And Push....12DoJB The Puppet Show

Oh BOY! Grab yourself a Bie-Beer and enjoy the show!

12DoJB- The Puppet Show Link

Here's my disclaimer and credits:

First, this puppet show is our self-directed attempt to learn the art of story boarding, puppetry, audio and video editing, and ridiculous storytelling. Naturally  we didn't make the music and drew from the implied and recognizable musical influences. The audience is intended for our friends and family to enjoy and support us in our growth. This is a FREE puppet show and we welcome critique and feedback in our learning process. Thank you for your support. YouTube provides an opportunity to share our learning and creative development with those afar, yet near and dear to our hearts.

Story Development: Monica and Jen

Shadow Puppet Construction: Monica and some assistance of Bridget, Jen, and Levi.

Puppeteers: Bridget, Jen, Levi, and Monica

Audio Selection and Editing: Monica

Video and Editing Crew: Lee and Michelle

Stage Construction: John and Jeff

Inspiration: Alex

Supply and Shipping Fund: Raghav

Love and Support: You all know who you are and you are awesome!

What to expect when you are expecting?

Excerpt from "12 Degrees of Justin Bieber -The Puppet Show"

Nope. I'm not pregnant if that's what you thought when you read the title. I've been "birthing" a new puppet show with some friends, and promise to introduce this bundle of joy to the world on Friday, December 14th. Stay tuned.

The idea was "conceived" in August, with some development and rehearsals in October, and last night we filmed it!

Perhaps you've heard the stories or seen the strange images posted on my Facebook wall. You might be asking, "Why is Monica so obsessed with Justin Bieber these days? What is this all about?" So here's the context you need.


Well, shortly after my stint at Bread and Puppet I was given an interesting proposition by my friend Jen. Jen fell in love with Shadow Puppets over the summer when she volunteered to work on my first vignette, “How to Make Vegan Cupcakes.” Her enthusiasm arrived in a conversation with an old friend from high school, Raghav. Last year, Raghav got a divorce and started agreeing to support and participate in a variety of projects. Among his funded projects is 12 Degrees of Justin Bieber (12DoJB).

Essentially, Raghav is supporting an impressive young writer named Alex. Although I have never personally met him (or Raghav for that matter), Alex is clearly an experimenter in all things that are awesome. In 12DoJB, Alex is testing the flexibility of Pandora. He has 160 hours get Pandora to play a Justin Bieber tune from both a Slipknot station and a Peruvian Pan Flute station. Sounds ridiculous and brilliant right? Believe me, I’ve done the research and this task is no small feat. This is only for professionals who are dedicated to listening to the good, bad, and the ugly. His entertaining and educational blog, http://12degreesofjustinbieber.tumblr.com/ is a source of inspiration for this show.

So Jen asked Raghav if he would support us in doing another puppet show. He asked us to make him an offer. Jen described Alex’s project to me one evening. The next day I spent all morning reading his blog, laughing out loud and entertained by the images running through my mind.  Halfway through the blog I called Jen. Inspired by Alex’s blog and the impressive scope of the project we set out to create a small puppet show (less than 10 minutes long) based on this project. Naturally our fellow puppeteers, Bridget and Levi couldn’t resist the opportunity to collaborate on another brilliant yet brief puppet show.

So that’s all I’m telling you right now about the show. We “conceived” the idea in August, did some initial storyboarding in September, rehearsed and made an amateur film in October (best birthday weekend ever!), and filmed it last night. Our friends, Lee and Michelle are now in the editing stages. (Thank you, Lee and Michelle for rocking this out!)

This vignette will make you fall in love with shadow puppetry. You’ll laugh. You’ll possibly shed a tear. You’ll be confused (especially if you watch it with no context), and it’s very possible you’ll realize how weird we all are!

You’re dying to see it aren’t you! Be on the lookout for a post Friday, December 14th in the evening. That is the first time we’ll watch it as a puppet troupe. Why December 14th? Duh! The 12DoJB holiday party in Portland, OR is that night! Our friends, Raghav and Alex and anyone else at the 12DoJB Holiday Party will toast to it's ridiculousness! Unfortunately no, I’m not performing it in Portland or going to that party. I’m sure I’ll meet Raghav and Alex someday though!


p.s. THANKS again to Alex and Raghav for inspiring this. Thank you to Bridget, Jen, and Levi for birthing this with me. You are the best people in the world, and so fun to work with. Thank you to John and Bridget for opening your home as the official headquarters. Thank you to Don for lending us the video camera initially. Thank you Lee and Michelle for being superb additions to the group last night and for filming and editing the show!

