Article by Michelle C. Smith
Eagle created by The Underground Circus,Vancouver, BC

THE FIRST FLIGHT

Out of the blackness of a darkened stage, soaring high above the horizon and into the shining light, an expansive, silvery frame of an eagle takes its flight. The majestic and powerful wings enveloping the wind, coursing gently up and down as they propel the Eagle to new heights. The light dances off its impressive wingspan that touches both ends of the stage.

This is no ordinary bird. Various geometric shapes and rings thread through out its robust cage like frame, circling the wings and body like an elaborate skeleton. A fantastical, moveable sculpture, embodying the form and space of a live eagle.

An audible gasp can be heard from down below as an audience of stunned spectators catch a glimpse of this magnificent bird in it’s theatrical debut. For a moment, nobody moves, they are all caught in the sheer beauty of the glistening, gigantic aluminum eagle that has just risen before them, illuminated by stage lights and accompanied by a tribe of Native dancers. Glistening in the stage lights, the powerful animal cranes it’s necks as intricately designed wings beat slowly in the air, adding the realism of an actual eagle in flight.

Above it, secured in the space between the shoulders and head, stands a man dressed in a traditional native costume, powerfully commanding the Eagle to it’s destination. Connecting the earth and the sky, the eagle, is often referred to as the great leader of the skies. It’s prestigious wisdoms carries with it power, strength and grace that is often sacred in Native cultures. This Eagle carries with it a hope of unity and peace, for when it depends upon the stage, it’s silvery wings enclose the hoop dancers in an embrace of unity.

HOW IT CAME TO BE

Built by the wildly creative, circus, rigging, building extraordinaire, Peter Boulanger, the Eagle spanned the entire length of the Queen Mary stage during the 2012 Calgary Stampede Grande Stand Show. The Eagle is Peter Boulanger’s second large-scale marionette. His first, David, is currently the world’s largest marionette standing over thirty feet high and is able hold circus acts in both of his hands. With David being a hugely successful project, Peter has earned the reputation and artistic merit of being a master builder of crazy and wacky movable sculptures. This reputation has surged through the creative arts community that it has afforded him another opportunity to build another project, The Eagle.

THE CONCEPT

Initially, Peter was contacted by the producers of the Calgary Stampede Grande Stand Show in hopes that he might create something for their show. Being so impressed by the intricacy and genius of David, the production team commissioned Peter to create a piece; a massive mobile Eagle that would spread the entire length of the Queen Mary Theatre’s ninety-foot stage.

“When I first got the call, the only direction I was given was make a giant eagle.” Peter remembers as he cracks a smile. And with those few instructions, the creative gears that work Peter Boulanger’s brain began to turn.

The project began in February of 2012, when Peter decided that an eagle with a sixty-foot wingspan would be the final dimension. The physical building of the Eagle was split into sections. First, Peter would begin with the wings, easily the most difficult and time consuming part. Next, he would continue to the head, body and feet. Not one for drawings, Peter immediately began by building a 1:10 scale model of the eagle he intended to create. Ironically, the scale model turned out to be roughly the size of a live eagle. The intricate scale model was then presented to the organization committee at the Calgary Stampede in March 2012. Two and a half months later, the full scale, sixty foot wide, twenty foot long, six hundred pound Eagle would be completed and ready for show time at the finale of North America’s most famous rodeo. The Eagle would debut as the largest eagle sculpture in the world!

But let’s rewind for a minute, the Eagle wasn’t build in a day. In fact, the entire building process on the wings alone was over a month.

Indeed, the longest and most meticulous task in the entire Eagle building process was the creation of the wings but is truly where the entire project began. At first, Peter began researching the flight, bone structure and feather types of live eagles in order to provide his vision the highest degree of realism possible. Learning how an eagle flies aided him in receiving the correct information of the actual articulation of an eagle’s wing in flight.   Utilizing this knowledge, Peter skipped the drawing board and went straight to building the 1:10 size scale model. The incredibly detailed scale model is what Peter used to design, measure and note the thousands of irregular pieces he would eventually build to create the giant Eagle; 10 times the size of the model.

