costumes for relatives and family friends while in school. At art school, he wrote a thesis about the bat (a traditional Carnival character). His first major theatrical commission, for a production at Sadler's Wells, came after a director saw a portfolio of his Carnival designs.

Minshall's mother asked him to create a costume for his adopted sister Sherry-Ann Guy (Coelho) to wear for carnival 1974, the pivotal event in Minshall's Carnival career. [3] The costume he created was called "From the Land of the Hummingbird". [4] [5] According to him, it took five weeks, 12 people and 104 feathers, each made of 150 different pieces of fabric.

1996 Olympics and dancing inflatables

Minshall designed the art and sculptures for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and along with Israeli artist Doron Gazit is generally credited as the co-inventor of the tube man, [6] [7] which was prominently featured in the design for the Games.

Awards

Band of the Year titles

References

  1. ↑ "Peter Minshall". Biennale of Sydney. 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  2. ↑ "Peter Minshall – Mas Innovator" Archived 2 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine , Caribbean Icons.
  3. ↑ Mendes-Franco, Janine (27 March 2024). "Half a century after first flight, Trinidad & Tobago Carnival designer Peter Minshall's seminal hummingbird continues to bring joy". Global Voices . Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  4. ↑ "The Face of Carnival", Looking for the wild blog, 1 March 2014.
  5. ↑ Chin, Matthew (25 March 2024). "Minshall's 'Hummingbird' takes over the Castle". Trinidad & Tobago Guardian . Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  6. ↑ Alaimo, Carly (9 May 2017). "Gallery: Buoyant balloon art that will take your breath away". ideas.ted.com. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  7. ↑ Dean, Sam (10 November 2024). "Biography of an Inflatable Tube Guy". Medium.
  8. ↑ "Peter Minshall | Awardee". Prince Claus Fund. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
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