Monica Joy: Apprenctice of Puppetry and Connoisseur of Fine Outhouses

Huge puppet from our Friday performances. See video below.

At dinner tonight a friend asked, "Oh Monica, how was your two week puppetry excursion?" Well it's been weeks since I returned and I realized I haven't reflected or documented my experience yet. There is so much to think about that all I could say was that I developed a preference for a specific outhouse over the other options. Yes, it was a special composting toilet maintained by a company called Clivus. I was not the only one who favored this outhouse, it was a shared and celebrated commodity. Like a giddy school girls giggling about their boy crushes, my fellow apprentices and I would smile and giggle saying, "I just used the Clivus." Totally ridiculous, but I'll tell you my apprenticeship was full of appreciation for such commodities.

There's actually quite a bit I could share about the experience. I wrote in my journal everyday with descriptions of my day, stories of triumph, documentation of learning, and recounts of experiences that brought back nostalgic memories. 

So perhaps I should recap what I did. In short, I took two weeks vacation to apprentice at the Bread and Puppet Theater company in Glover, VT. I had some experience with the company ten years ago (see Accepted blog post), and was honored and excited to be an apprentice. In this blog post, I'm not interested in recapping all of Bread and Puppet's history or their significance in politics and puppetry. I really want to just share some videos, pics and highlights from my two weeks there.

The Location

Banners outside of B & P

B & P is located in rural Vermont on a farm owned by the Schumann's who founded the company. Decorated with amazing "cheap art" and prints from visiting guests and their onsite print shop, the farm houses a communal farmhouse where 70ish people (yes, there were a lot of people there) roam the kitchen daily and engage in their share of communal activities (gardening, harvesting, cooking, cleaning, making aioli, recycling, etc.). The apprentices and volunteers all lived in tents of course, and the staff and puppeteers lived in the house or in other nearby shelters (e.g. old B & P school buses). Also on the land were a few gardens and livestock for sustenance, the Paper Mache Cathedral & Dirt Floor Theater (where we rehearsed and performed our Fright night shows), a gift shop, museum, art space, storage space, costume room, print shop, outdoor fields for the Sunday afternoon circus and pageant, miscellaneous living and creating spaces, and outhouses, featuring the ever so amazing (school girl giggle), Clivus composting toilet. As mentioned, there are several old B & P school buses that decorated the land for storage, merchandising, or living spaces.

Outside the Puppet Museum & Gift Shop

 

Dirt Floor Theater and Paper Mache Cathedral

Banner on DF Theater/PM Cathedral

Cheap Art Bus

My Neighborhood, Las Palmas

The People

I met so many people from so many places (both states and countries), of all ages and backgrounds, and with just as much confusion as I had in the first 24 hours at  B & P. Thankfully I learned on my second day that in a nutshell, "there are really no rules at B & P but someone is always making a mistake." Given that, information, I could relax in the fact that I could just be present. I had to drop some of the inherent control that I have to need to know what is coming next so I could be prepared and have my mental stuff together. Most were artists, musicians and actors who illuminated the post-dinner coma with an eclectic jam session. Oh how I love fiddles and accordions and random brass instruments being played with such joy on the porch of an old farmhouse. The juxtaposition of this life versus my typical daily grind was memorizing and exhausting, but definitely amazingly beautiful on a hot summer night in the hills of Vermont. 

Circus Act at B&P...look at all the instruments!

The Puppets and Politics

I'd like to save the stories of what we worked on for another blog, and how different aspects influences my thinking. Instead, I'd like to just shared a few photos and a video of what I was working on. When I find my fellow apprentices with their library of documented performances, I'll share those parts. For now, here's the magnitude and aesthetic of what I was working with. Perhaps if will inspire you more to read about Bread and Puppet.  

Backstage at the Circus

Lion Costumes

So you can see how big some of these puppets are compared to me!