“I knew this project would move, so the wings had to bend at some place. Part of what I was doing [in the research] was figuring out where the bend [in the wing] was.”

Upon completing the scale model and making his calculations, Peter surged forward into executing this astronomical plan and into a domain where all of his hard work, dedication, perseverance and previous experience would become very important.

“I knew from experience that with long stretches of aluminum, there would be a small amount of flex in it, which would help create the [simulation] of a wing in flight.”

BUILDING THE WINGS

In his own personal, backyard workshop, Peter worked diligently measuring, cutting, rolling, re-cutting and retooling the hundreds of ‘lozenge-shaped’ pieces that would be required to build up the bulk of the wings. Using his previous wisdom of past projects, Peter was able to invent a ‘ring rolling’ process that would allow him to bend his pieces with amazing accuracy and consistently. The small, lozenges would form the spine and body of the wing while the longer, lithe configurations would imitate feathers. Each wing required identical shapes and symmetry, lending to the consumption of time and materials during this extremely detailed oriented task. Although, Peter would have loved help, the rolling process required a very specific learning curve that he found difficult to translate to others. Solitary, yet determined, Peter worked late into the wee hours shaping his creature to life, much like much gentler and balanced Dr. Frankenstein. For a month he lived and breathed his creation and soon, the irregular pentagons, circles and lozenge-shaped rectangles began to spill out from the shop. The Eagle was beginning to form.

After the completion of the lozenges and multitudes of wing bits, Peter enrolled the help of Ilya Kirby, a local scene builder and artist, whom rented a small scene shop on Vancouver’s Great Northern Way. Ilya’s shop would only be big enough to assemble one wing at a time and knowing this fact would become the most important process of the entire project. Peter and Ilya, together, created a level of mastery, efficiency and detail as the only way to complete the wings properly.

In the scene shop, the two determined men, built a 30 x 16 foot black top deck in which all of the diverse and intricate pieces were delicately placed to replicate Peter’s vision of the first wing. Each and every piece was sandbagged, tack welded, outlined in chalk and labeled. The entire process was slow and meticulous, as the men were often required to redo areas more than once. This attention to detail ensured that each piece of the wing puzzle was layered correctly, for as soon as one wing was complete, the entire process would be repeated on the second wing, as a mirror image.

“The wings are symmetrical of each other. I had to be very careful that I was creating a mirror image and not the same wing twice. Had Peter and Ilya not had this foresight before hand, the second wing “would have been an absolute disaster.” Lucky, Peter’s extreme attention to detail paid off as he remarks the pair of wings are “pretty damn close” to perfect matches.

With the largest and most challenging portion of the project completed, building the wings were only the beginning. As the Eagle’s wings materialized, Peter began to re-imagine the rest of the Eagles parts.

“As I’m going along, making all these bits, I am also thinking, how do these all fit together? I made the wings once and said ‘Yeah, this is what I want.’ With the [rest of the body parts] I only roughly knew what I was going to make.” Peter adds that a huge part of his perception of the Eagle was to create the wings of an eagle in flight by adding mobility to the wings using strategic joints and motors in which the building process had to be adjusted for.

Unlike the wings and much to Peter’s delight, the remaining pieces of the Eagle came together rather quickly. And with the wings complete, Peter could envision what the Eagle was about to become.

BUILDING THE BODY, TAIL, TALONS

The Eagle’s body was the next piece to be constructed. Inspired by the beauty of it’s wings, Peter constructed several different versions of the body until he finally settled on a robust body shape mimicking a ‘space pod.’ Unlike the wings, the pieces of the body were much larger and therefore made it easier for Peter to test different versions.

Also much simpler than those wings, the tail of the Eagle was the quickest piece to complete. Long outlines of tail feathers were placed evenly into a triangular pattern. The design was large and very simple, adding to grandiose of the wings but not detracting from their beauty.

