'Great Circus Parade' coming to GFAC Jan. 13

The Greater Flint Arts Council will display the Great Circus Parade, a ceramic work inspired by early 20th century circus parades, at its Mixed Media Members Show opening Jan. 13.

The work is spread out over six, 54-inch display cases. It will include three ornate circus wagons and teams of horses, unicorns, elephants, camels, a giraffe, colorful clowns, a brass band, Shriners, an acrobat and a cart at the rear with a driver and shovel to pick up droppings.

Artist Edwin Custer began the piece in 1967 for his masters of arts show at UM-Ann Arbor. Titled Homage to the Hemispheres, the original parade, which took three or four months to create, was a single six-horse drawn bandwagon built around a music box that played Around the World in 80 Days.

The real Hemispheres, Custer said, was one of the largest circus wagons ever built. According to legend, a building collapsed when the wagon turned a corner too sharply while parading through Chicago in the early 1900s.

After retiring from the city of Flint more than 10 years ago, Custer returned to drawing, oil painting and then ceramics. The Homage to the Hemispheres sat untouched until six years ago when he began expanding his original concept.

The second wagon holds a giraffe and is drawn by an elephant.

His third wagon is the most whimsical. It looks like a peacock, has an acrobat passenger and is drawn by unicorns.

"I don't think there is a completion to the parade. If I leave to do painting, there is always more to come back to," he said. "The real issue is finding venues to display and larger winter quarters."

In circus jargon, he added, winter quarters are where the whole circus rests when not on tour.

The function of a real life circus parade, Custer said, was a preview to stir up interest in the main show. During the early 20th century, trains would bring the circus into a town and then it would parade down the main street to get audiences interested in attending.

Lloyd Custer, Ed's father, was a clown in the Elf Khurafeh Shrine Circus until his death in 1988. He entertained as the Dapper Dan character in children's hospitals, parades and other events. His son said that he started a ceramic clown based on the hobo-inspired character but that it is a very difficult character to get right. His attempt did not work out the way he wanted it to.

A four-foot-long section of the parade was shown in a student show at the Flint Institute of Arts' Bishop Gallery in November. Custer also displayed three of his oil paintings last month at Buckham Gallery in Downtown.

"Whatever your vocation, you need a thread through your life — something you can return to. Art is that for me," Custer commented. "I'm drawn back to it again and again."

Future additions to the expansive parade will include an acrobat standing on one leg on a draft horse and a calliope, a steam-driven musical instrument. He hopes to find an appropriate music box to install in the calliope.

Custer has been the East Village Magazine photographer for more than 33 years.

The Mixed Media Members Show opening will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Greater Flint Arts Council, 816 S. Saginaw St., as part of the Second Friday ArtWalk. The show will be up until early February.

The Elf Khurafeh Shrine Circus will also be in Flint during the opening at Perani Arena and Event Center, Jan. 12 to Jan. 16.