Photograph credit: Siri Juulia Pantzar

By now you will have seen our beautiful new poster for this year’s Beltane Fire Festival, a glorious burst of red flames, set upon the dark blue night’s sky. Within the flames, you’ll find trees, creatures, drums, arrows, and a burning hot sun – springing forth from the Acropolis. Look closely, and you just might hear the thudding of the drums, the dances of the flames, and the shrieks of revellers in the distance.

The creator behind this beautiful design, Daniel Tysen, has been a member of the Beltane Fire Society for seven years and has done a whole host of activities in past festivals, from performing as characters, to making music, to building large-scale structures. Outside of Beltane, Daniel is an artist and a maker, originally studying Illustration before moving into 3D art (such as sculpture, furniture, and objects for theatre). They recently worked with Vision Mechanics on their video installation “The Fantastic Life of Minnie Rubinski”. As an artist, Daniel has always been keen to work for themself, but also enjoys being part of a bigger project, and large-scale installations.

Daniel’s ideas for the poster moves away from the concepts of our previous Beltane posters. Where posters have often leaned towards a more traditional notion of the festival, that of a portrait and a focus on its main characters, Daniel wanted to incorporate all of its elements into the image. It hints at the many stories that unfold simultaneously within a Beltane festival, and tells the story of not only Beltane but the people that work together to bring it to life. They say:

“We are many, many things. The festival is the sum of the creativity of all of its members”

As such, you can see the poster represents all of our passionate, dedicated members from all areas of the festival. Beltane Fire Festival is a wide range of multi-talented creatives, and this is something that Daniel wanted to honour when creating this beautiful poster. Alongside his poster design, you can also catch Daniel at the festival as a performer. They will be performing alongside The Green Man, as well as supporting them through the run-up to the festival.

To catch more of Daniel’s work, make sure to check out their Instagram page.