Giving a face to the character of the Eagle was no small task. With the Eagle coming together so smoothly, it would be unrealistic to assume there weren’t other building challenges. The head of the Eagle for instance did go through several different versions of experimentation before Peter was able to commit to a design. Initially, the original scale model’s design did not translate well into the larger product. Not letting this small snag deter him, Peter build three different heads, tweaking each one to fit his vision before the final product was built.

Admittedly, Peter admits that the legs and talons of the Eagle are still a work in progress. While he did manage to create suitable lower extremities for his new creature, he dreams of building it a pair of legs in which the Eagle can fly down and pick up an object…or person or small car.

MAKING IT FLY

Creating the mobility of a live eagle was a paramount priority for Peter right form the start. Never one to build anything static and motionless, Peter thrives on giving his pieces of art life. If you have ever had the pleasure of meeting David, the thirty four foot marionette, you will know that Peter holds a very special talent for generating character and personality into seemingly inanimate objects. The Eagle is no exception, and getting it to move was it’s own grueling test.

To begin, Peter built one single axel joint into each mid-wing section. This joint would cause the wing to fold inwards during the lifting stage of it’s propulsion upwards. Each wing was also attached to the body interdependently of each other. The movement created by the fold of the wings would be created by two twelve volt, radio controlled, linear actuators placed along each wing. These motors would create the life-like movement quality and could easily be controlled from the ground.

Peter also added a single pivot point along with two linear actuators and a series of bungees within the head of the Eagle, which would work to provide another moveable piece. Together, using the motors, a series of bungees and a few puppeteers, Eagle could realistically look up, down and side to side as it scans its horizon. With the slow gentle flap of it’s wings, the combinations of these two movements aided in constructing an illusion of a real, live, breathing sixty foot eagle. Watching the enormous bird fly, any spectator is instantly transported to an alternate universe in which this giant, wiry Eagle exists.

COMPLETING THE BUILD

There is was, after countless hours of tireless handwork, blood, sweat, and one can only assume, a few tears, the Eagle was now complete. Two months after the initial scale model was built, a now ten times larger version was now in existence. Peter was relieved and proud of his finished product. Coming in on schedule and under budget was not lost on him either! However, the Eagle still needed to be transported and assembled in Calgary, over a thousand kilometers’ away. Certainly not to be overlooked was the fact that due to a complete lack of space in Vancouver, the Eagle could not be fully assembled before it reached the Queen Mary stage in Calgary. A scary thought.

MOVING FROM POINT A TO B

Peter’s next order of business was to diligently research cargo and shipping regulations. With some extensive searching, he discovered his wings would be exactly two feet too long and too wide for a regular flat bed truck. Peter was forced to improvised,

“We rented a flat bed truck and built a bunch of [steel] A-Frames onto it.” Placing the wings at a forty-five degree angles would shorten their height by exactly two feet. “We loaded the wings onto the A-Frames [at a 45 degree angle], and strapped them down like crazy. We had enough space under the frames where we could stick the head, body, tail and feet in.” Like that, the Eagle was off across the Rockies towards Calgary, Peter not far behind on an airplane.

Landing in Calgary was a mixture of excitement and concern for Peter. The Eagle’s flat bed truck had broken down twice in the thousand kilometers drive from Vancouver, causing it to arrive much later than anticipated. Eventually, the Eagle did arrive, albeit a few days late.Peter admits that it certainly scared him.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

The real terror, splashed with excitement and anticipation, came when it began time to assemble the complete Eagle for the very first time in the space that it would fly! Never before had all of it’s various body parts, the wings, head, body, tail and feet, been amassed all in one place. Peter was admittedly quite nervous.

“It was so big that there was no real way to put it all together in Vancouver to test it.” Having faith in his preparation and the integrity of his creation would all Peter would have to get through his nerves.   Luckily, that preparation paid off, for Peter was able to assemble the full Eagle easily, however, piecing it together was certainly only step one. Once assembled, the Eagle would next have to be rigged to fly!

