A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, which is a very ancient form of theater. There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made of a wide range of materials, depending on their form and intended use. They can be extremely complex or very simple in their construction. Good ol’ Wikipedia.
With puppets being the feature this month at the gallery I thought I would say a few more words other than the Punch and Judy blog… puppets are one of the harder things to find in the USA and yet there are dozens of sites online and puppeteer artists around. At the gallery I love to see an adult pick up a puppet and drop into a falsetto voice and become a character even better when they do it for the sheer joy of performing not because they are trying to entertain children.
photo Avenue Q
As in the definition puppets can be made from a variety of materials. Art Of Toys has the incredible finger puppets of Dan Crowley this month who we feature on a regular basis as well as Daunine Vining’s elborate rod puppets, both artists use polymer clay. Steve Ferrera who specializes in stop motion movie puppets has some great characters and our beloved T. Oliver Kopian has a few dragon puppets! I even got into the act with my own needle crafted Punch and Judy characters. And you cannot forget Howdy Doody for you old timers…hey hidey ho
We have made puppets in the gallery from paper sacks, shadow puppets and foam. There is no wrong medium as long as life flows into the puppet from the puppeteer. In this fast pace text savvy world it is so nice to see a simple old school form of communication work!
Dan Crowley will make a custom character…maybe it would be great therapy to work out a problem with a custom puppet.