Some Interesting Thought and Highlights

• The Importance of Music: On Tuesday evenings, the community comes for shape note singing. I attended one week and while I couldn't follow along with reading music, let alone music that was coded with shapes and Fa, La, So, Me's, I was in awe of the beauty of singing old hymns and rounds. We even sang the "Rose Rose Rose Rose.. Will I ever see thee wed?" song that I so fondly recall learning from my mom and my Aunt Bobbie, Joanie, Susie, and perhaps Kathy and Mary were there? We sang that song in a round one night on the balcony of our shared condo in Maine. I was so swept away with that family memory resurfacing at B & P that I thought about how important it is that I keep music alive with my immediate and future families.
• Getting Higher: I did face a fear of mine. I walked on stilts. I will never forget Anli, the German woman who so forcefully strapped me into those stilts and relentlessly supported me in succeeding. I was thankful it was sunny and that I had sunglasses on to mask the tears and panic I had on my face the whole time. Heck, I even kept crying when I was walking independently on those stilts, after I had accomplished this fear. I really had thought about quitting before I even stood up for the first time, but I practiced what I have been working on for years. I thought, "Monica, what kind of 1st world problem is this? What kind of story are you going to make this? The story of you quitting and feeling bad about not following through when there is no reason not to, or will this be the story of you saying 'to heck with it' and just doing it and living to tell about it." I am happy with my choice. Due to rain, I didn't have time to get on stilts again but I'm thinking about seeking out an opportunity to continue with this training. Tip: The secret is to keep moving. Being paralyzed by fear is not helpful when stilt-walking or anything, so just march to the beat of your own drum and you'll figure it out.

That's all for now...more to come, including the new show I'm working on that is less than political and doesn't involve big puppets. 

Lastly, here's a short video clip of the big puppet during a technical rehearsal. 

I took a small detour torochester today to spend time with Jeff while he's up here for work. On my way up I  decided to delve into the array of emotions I am feeling about my upcoming apprenticeship. I have been going through levels of panic and nervousness regarding leaving my job for two weeks, being away from my cat and companion, wondering how this will throw off my marathon training, uncertainty about packing and most importantly...what the heck will the next few weeks bring? What will I learn, who will I meet, and will this experience radically change me? All coated with relentless fear and drama, these are the things I sorted through.

I know, I know, not everything in life can be planned. I admit it...I am a planner for the most part and giving up that level of control over my environment and schedule (not to mention the luxuries of Internet and phone I have become so attached to) is pretty scary. 

So I realized that I can stay centered by what I do best as a strategic planner and educator...I can write learning objectives for myself. Yeah!

Without writing the prescribed learning objective formula incorporating vocabulary from Bloom's Taxonomy and setting associated assessment measures, I will sum up my goals here:

As I stated in my first blog entry, I have done a really great job of being responsible. To some, my past choices and adventures seem exciting and risky. To me, they have been safe. I have done a good job being my quirky self, living comfortably and subversively teaching and/or inspiring others to perhaps think differently about things...the choice of happiness, the choice of forgiveness and acceptance, challenging self-limiting beliefs, using cloth napkins, voting with our dollars (when possible) at the supermarket and/or in our daily nourishment, etc. All those things are a work in progress for me as well, but I am happy that others have become aware of some of these important concepts as a result of my journey with them.

The next two weeks at Bread and Puppet, I want to participate and cross the boundaries of subversive teaching to being out loud with it. I am ready to learn, to re-ignite and participate in a different type of responsibility, civic responsibility . Naturally there is an art form I will be learning, but so much of this is how to challenge the everyday with the spectacular communication and community dialogue that puppetry invites. I will do my best to stay present and gentle with myself in the learning process, and hope that I can give this back to my community when I return.

I wrote most of this blog on my iPhone at Ming's on Monroe Ave. I was hungry, needed lunch and so missed their veggie udon noodle dish. When handed the bill with a fortune cookie, I was about halfway through writing this post. Best fortune and fortune cookie ever - "to love what you do and feel that it matters--how could anything be more fun!"

Peace out! I look forward to connecting and reflecting again on the other side of this residency. Until then, thank you all for your support and love in my life. Heart you, each and everyone of you!


Sent from my iPhone

Instant Gratification

Ask and you shall receive. Unbeknownst to me, my new friend, Jim Laux filmed it. Here's a link to the unedited version of How to Make Vegan Cupcakes. You may not be able to hear me speaking well, but once the lights go off and on and the music starts, the sound isn't bad. Due to angles and lighting, you won't be able to see any clear definition on some parts so use your imagination and enjoy! I'll be finding other footage soon and am hoping to do an edit job on that. 


Thanks, Jim!

Vegan Puppeteers Take Over Beulahland

Thank you, Noel Sylvester, for capturing this fun shot!

On Friday, July 13th, I performed my first puppet show since I started Data Geek to Puppeteer. My friends Amelia, Noel, and Jennifer graciously invited friends and artists out to their art farm (Beulahland) to create, engage, and celebrate all forms of creativity (and Jennifer's 61st birthday) to their seemingly annual mini festival. This year it was known as 61 Hours of Art, the second mini-festival that followed the ever so awesome 60 Hour of Art.