RIGGING TO FLY

With thoroughly extensive background in aerial circus rigging from his decades of running a successful professional circus company, Peter is considered an industry expert in the field of entertainment rigging. His ability to interpret, execute and negotiate the needs of his clients in a way that keeps the artistic merit and integrity of the work maintained is a coveted role within the arts community. He knew that there would be many logistical calculations to create the breathtaking Eagle in flight.

With his team of riggers, headed by Tracy Nunnally at the Queen Mary Theatre, Peter assembled three central lines from which the Eagle would hang from. An extra truss would be required to house the extra batteries and motors needed to assist the Eagle’s movement. The entire system was close to six hundred pounds and very close to maximum load baring capacity. This is where Peter would rely on experience and expertise to understand how to prepare each point for it’s maximum efficiency and safety.

As soon as the Eagle was hung on it’s three lines, a fourth line was added specifically for the Rider of the Eagle. The performer on top, wearing a fly harness, would be clipped into a completely separate system due to the weight capacity of the Eagle’s. The Rider, to be played by World Champion Hoop Dancer Dallas Arcand, would have access to three-dimensional movement while riding the body of the Eagle as it was lifted from behind the stage, swooping down just before the audience. Peter, however, would be the first to test this position, a thrilling finish to his masterpiece.

DEBUT PERFORMANCE

And there is was, The Eagle, in all it’s majestic glory, finally completed, assembled and hung, ready to take it’s first, dazzling flight.   “I was so proud when I saw it fly! It was just astounding.”

That night at the Calgary Stampede Grande Stand Show, when the lights went down, stage black, a fog billows as the Eagle lifts from the darkness and flies into the light. Shining, silver wingspan stretching across the entire length of the stage. Rider commanding the great Eagle to glide forward and connect with the hoop dancers down below.

Hearing the collective ‘gasp’ of the audience as they witnessed this magnificent creature for the first time was a genuinely gratifying moment for Peter. “It was huge! When you see it fly over the arch of the queen Mary, then the lights hit it and the air pressure of the stadium drops as everyone inhales at the exact same time! (laughs) It was so cool!”

SUCCESS AND BEYOND

Victory sounds like thousands of enthralled viewers. Another successfully completed puppet for Peter and one that he will certainly remember for the rest of his life. The time, the effort, the frustration, the perseverance and determination, all well worth their effort. The Eagle is certainly not the last of Peter’s giant puppet adventures. He has since build a pair of galloping horses and few flying dragons, both of which would have never appeared if he had not spent a great deal of time on the Eagle learning and refining new techniques for manifesting such large productions. “I found a couple new techniques for rolling steel, that I liked.” Not to mention the natural learning curve of creating, planning and building anything new. Peter now has a workable system in place, largely because of this project. There is always more to learn, more to grow, he mentions the intrigue he found when working with the motors. “Learning about linear actuators and motor was fun. It’s definitely something I would like to play more with in the future.”

FROM THESE TWO HANDS

Like Geppetto, Peter is the proud creator of his project come to life. His eyes sparkle while he describes in detail the process and challenges, for they weren’t with out their sacrifices. “It’s hard to do anything else that I want to do because it basically fills your entire life.”   Of which he credits a huge amount to his wife and partner, Ninon Parent, who ran their company, The Underground Circus, entirely on her own whilst Peter was madly at work, spending all of his waking, and sometimes sleeping hours, rolling, bending, experimenting, assembling in their backyard workshop.

Along with the support of his wife, Peter gives a nod to his family, friends and neighbors for their interest and patience with him during his building processes. He attributes much of the Eagles and past project’s successes to the love and support of his community. “We are the luckiest people in the world!”

When pressed for his favorite part of the Eagle?

“The wings! The wings are absolutely beautiful!”

And they truly are.