What do Star Wars, scavenger hunts, and giant foam creatures have in common? The Styrogirls, of course.
Earlier this month, we had the absolute pleasure of collaborating with the Styrogirls for our May the Fourth Be With You event, where they turned our Cosmic Courtyard into a whimsical sci-fi wonderland. Their larger-than-life Styrofoam creations popped up in the most unexpected places, sparking curiosity, laughter, and some truly memorable photo ops. They also provided a hands-on kids’ craft station, designed a scavenger hunt through the courtyard, and gave a fantastic presentation in our auditorium about how their imaginative creations come to life.
I caught up with Tarrin and Sorrel after the event to learn more about their creative process, how they started building guerrilla sci-fi art out of Styrofoam, and why they believe creativity is for everyone—even (and especially) the so-called “non-artistic” types. Their stories are equal parts hilarious, heartfelt, and inspiring.
Your creations are wild, whimsical, and totally out of this world. Where did the idea for making guerrilla sci-fi art out of styrofoam come from and how did the Styrogirls come to be?
Tarrin: It’s a cliche, but it was an evolution and an escalation! We assumed our first few projects were just one-offs, but on a whim, we built a primitive chicken-wire & paper mache shark for the 2012 Polar Bear Swim – and we were hooked! We absolutely loved being outside with our creations, interacting with people on the streets of Vancouver. It became something that we did as a way to help celebrate events around the city.
Sorrel: Thank you! I think it started in 2006 when we saw a commercial for a Red Bull Flying Show where you create a fun craft and get thrown off a pier. I realized this was a contest that was actually perfect for our particular oddball skillset. (Except for the engineering part – small detail). Since we had to literally pilot it, it had to be strong, light and still be able to be designed to our specs. We headed over to the hardware store and discovered how multi-talented Styrofoam is! When we arrived at the event site, we were completely in awe of the other crafts (giant pirate ship!) and inspired! Everyone else was using the same set of materials and we saw how much potential there was to really go for it.
Styrofoam isn’t a typical art material. What draws you to it, and how do you transform something disposable into something cosmic?
Tarrin: Our first project – in 2006 – was for a “flying contest” called the Flugtag. Contestants build flying crafts which are run down a ramp and into a body of water. The craft “flying” the furthest wins. Since there are weight restrictions, styrofoam is often the material of choice. It’s ultra-light, somewhat flexible, carveable, sandable and paintable. It can be easily attached to itself and other materials with glue and tape. It’s also very reusable – we often find ourselves using the same pieces for multiple projects.
Sorrel: It’s relatively inexpensive, waterproof, carveable, paintable, and easy to construct. I’d like to say it’s super light, but once you cover it in paint, duct tape and hot glue, it becomes medium-light. Not bad.
It allows you to go for large scale projects, even from small apartments. It’s also fairly easy to deconstruct, for use in a new project.
And my favourite of all, it’s a fairly forgiving medium. While it may not pepper me with soothing charm when I make a mistake, it can typically be easily resized, restructured and reimagined.
At our May the Fourth event, your pieces turned the courtyard into a playground of imagination. Can you tell us about some of the installations you brought. Which ones are your favourite? Which ones took longer than you’d think due to interesting techniques or materials, etc?
Tarrin: Our installation’s design is driven by the city feature that we integrate with, so many of the pieces we brought to the Space Centre were a bit fragmented – like poor Chewie’s disembodied head! But we found good spots for two of our favourite installs. Jabba’s dias (including his buddy Salacious Crumb), which looked great in front of a rust-coloured Tatooine-looking structure beside the Mars exhibit. And for Baby Yoda (Grogu to his friends) we built a pod that fit nicely into the interior space craft exhibit. It was all about harmonizing the pieces to an alien environment, which wasn’t hard in an amazing place like the Cosmic Courtyard.
Sorrel: Oh I love that you said that. That was what we were going for, but Cosmic Courtyard is already such an amazing playground! We were just excited to give it a few little Star Wars bow ties.