I worked for weeks to create and perform a very simple plot, that probably took way more than 61 hours. It was all worth it for the three (yes, that's 3) minutes of pure delight I experienced performing it. Here's an overview of the piece, How to Make Vegan Cupcakes.

Original Draft of Jennifer F.

• The Plot: Entranced by a vision of a yummy vegan cupcake, a young girl sets out on a pursuit to make vegan cupcakes for her friend's birthday. In this short, three minute vignette, the ingredients, utensils, and appliances illustrate a whimsical life of their own. At the end of the show, we wished, Jennifer Fais (and Jeff K) a happy birthday and gave her a papercutting portrait I created.
• Medium: Shadow Puppetry, with some fancy papercutting action.
• The Music: About a week before the show, The Winner Is by Danna/Devotchka from the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack showed up on my Pandora station at work. Wow. I paid and downloaded the whole soundtrack that night. The music is not only beautiful, but timed out my show in a more eloquent way than I could have. I had struggled with the fact that I wanted the show to be silent or with minimal speaking parts. Problem solved.
• The Puppeteers: I was so thankful for the playful and creative friends I have, Bridget BVO and Jennifer B. who volunteered their time over two rehearsals to learn puppetry (and I think they fell in love with it too!). Given the name of the blog, I'll admit and say I'm the only vegan puppeteer but one of them is vegetarian and another is inspirationally stoked about vegetables and local farming. 
• The Inspiration: I came up with this idea driving back from Toronto after attending Fresh Ideas in Puppetry. I was inspired by some performances and presentations highlighting Shadow Puppetry. When I drove back I watched shadow figures walk through the screen of my mind and I knew I wanted to start out my puppetry endeavors with shadow puppets and papercutting. How to Make Vegan Cupcakes seemed like the simplest and most playful plot to start with.
• Why Vegan Cupcakes?: I had never really been a baker or very interested in desserts until I became vegan, and I became vegan as a personal health experiment that grew into a life habit I'm committed to.Then, in attempt to bring "vegan" food to parties that might open up people's perception of vegan food, I started making vegan cupcakes. Of course, I'm aware I took the path of least resistance, "vegan junk food." BUT, learning the art of vegan baking from my mentor's in their book, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World was definitely part of my return as an artist. I did even use the ingredients from their Basic Chocolate Cupcake Recipe. In fact, for 60 Hours of Art, I had created 60 Hours of Vegan Cupcakes in which I learned and made five different cupcake recipes from the book. So for 61 Hours, why not create a puppet show about making vegan cupcakes?
• Props (in the slang sense): With some research and scavenging, I figured out how to make a cheap stage. I'm giving out props to my friend John VO and partner Jeff K for their assistance and support constructing it with me. 
• The Response: From the feedback I received, it was the playful and enchanting (and maybe emotional) experience I intended the audience to engage in. I may have even made one shed a tear. If any has seen it, I welcome the constructive feedback.

Let's just say the whole process was delightful. I learned so much, experienced a minor case of nerves but that was totally trumped my determination to make the process a joyful learning experience. I thought I'd have more to say about the array of emotions about creating this, but really, I kept my focus and decided to not misuse my imagination and energy on worry. That's the soundest piece of advice I can give anyone who is "going for it."

Thank you Maxwell Harvey-Sampson for this photo.

 

p.s. For those wondering...yes, it was taped but I haven't seen it yet. I'll work on that. However, I have some wonderful photos (as shown) that some great and talented friends/photographers took that evening. 

p.s.s. Ironically I made the ever so yummy green tea cupcakes again for Jeff's birthday the day after the show. As I was taking the cupcakes out of the oven, The Winner Is song came on my Pandora station. Oh, how sweet life is!

The Green Tea Cupcakes I made the day after my show for Jeff's birthday.

I'm a Shadow Artist?

First Paper-Cutting Session: Semi-Self-Portrait

As I reflect on my experiences, thoughts, and the work I have been creating physically and in my mind, the term "Shadow Artist" seems to capture it all so well. Circa 1999 I set aside much of my energy as an artist, and reallocated (yes, I just used that beloved buzz word) my time and passion into arts administration. Maggie Hanley (formerly the Manager Director) hired me at 171 Cedar Arts Center, where, me, an unfocused, twenty-year old, college stop-out/dropout discovered the art of writing queries and had a rejuvenating feeling of purpose. I finally felt like I was contributing. I felt successful, and within a few short months of working there I knew I would continue my studies, not as an artist, but as an arts administrator. 

