persephone

"Persephone" is the 2nd puppet I made bearing this name. The first was a marionette that was too challenging to work with, so I recreated her as a rod puppet. The halo of "hair" surrounding her face is made to look like petals of a sunflower. They were made of cut tin, then shaped liked petals. She was made using a papier mache medium and wire.

Haiti - Hand and rod puppet

His face is a combination of two men I met while on a trip to Haiti. One was an artist and a very spiritual man who exuded love, compassion and joy. His head was like a lions, surrounded by a halo of rasta hair. This was a person of integrity with strong personal presence. The other man was dull and unscrupulous. He presented himself as 'a guide' and walked my partner and I around a 4-block radius so that we might tip him for his help as we looked for the building we had already been standing in front of when he arrived. Even among the Haitians we met, this second man was regarded poorly.

As the puppet head took shape, the features of both these men appeared beneath my fingers. I was surprised to see them merged in the same face and realized that Haiti was all about polarity of the human condition. From the highest vibration of the human spirit, to the lowest. He also melds male and female united in one. One can see his breasts peek from his dress and below it, I've sculpted a penis to be used as a handle.

Haiti has shamanic qualities. The heartbeat of something primal and dark. He is unsettling on some level. Just as the country was to me.

Divina - Hand and rod puppet

"Divina" was my first attempt at making hand and rod puppets. Her hands were very rudimentary and one-dimensional. Later, I evolved hands to be 3-dimensional and to add an emotional quality to them.

I briefly toyed with the idea of making and selling puppets on the internet. Thus, the second Divina head was born. This was carved in clay, then made into a plaster mold to be used with neoprene.

Luna - Hand and rod puppet

"Luna" is a sorcerer (sorceress?). She embodies both the light of the moon and the dark of the night sky. Duality. She is both a holder of light and dark. She is quiet and mysterious and works with the magic of the moon.

Lazarus - Hand and rod puppet

"Lazarus" a fitting name for a puppet who lays dormant till a hand animates his inert little body. He is the puppet I feel most comfortable getting into animated discussions with. He's a charmer—that little green guy. The fabric for his scarf came from an artisan I met in Ireland. Her shop was enchanting with fabrics she had hand dyed then made into designer dresses.

When she saw Lazarus she said,"He needs a scarf and it needs to be very special." She went back into her workroom and pulled out some scraps that I took home and sewed together to complete his outfit.

Allegro - Marionette

"Allegro" is a marionette. He is a shadow character expressing the parts of ourselves we tend not to want to look at. As a result, the shadow gets projected onto others, (sometimes even collectively as is the case with nations). My personal feeling is that a lack of acknowledgment of our shadow results in people cut off to parts of themselves. I used Allegro to visually create a placeholder for the feelings in myself that were "twisting" me up. Out of all my characters, this icon is most beloved by me for his awkwardness and honesty. Best to bring him into the light so that he can be embraced.Funny the reactions he's received. Interacting with 6 year olds he stated that he would understand if they did not want to play with him, because he is so ugly. "No Allegro" their voices rose up in a chorus, "We think you are beautiful!"

Aurora - Hand and rod puppet

"Aurora" is an ancient seer. Although her eyes are closed, she can see through her third eye.
She embodies the feminine intuitive ancient knowledge.

George Bush - Hand puppet

This little puppet pretzeldent went to Washington a few times to protest the invasion of Iraq. He has a counterpart in a hand and rod puppet that I'll post at a later date.

Remember when Bush almost choked to death on a pretzel? That is why he is wearing a pretzel around his neck.