Spring and Summer 2022 Newsletter
Newsletter in progress to report on May and June 2022
May 14 online meeting and workshops
Saturday, June 25 In-Person Guild Meeting for the first time in over two years!
at the Halsey (Oregon) Community Center
100 W Halsey Street at Highway 99E
free of charge and open to the public
11:00 a.m. Puppet Meet and Greet for the whole family
Performance of "The Lion and the Mouse"
presented by the hand puppets of Cosmos Puppets of Eugene, Oregon
11:30 a.m. Workshop - make a sock puppet to keep
presented by the Willamette Valley Puppeteers
1:30 p.m. Workshop for adults and teens -
Make a giant puppet to keep
suitable for parades and big outdoor performances
such as the Puppet Parade that will take place at the
Pacific Northwest Regional Festival
August 3-7 in Seattle, Washington.
and the WVP members who attended the PNW Regional Festival
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May 14 online meeting and workshops
Saturday, June 25 In-Person Guild Meeting for the first time in over two years!
at the Halsey (Oregon) Community Center
100 W Halsey Street at Highway 99E
free of charge and open to the public
11:00 a.m. Puppet Meet and Greet for the whole family
Performance of "The Lion and the Mouse"
presented by the hand puppets of Cosmos Puppets of Eugene, Oregon
11:30 a.m. Workshop - make a sock puppet to keep
presented by the Willamette Valley Puppeteers
1:30 p.m. Workshop for adults and teens -
Make a giant puppet to keep
suitable for parades and big outdoor performances
such as the Puppet Parade that will take place at the
Pacific Northwest Regional Festival
August 3-7 in Seattle, Washington.
and the WVP members who attended the PNW Regional Festival
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February 2022 Newsletter
Happy New Year!
On Saturday, February 12, three Guild members met online
to look back at their puppetry activities during the recent holiday months,
and to make plans for the coming months.
On Saturday, February 12, three Guild members met online
to look back at their puppetry activities during the recent holiday months,
and to make plans for the coming months.
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Ready for winter to ease into springtime, the puppeteers are preparing to celebrate Mardi Gras and to plan some in-person events such as puppet building workshops and big group performances and displays in our community. Check back here as our plans develop and the events get scheduled.
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November 2021 Newsletter
On Saturday, November 13, three Guild members met online via Jitsi to show off their projects in progress and to tell how their puppets had celebrated Halloween.
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Jane Schindler models the Elly the elephant head that she made in a workshop on making large parade puppets led by Chantelle Rytter at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia in October 2021. Several other parade puppets made in that workshop are on display in these photos. Jane showed us how the cloth is held together with hot glue instead of stitching, and is stretched over a willow branch frame mounted on a bicycle helmet. The large ears |
are shaped over bubble wrap, stiffening material, and boning stays (actually made of plastic these days, not bone) and the ears and trunk are illuminated with battery powered lights, ready for a lantern parade.. Jane has plans for building an elephant body to attach to the back of the head, possibly made from a collapsible pink laundry bin, perhaps from pink netting material.
October 2021 Newsletter
On Saturday, October 16 seven WVP members met online to show their current puppet projects and to present timely and seasonal puppet skits and stories. Thank you to Mike for this screen shot of all of us with our costumes, puppets, props, and projects.
Seven WVP members attended the online get-together on Saturday, October 16. Thank you to Mike for this screen shot photo of our attendees.
Doris demonstrated the subtle and endearing head movements of her newly purchased baby dragon puppet, sitting atop the cardboard box being transformed into a cave suitable for his home. In response to a request for building and decorating suggestions, Mike recommended paint colors (mostly black) with shiny white accents representing the stalactites and stalagmites inside the cave. He introduced the idea of illuminating the interior of the cave with black light . Doris and Dragon plan to showcase the finished cave at the November online meeting. p.s. Louise is still seeking traditional folk-style stories featuring dragon characters, as she has two lovely big dragon puppets. Please pass along your suggestions.
Janie and Jeanie sported their black Puppeteers of America Slamdemic t-shirts as they entertained us with a skit based on current news items in a suitably scary way for the upcoming Halloween holiday. Jane's Ghost Booober said he is getting smaller, but Covid and Delta appeared full-size suddenly to dominate the show. The audience expressed their fear of these two meeting attendees. Luna the Bat said that contrary to a rumor circulating these days, he didn't start Covid, and he asked the two viruses what scared them. When they refused to answer, Luna suggested hand sanitizer, ultraviolet light, soap, and the scariest (to Covid and Delta) item of all -- big Sir Ringe who was delivering vaccines. When Sir Ringe explained his work helping people to build antibodies, the two viruses decided to move right along in search of more congenial people with noses and mouths available for them to get into, in search of popularity and expansion as fast as possible.
Louise presented her story "Raven Brings Light to the World," and demonstrated the props such as a basket that contained a battery powered light shining through the weave of the basket.
Shannon shared with us a video clip about her career as a puppet artist. She recently gave that presentation on Career Day at her son's school. Day in the Life of a Puppet Artist: https://youtu.be/TMp9JRgRIOM
Gayle, alias Witch Boo von Boo, said that she is really a 9-year old in costume as a 75 year old, telling her little dolly about National Candy Corn Day and about the upcoming Halloween.