Most of the pieces we had are incomplete by design – as they were created to be incorporated into a particular existing sculpture, or element around the city. For example we used the King Edward fountain at the Art Gallery to simulate Baby Yoda’s pram, the “Royal Sweet Diamond” Bull sculpture on Georgia as the quadruped base for a Bantha, and, most clever of all… a “pole” at the Rainbow park to simulate a lightsaber. (We were really grasping at low hanging fruit for that one because Tarrin was obsessed with doing Darth Maul and we needed a two headed light saber inspiration.)
We did our best to recreate the missing sculpture pieces at the Space Centre which had so many fun opportunities for us to play around with.
All of our installs have a little bit of a story behind them that makes them special to us.
I’d have to say my favourite was adding Chewbacca’s head, arms and bondelier to the ‘Walking Figures’ at the Skytrain station. It was our first real install, so it was tricky, but we had so many amazing interactions with people that made the late night test run, and disaster mistakes all worth it.
A close second was the AT-ST install on top of the Mobi bike station. We were just coming out of our Covid pods, so we were really itching to do something creative outside. It was a very technical build because we had to counterbalance the large head on the two wheel holders. We were also very careful not to damage the bike mechanism. This year at the Space Centre, Mobi was nice enough to loan the bike stands to us. This was amazing because it meant we were able to show off one complete authentic piece. We were pretty proud we were able to do that. All other pieces we needed to build or reimagine the missing sculpture piece. We figured trying to get the massive Bull delivered would be just a little too ambitious.
You presented your story in our auditorium during the event. What messages do you hope audiences walk away with after hearing you speak?
Tarrin: We’re hoping that the audience enjoyed the small peek into the creative process around character design in sci-fi & fantasy. And that even just one person was inspired by our love for fabrication, to try their hands at a creative endeavor.
Sorrel: I hope that we can put a tiny suggestion in the brains of people who say they can’t draw, or think they can’t do chemistry, that being passionate about something makes learning tangible and more fun.
Your art lives out in the world—on streets, courtyards, events—often popping up where people least expect it. Why do you choose to show your work this way, and how do people usually respond?
Tarrin: It’s fun to have a niche! We love the energy of the city, of being larger than life while out and about. We live for the sense of shared experience with other Vancouverites. We were once mentioned in a story about ‘Costumes only Vancouverites would know’ in relation to our beached barge costume. There’s really nothing like high-fiving other Canuck fans while in an 8-ft Brock Boeser lego man.
Sorrel: We love the idea of somewhat random encounters with people. Different events will spark a range of different experiences. Sometimes it’s the kid in the park who is fascinated with your build but can’t help pointing out all the mistakes we were trying to hide, or and adult who saw us from their apartment and chased us down because her husband loves Totoro, or even the drunk patrons on Granville who come running out of the restaurant to give Deadpool a hug.
We end up connecting with people we may never have talked to otherwise.
I loved watching people when we set Chewbacca up. Most people would be walking by on their usual route, then they’d suddenly see it, we’d spot a smile, might snap a big, give us a wave and be on their way. It’s a nice little mini connection in a city where everyone has somewhere to be.
Science fiction is clearly a huge influence. What stories, films, or characters have shaped your artistic vision the most?
Tarrin: We grew up on Star Wars which is such a target-rich environment for our projects – the creatures and machines are so varied and inspired! While we don’t play a lot of video games, we absolutely love some of the ecosystems of characters, particularly Dota 2, League of Legends and Magic: The Gathering. We’ve also dabbled in super hero characters – generally as a complement to an existing build. For instance, we’ve done a Captain America Totoro and a Deadpool legoman. Public events are also a rich source of inspiration – we’ve done quick and dirty builds to celebrate things like St. Patrick’s Day, Canada Day and Christmas.
Sorrel: I wish I were more cultured in terms of appreciating good movies. While I absolutely love good story telling, I’m obsessed with stories with amazing world-building to lose yourself in.
We always read a lot of comics as kids – X-men, Teen Titans… and I was mesmerized by the old film Inner Space that really shaped my mindset. Dennis Quaid was shrunken down and injected into another human. The idea that he was having to navigate all these different organ systems to survive really captured my imagination. So when I went to animation school, my first animation was about a loveable but oft misunderstood virus that was on the run, outlaw style, inside someone with Chicken Pox.
