Day #96: A Little Bit Nuts

I was finishing up at the studio and contemplating what I could do for today's post. I was thinking about all the materials at the studio. Wondering what I could use. I looked around...

A bunch of nuts, bolts, nails?

So I came up with an idea that really didn't work out. I took a wingnut and tried to make an object puppet. I wanted the nut to be like a fish fin on a bolt. I tried, but it didn't really work like I wanted to.

But I think an important part of any process is coming up with ideas that do not work. Ideas that are, well, bad. Before you can be good at something, you need an opportunity to be bad at it. Brainstorming is mostly finding bad ideas in search of a route to a better idea.

As you can see, it didn't work.

But there are many more ideas out there!

Day #92: Feeding the Soul of the Artist

Perhaps I have been under a rock, but I recently read (and re-read) "Art and Fear." This is an amazing read! I had read some excerpts from the book, but now I've read the whole thing. Twice. I highlighted, underlined, and scribbled in the edges. I want to take passages and blanket my studio wall for inspiration. It was like deeply nourishing food that tasted like chocolate. Make sense?

Recently, artist Patrick Dougherty visited Richmond's Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Patrick builds giant, outdoor installations of native plants -- mostly saplings. I was fortunate enough to attend his artist talk, which echoed so many of my underlined passages from "Art and Fear." I was pretty jazzed up about that! A few days later, I had the pleasure to volunteer for a few hours as he built (with the helping hands of many, many volunteers) "Diamond in the Rough." 


I really enjoy his work (end result), but I equally enjoy his process. The level of community involvement required is a work of art on an entirely different level.

As an artist, I sometimes feel like I am working in a vacuum. It's me and a roomfull of raw material that I am responsible for transforming into my work. Yes, yes, at least I have puppets to keep me company, right? (And Pandora...let's not forget Pandora!) Sometimes I even have assistants come in. Sometimes my kids join me (then I can guarantee nothing much will get done). But it's really still all up to me.

Sometimes you can be your own best friend. Other times you can be your own humongous roadblock.

I feel fortunate that there is a component of my work that involves going out into the world and physically sharing my work. That is my real end product. Yes, I can make puppets, but they need to perform or what's the point?

My point today is that getting the nourishment and support you need is part of the work of the artist. Things that feed my inner artist: time talking with other artists (thank you), walks, exercise, libraries, nature, climbing trees, yoga, Carmina Burana, reading to my children, chopping vegetables (really, it's true!)...

Day #86: Puppet Pondering

Well, we returned safely from the wilds of West Virginia and western Virginia (not to be confusing). We had performances in Charles Town, WV and then camped near Brucetown, VA.

I spent a lot of time in the woods and learned about lots of things...which I photographed. I, unfortunately, could not locate the camera with the photos. I just found out that it's because the camera was never unpacked from the truck.

Oh.

I guess that would explain that.

So I have been riddled with guilt and angst about not posting on the blog. I must confess that I have had a tough time coming up with puppets that I could execute in one day that were interesting to me. It was fun and mentally challenging, but it has become draining. But I want to honor the spirit of the blog by continuing to work at it and complete my days of posting.

Today I visited with my friend and fellow puppet-builder and puppeteer, Terry Snyder. We both talked about our processes and how fun it was to see how other people worked. The process involved in the act of creation. How you take "stuff," work with it, work with it, work with it, until it becomes way more than "stuff."


Then I remembered Rule #6 for Puppet-A-Day....that I could change the rules at any time. So...here we go!

There will still be puppets -- have no worries! My focus is going to be changing to more stuff about process. Documenting in more detail the puppets featured in the show that I am building. I've actually photographed much of this process that I have not posted on the blog (because I saw it as unrelated). Well, now I see it as very related. Now I can have a day devoted to owl wings -- a day for the face -- a day for the body -- a day for the rod -- a day for troubleshooting -- a day for the mechanism -- you get the picture. I think this will actually be potentially useful for other puppeteers. And I like the idea of documenting stuff.

Most of all, it is imminently "do-able."

I will still intersperse some wacky stuff in here (for fun), but I will mostly post up "a day in the studio life of a working puppeteer and puppeteer."

And, yes, I count this as a "day." After all, part of the process is thinking about your process!

P.S. If I double up on my posts for the rest of May, I will catch up. Wish me luck!

Day #83: Death and Dishwashers

No, I did not fall off the face of the Earth. I kinda felt like I needed to, though. I've been under an onerous deadline that I just had to let go and re-evaluate. We've been building a new show and have had a number of setbacks. I had been trying to catch up and work crazy hours; then my creativity felt like it was dying. I overdosed on studio-time.

I killed it by working too many hours.

So today's post is Death. Well, Death as a finger puppet! Charming, huh?

I had forgotten you could overdose on creativity. That pushing too hard kills the joy. I love working in the studio. I relish the opportunity to work with my hands and create. I love bringing a story to life: from the idea to the script to the fully developed show, and then to the audience.

Well, last week I worked too many hours, too full-on, and stressed out enough that I did it. I killed the joy. Fortunately, it's a temporary situation with an easy remedy: time away from the studio. Time to recharge my batteries.

Being away from the studio, I had time to reflect. I remembered other times where my creativity had dried up: stressful times. Times when I was not getting enough sleep. After the birth of babies. Final project time in college. I remember one year really well: the year I sprained my neck by banging my head on my window sill after being woken up by the neighbors across the street. It was around noon. I had just pulled an all-nighter, turned in my project, and was falling asleep. Unfortunately, this was the exact moment that the band across the street was practicing "Enter Sandman" ad nauseum. I still can't hear Metallica without thinking about that day.

I did not intend to take off as much time as I did, though. I was planning on heading back this weekend when my husband decided that we should go ahead and get a dishwasher. Wow.