It's interesting that at 33, the year I celebrate overcoming the illness I call "Artist Suppression Syndrome," I recall a conversation with Maggie at 171 in the kitchen (the old one in the Bruce House for those familiar with it). Perhaps Maggie was examining her life at the time and healing from some "Artist Suppression Syndrome" too. Anyway, we started talking about the book, "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron, particularly the key concept of being a Shadow Artist explored in the book. It's been a while since I read that book but I found a quote referenced from the book that describes this meaning well. 

Too intimidated to become artists themselves, very often too low in self-worth to even recognize that they have an artistic dream, these people become shadow artists instead. Artists themselves but ignorant of their true identity, shadow artists are to be found shadowing declared artists… Shadow artists often choose shadow careers — those close to the desired art, even parallel to it, but not the art itself.

So there we were, two classic shadow artists working at an arts center. Now, more than 10 years later, I am confronting that self-worth, that artistic dream, and trying to figure out where to start with it all.

I've been wondering if I should actually change the name of my blog from "Data Geek to Puppeteer" to something more fitting like "From the Desk of an Artsy Data Geek." I'm starting to think that my drive to "Go For It" isn't so much about being a puppeteer but about being an artist in general. I have a lot of ideas and concepts I am entertaining in my work, some incorporate puppetry and some fit my desire to just learn as much as I can about everything (sewing, felting, sculpture, painting, paper-cutting, dance...etc, etc). It's a little unsettling how all over the place I am with it. However, my friend Bridget (oh my, how blessed I am to have her in my life) encouraged me to look at it differently. She said, "if you were in art school, you would be learning and exploring many different mediums. Think of this year and/or the next few years as your art school years." Oh, that helps to think of it that way, whether you are pursuing your dreams as an artist or anything.

So here's what I've been up to:

• Shadow Puppetry and Paper-cutting: A few weeks ago I went to Fresh Ideas in Puppetry, a "puppetry conference" in Toronto put on by Puppetmongers: Toronto School of Puppetry. I was inspired by all the work I saw. On my drive back I realized that I want to focus my experimentation with puppetry on Shadow Puppetry. I'm really fascinated by paper-cutting/scherenschnitte, and this compliments my artistic development with shadow puppetry. It's also "cheap" and I can do it in my apartment versus in my attic studio (which is too hot right now) at my parent's house. Did I mention that my only actual puppet performance outside of undergrad was a Shadow Puppet show I did while working at the Armenian Library and Museum in Watertown, MA? Hence, "Shadow Artist" has multiple meanings right now. If you have no idea what Shadow Puppetry is, I'll be sure to share some cool finds. One my my recent favorites is this Pilobolus Dance Theatre "Shadowland" clip. You'll get chills it's so wonderful.  

 

• Domestic DIY: I've moved across town, yes again, so I've been working on that. However, in the process of brilliant cohabitation it's been fun to work on cool projects like building a spice rack. We researched and been creating a great spice rack in our small kitchen. It was inspired by this one: http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2009/11/mount-a-magnetic-spice-rack-to-keep-your-spices-accessible/



Recycled Bottle Caps







• Recycled Runway: I took a detour on it all to work on this community project directed by Amelia Harnas. It was fun creating recycled fashions for The ARTS of the Southern Finger Lakes benefit. What can I say, I like beer and making these outfits was a lot of fun! See my bottle cap dress and vest here...as well as many amazing, amazing pieces.Thanks for being my model, Barb, and thank you, Amelia, for creating another fun and safe space for experimentation!
• More Cupcakes, Please: I've found the winning cupcake recipe in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. They win on all levels so here's the recipe! They are a delightfully-delicious-post-sushi-dinner-dessert! Of course, mine aren't nearly as cute as the ones in the picture on PPK's website, but pink marzipan circle cut-outs are just as adorable and aesthetically pleasing. Don't get me wrong, all vegan cupcakes recipes from this book are great...but these take the "cupcake!"

Now that I'm settled, I'll probably be more likely to documenting my thoughts and practices. If you haven't yet, watch that Pilobolus video!

p.s. Thanks again to Maggie and Bridget and all who have inspired me more than you could possibly know!

A certain someone with rabbit ears.

My nephew...looks cross-eyed but it's an early attempt and I like the hair. I've learned it's really hard to create paper-cuttings of young people.