Tag / Puppetry

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  • e-luminated books part 2

    This weekend we ran part 2 of the e-luminated books workshop at San Francisco Center for the book. This part was focused on interactivity -embedding sensors and switches into books, as wells as designing programs for the Attiny85. It was a lot of fun and will be happening again in June! If you haven’t taken…

  • Circus-y disco e-luminated book

    Quite a long title for a tiny weeny book. This one was rather wonderful to make, and was programmed using a simple Arduino blinky pattern and the teeny-weeny-ATtiny. (so teeeeeeny) Here is the process: All the layers putting the pages together The lighting The control -including wonderful paper battery holder curtsy of Natalie Freed and…

  • Coyote Peep Show

    Oh look. I made a peep show. It is a coyote peep show where shadows of wolves howl at shadows of wolves with boobs. peep through the eye of the eye hooooooooooooooo wwwwwwwwwwww lllllllllllllllllllllllllll This is another prototype for my final project for the bookbinding class I am taking. And I am terribly excited, because…

  • Paper Cinema: West

    (photo: Paul Blakemore / Mayfest) A couple of months ago I received one of those emails you always hope for: a message from a producer asking if I’d be interested in working on a project with one of my FAVOURITE theatre companies, Paper Cinema. Of course I promptly agreed, and responded with plenty of superlatives…

  • Stick Stock

    Waaaaaaay back in June 2012 I was part of a wonderful collaboration. It was for a performance called Through the Nostrils. It went something like: folk meets punk, meets puppetry, meets a host of weird and wonderful stories, meets a 20 piece community choir, and we all have a big-cinematic-gig at the Cube, Bristol. (Link to…

  • Puppet Colony

    I had heard about a group of nomadic puppeteers who had settled in Jaipur, and was lucky enough to be introduced to Rajesh Bhat, a Rajasthani puppeteer living in the heart of the community. He invited me to his home on the outskirts of the city. He lives in a Kathputli-colony. This is a slum…

  • Oriya Puppetry

    Orissa has a history of puppetry, which goes back a few hundred years. As is the story with many of the artforms I have encountered in India, there are few groups still practicing. I went to visit one of these troupes in central Orissa. The group are led by local academic Gouranga Dash. Gouranga tells…

  • Making puppets

    As you can imagine making a puppet in leather is not an easy task. The hardest part is getting the detail straight (being me and generally a bit wonky this is especially difficult). Pulavar started by teaching  me the simplist of the designs (all of which have symbolic reference i.e. the diamond means ambition). These…

  • Shadows Under the Banyan Tree

    Shortly after plonking my backpack on the sofa and gulping my sweet tea, Pulavar and his son informed me of their gig in Fort Kochi. They had been booked to perform an abridged Ramayana that evening. I was quite relieved to peel myself out of the car after 8 hours wedged in between a troupe…

  • Happy New Year from India!

    HAPPY 2013 everyone! Just a quick post before I head further south to start the long anticipated residency in Shoranur. I am slowly getting used to the wonderfully full-of-colours-busy-topsy-turvy lifestyle in India. I arrived in Kolkata a week ago, and was met by my wonderful host Georgie from Sound Travels. I have spent most of…

  • Oedipus in Boots

    I made film for Oedipus in Boots, the Wardrobe Theatre’s “new mother loving panto”. I would’ve liked to have been more involved, but alas, time would not permit, so I designed the opening credits. It was a short sequence that follows Oedipus the cat’s journey along the river whilst (James Bond style) crediting the actors.…

  • Indian Shadow Puppetry

    At the start of next year I will go on a research trip to to India. I will carry out research into the history and cultural context of shadow puppetry and crafts in a number of places in India. [image: Ramachandra Pulvar] This will include spending 3 weeks with puppeteer Ramachandra Pulvar in Kerala. Pulvar is from a…

  • Glove is in the Air

    Glove is in the Air…All you need is Glove…What’s Glove got to do with it?…Make Glove, not war… OK, OK, I’ll stop (but I could ride this pun wave for days I tell you). This week we (myself and some creative friends) made stuff with odd gloves. It was simple. It was amazing. People arrived at…

  • Watershed Day of the Dead Workshop

    Recently I worked with Watershed’s producer Hannah Higginson, and Fresh Flix to develop workshops for their engagement programme. I facilitated a Day of the Dead shadow-puppet-stop-motion-animation workshop, held after a screening of Corpse Bride. The workshop was a lot of fun! There were about 20 creative small people between the age of 4 and 12, and also a great team…

  • Spoon-Fed

    This months Spoon-Fed (a wonderful Bristol based micro-funding event) was full of creative ideas, and inventive ways of communicating those creative ideas. The night goes something like this: we all pay a fiver and get some soup and bread (delicious); 8 artists present a project idea (interesting); everyone votes the project they want to fund (democratic); the artist with…

  • Paper Connections

    I was in London last week at the V & A at an event for the London Design Week and I met Bare Conductive. Bare Conductive sell conductive ink and maker-kits. It just so happenedned that I was looking for conductive ink the week before, and had already been on their website, so meeting them…

  • Shadow-puppetry-in-a-cupboard

    I exhibited a mini-shadow-puppet-show at Hamilton House last week -part of the Bristol Biennial. This piece is a work-in-progress. I am exploring ways of making illustration interactive and performative. (i.e. involving the “reader” to make/change/be part of the visual storytelling). This could be via live animation, like a 3d-pop-up book, or a theatre piece in…

  • Canteen Zebras

    Very much enjoyed making this shadowy-musicy-zebrary illustration for the Canteen. I wanted to create a fun may-time party-time colourful vibe, as supposedly spring is upon us (?). It looks like there’s some good music gwanon too!

  • Blue Puppet Peter

    Our first run of improvised shadow puppetry hosted by the Blue-Blue Peter team Making in the White Bear pub (downstairs from the Wardrobe Theatre)

  • Smoking Puppet Cabaret

    Had a very exciting meeting about the Smoking Puppet Cabaret last night. The line-up is pretty good, and it’s going to be an AMAZING night! If you are in Bristol (or near by) please come. It’s this Friday 2nd March -one not to be missed! More info here and on the poster I designed (below).