Now, we cook a lot in our house. We make things from scratch -- I love to cook! It's another creative outlet for me and one that is something that puts me in a somewhat "Zen" state of mind. I don't have to think much when I cook. I just mix up ingredients, taste, adjust...until it's right. (I need to get to the state where building a puppet show is like that again.)

Back to the dishwasher. So my husband worked hard all weekend and then all day Monday -- then we went crazy washing dishes. Pushing it to the limit. Washing the enameled coverings for the gas stove and everything! (Gosh, going crazy in your 30's and 40's is so different from your 20's!)

I have been thinking about Puppet-A-Day and going through some books of mine. I've decided to start up a new thread to include great puppets for teachers and librarians with tips on using puppets. I have lots of info on this and have done workshops. I think it only makes sense to document some of this stuff in the blog.

But today (and maybe even tomorrow) I want to recognize the Death and Rebirth of my creativity.

Day #44: Happily Ever After? (Contains puppet violence)

Let's be honest, "Little Red Riding Hood" is a pretty gruesome tale. Wolves, strangers, dark forests, big teeth, devoured grandmothers, and an axe. Not your typical Disney special.

In 1976, Bruno Bettelheim wrote a book called The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. It's been a while since I read the book, so I will just quote from Wikipedia (please excuse my laziness...it's late!).

In the book, Bettelheim discusses the emotional and symbolic importance of fairy tales for children, including traditional tales at one time considered too dark, such as those collected and published by the Brothers Grimm. Bettelheim suggested that traditional fairy tales, with the darkness of abandonment, death, witches, and injuries, allowed children to grapple with their fears in remote, symbolic terms. If they could read and interpret these fairy tales in their own way, he believed, they would get a greater sense of meaning and purpose. Bettelheim thought that by engaging with these socially-evolved stories, children would go through emotional growth that would better prepare them for their own futures.

Point is, Bettelheim makes a case for the necessity of sharing dark stories such as "Red Riding Hood" with young children. How else will children develop and be able to confront the darkness within our world if they do not have the basic archetypes within their consciousness to grapple with it or to even acknowledge its existence?

For today, I think you know what's in store...We've seen Little Red, The Wolf, and Gramma so far. That leaves us with just the Woodsman.

I feel I must state that no real wolves (only a symbolic, archetypal wolf who really deserved it) were injured in the creation of today's post. The next few images are as graphic as it gets in the world of finger puppets. (You have been warned!)

And they all lived happily ever after...except, I suppose, the wolf.

THE END.

Day #27: Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss -- and a different type of "hand" puppet altogether

In our house, we have read lots of Dr. Seuss, and The Lorax is one of our favorite stories. When our older daughter was two years old, she requested it EVERY night for months in a row. My husband and I can still recite most of it from memory -- and we were always totally busted if we even tried to skip a page. Even at two, she had an amazing steel trap of a memory.

I didn't realize it was Dr. Seuss' birthday until it was almost noon. As soon as I did, though, I knew I had to acknowledge it in the blogosphere. But what to do?

You never see the Once-ler -- only his hands.

Since The Lorax was a favorite, I felt that I had to include that. One of the things I love so much about that book is the way you never see the face of the "bad guy." When the Once-ler is shown, you only see his hands. But you learn so much about his character just by looking at his hands. Ah-ha! A different kind of hand-puppet -- one where the character is referenced only by hands. Interesting...

So for today's puppet (and in tribute to Theodore), I made some green gloves to recreate the Once-ler. I had some great fabric in my stash that worked perfectly!

The whole family at work -- with hands galore! (No faces...)

My daughter's knitting project (the same daughter who used to request this story over and over again!). She does some great stitching.

I think it's actually scarier that you cannot see the Once-ler's face. You cannot look into his eyes; he cannot look into yours. There is no chance to connect on a personal level.

Hands can portray emotions -- like excitement!

I think I could write a dissertation on the faceless Once-ler and mega-corporations (and how Dr. Seuss had incredible prescience), but instead I will just note that you can create a whole character just through use of the hand and gestures. For your typical hand puppets, the hands of the puppet are important for communicating so much, too. Think about it. The face of the puppet is static...so how is it communicating? Oftentimes, it is through arm/hand movement and gestures (and body movement and gestures) In Japanese Bunraku tradition, the use of gesture has so much meaning and importance that each hand has its own puppeteer! (That's a slight oversimplification, but I would have to dedicate a year or more to explaining Bunraku...and you have to spend thirty years training before you can operate the right hand of the puppet.)

But we can all agree on this: Let's give Dr. Seuss a big hand!

Day #24: Ooey-Gooey (a brief philosophical discussion)

Ooey Gooey was a worm,
A mighty worm was he.
He sat upon the railroad tracks...
The train he did not see.

Ooey gooey!

-Ogden Nash

I should not try to watch the Oscar's while working on puppets. I lost track of time and now I have FIVE minutes to finish this post!

I was a bit stumped as I, once again, had to make a puppet away from the studio and all of my supplies... A brief look around led me to some Play-do. Not the ideal material. But we've made excellent sculptures with Play-do in our house. (My older daughter has sculpted beautiful roses.)

The red Play-do called to me. A worm, naturally.

The only problem is that, in truth, you cannot make puppets out of Play-do. I made some rods by robbing a sushi made, and was able to stage some puppety looking photos.

The "saddle" of the worm.

But, like I said, this really isn't a puppet.

It doesn't move well; puppets are supposed to move.

So I made another worm. It doesn't look as sculptural. It's not as photogenic. But it moves well and would function much better as a worm in a performance.

I confess. I robbed the sushi mats to make these rods.

So which is the better puppet?