Star Wars of course was a huge influence – Princess Leia’s character made me fall in love with the story, and the world-building helped shape my imagination.
What’s been your most memorable art installation so far? Where was it, what did it look like, and why does it stick with you?
Tarrin: My favourite install is the Bantha we integrated with the bull sculpture on Georgia Street. It was so fun to transform the sculpt, while at the same time maintaining a certain spirit of the original. Making a couple of Sand people costumes made us part of the tableau.
Sorrel: We were really choked when the “WOW Westminster” W burned down. We decided to create a little homage to it, and built a miniature version of it. We installed it on the fence near the location and if you looked at it from a particular angle, it would appear as though the W was still standing strong. We decided to leave it up for a week and then collect it. We got a lovely message from someone who saw it while waiting at a traffic light and tracked us down to let us know what a cool interruption it was for his drive home. That was pretty special.
This wasn’t an installation, but we decided to take our 2 headed blue ogre out to Stanley Park to get some photos. We were trying to not call attention to ourselves so we were in a fairly isolated area. There happened to be a photographer in the same area, who was taking macro style portraits of mushrooms and we stumbled into his outdoor camera set up. He took some photos using the same discerning eye for his fungi subjects and the photos came out amazing! We looked like they were right out of a fantasy novel. I loved looking at his instagram page, all these beautiful detailed mushrooms with tiny dew drops, and suddenly one behemoth ogre. I love these micro connections with people.
What advice would you give to someone who feels like they aren’t “artistic” but wants to try creating something anyway?
Tarrin: Being “artistic” isn’t a prerequisite! A lot of cosplaying and fabricating doesn’t involve design, sculpting or illustration. There’s sewing, construction, 3D printing & tons of other crafting skills in play. Besides which, being “artistic” can be a learned skill. I think people viewing themselves as unskilled in this department, would surprise themselves with how far they can get with study and practice.
Sorrel: There are so many ways to be artistic, and it doesn’t need to involve traditional art forms. You may not be good at drawing, but you might find it’s because you’d rather tell stories in the sand or showcase your bottle cap collection. Finding different ways to mix up media, or express your passion is the best way to start. You can finesse and refine as you go. But start with something, anything. Sometimes the stranger the better. I read somewhere that in order to progress with any craft, you have to be somewhat embarrassed by your earlier work. Don’t wait, get embarrassed now.
Finally, if the Styrogirls were to build a giant portal to another world, what would that world look like and who or what would be waiting on the other side?
Tarrin: HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THE PORTAL?!? Okay, so it’s not finished yet, but it’s going to be a combination Home Depot where everything is free, and a giant, fully equipped workshop with a big screen TV. Maybe a nice bakery kiosk, but that’s still in the design phase.
Sorrel: That’s too hard a question Joshua! Auugghh my poor brain, lol. The lame-o answer is the portal would take me to a beautiful storage area where we could build as many creatures as we desire. But realistically, when we have no space and we’re forced to repurpose something we’ve already built into something else, it has more character because we leave all the flaws and often use pieces that aren’t quite right so we can reuse as much as possible.
For a more interesting portal, I’d love to see worlds that influenced different artists throughout history and filled with not just their finished masterpieces, but with all the discarded ideas, mistakes, and half-formed experiments along the way. I’d love to learn from that. We’re so often focused on the final product, but there’s something human in the unseen process: the missteps, the trial and error. That’s the part I’d want to explore. People sometimes think that art follows a straight line, but in reality, the process is often messier and more unpredictable, and that’s what gives it colour.
From flying pugs to surprise Star Wars sightings in the streets of Vancouver, the Styrogirls have brought their wild imaginations to life in the most unforgettable ways. Loved what you saw at our May the Fourth event? There’s so much more where that came from.
Follow their adventures on Instagram @styrogirls and take a deeper dive into their world of foam-crafted fantasy on their website. Trust us; it’s a ride you won’t want to miss.
Feeling the creative itch? Don’t wait. Grab some duct tape, cardboard, or whatever you’ve got lying around and start building something weird and wonderful.
Drop us a comment and tell us: What should the Styrogirls build next? A moon base? A foam Godzilla? A Millennium Falcon made of pool noodles? We’re all ears.
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