On the Friday before Halloween, Jean and Doris staffed the Willamette Valley Puppeteers booth at the annual Boo Barn at the Petersen Barn Community Center in west Eugene. We decorated with orange and white lights, hung up flying bats and ghosts, and posed skeletons climbing the posts holding up our canopy. Each of us worked hand puppets to meet and greet our car-bound guests as they slowly drove along the winding path through Petersen Park . On that one evening almost 400 people traveled through the park to experience a different tableau at each booth and to receive stickers and little toys passed through their open car windows. Adults, children with their eyes wide with wonder, and even a few dogs (also wide eyed) joyfully greeted the puppets and talked with them about Halloween and the spooky things they were seeing and hearing at the Boo Barn. Just before closing time for the event, our booth handed out our last prizes, with the end of the procession of cars not yet in sight. Our neighbors in the nextdoor booth generously shared their remaining stash of pencils and slap bracelets with us to keep the joy flowing as the puppeteers continued handing out prizes and keeping the puppets alive, in motion, and talking, despite being very tired and very cold . We are looking forward to participating in the event again next October, and we are heartily hoping that it can once again be safely held inside the Community Center rather than outdoors.
We are hoping to hear the details of other Guild members' Halloween festivities at our next online meeting on Saturday, November 13.
July and August 2021 Newsletter
Seven Guild members met online via Jitsi on
Saturday, July 10. We enjoyed "Story Time Part 2," presented by the puppeteers who had not been able to present their stories last month.
Rozy opened the meeting with a picture book
The Pout Pout Fish. Attendees discussed how this story might be presented using puppets, especially how difficult it would be for a solo puppeteer to bring on and offstage the multiple puppet characters while the protagonist stayed on the puppeteer's hand onstage throughout the entire story.
Saturday, July 10. We enjoyed "Story Time Part 2," presented by the puppeteers who had not been able to present their stories last month.
Rozy opened the meeting with a picture book
The Pout Pout Fish. Attendees discussed how this story might be presented using puppets, especially how difficult it would be for a solo puppeteer to bring on and offstage the multiple puppet characters while the protagonist stayed on the puppeteer's hand onstage throughout the entire story.
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Then Mario demonstrated exactly how a solo puppeteer could perform the same kind of story requiring one hand to exchange its puppet while the other hand remained inside a puppet onstage, with his original story "Why It Is Wrong to Lie." Frog told Limon a series of lies about how to cure his illness, while Limon grew sicker and sicker, until Dr. Dragon recommended the curing properties of Happiness. Frog was surprised that his former friend Limon refused to forgive him for his lies -- until he learned an important lesson.
Gayle shared her idea for saving a file of old comic strips as a source for plot ideas, many of them involving two characters suitable for performances with a hand puppet on each of a solo puppeteer's hands. She also demonstrated how a small vinyl folding step could serve as a very portable tabletop puppet stage.
Woodcarver Mike demonstrated his project in progress costuming and manipulating his new rod puppet.
Gayle shared her idea for saving a file of old comic strips as a source for plot ideas, many of them involving two characters suitable for performances with a hand puppet on each of a solo puppeteer's hands. She also demonstrated how a small vinyl folding step could serve as a very portable tabletop puppet stage.
Woodcarver Mike demonstrated his project in progress costuming and manipulating his new rod puppet.
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Jeannie (pictured here with her puppet Twinkle), Linda, and Doris led a discussion of three upcoming live in-person events:
Next Saturday, July 17, several Guild members plan to see a farewell tour performance by Cowboy Buck and Elizabeth featuring ventriloquism, signing (ASL), and live music at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 17 (tribute to the late Patsy Cline) or Sunday, July 18 (tribute to Bob Dylan) in downtown Cottage Grove, Oregon at the Bohemia Mining Days festival . For more information see https://bohemiaminingdays.org/
On Saturday, July 24 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. several Guild members will present "The Art of Puppetry" in the Expo Building at the Lane County Fair in Eugene, Oregon. They plan to demonstrate many different kinds of puppets in action as well as a variety of puppet stages. With the Covid-19 pandemic still in progress, there will be enforced distancing between presenters and audience members, not allowing hands-on activities.
On Saturday, August 21 several Guild members will present "The Art of Puppetry" demonstrating a variety of puppets in action as well as several short shows in an outdoor venue at the Western Oregon Exposition in Cottage Grove. Schedule of events and details TBD. For information see https://www.westernoregonexpo.com/
With so many activities during July and August, the Guild is taking a break in September, and will meet online again in October 2021.
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Next Saturday, July 17, several Guild members plan to see a farewell tour performance by Cowboy Buck and Elizabeth featuring ventriloquism, signing (ASL), and live music at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 17 (tribute to the late Patsy Cline) or Sunday, July 18 (tribute to Bob Dylan) in downtown Cottage Grove, Oregon at the Bohemia Mining Days festival . For more information see https://bohemiaminingdays.org/
On Saturday, July 24 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. several Guild members will present "The Art of Puppetry" in the Expo Building at the Lane County Fair in Eugene, Oregon. They plan to demonstrate many different kinds of puppets in action as well as a variety of puppet stages. With the Covid-19 pandemic still in progress, there will be enforced distancing between presenters and audience members, not allowing hands-on activities.
On Saturday, August 21 several Guild members will present "The Art of Puppetry" demonstrating a variety of puppets in action as well as several short shows in an outdoor venue at the Western Oregon Exposition in Cottage Grove. Schedule of events and details TBD. For information see https://www.westernoregonexpo.com/
With so many activities during July and August, the Guild is taking a break in September, and will meet online again in October 2021.
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June 2021 Newsletter
On June 19, 2021 eight Guild members met via the online platform Jitsi for a fun open mic session called "Story Time." Rozy is not pictured, as she only joined us for a short time on her phone in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant during a road trip. We are hoping that she and some other Guild members will join us with their puppets for "Story Time part 2" in July.
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Mike is working on different types of puppets in addition to his usual dragon marionettes and small creatures with mechanical controls, such as this large human rod puppet. When Janie's big flower puppet (see below) sparked a discussion of how to rig the controls for a chorus line of dancing flowers or other characters using ropes and pulleys for unison movement, attendees participated in a lively discussion of techniques and materials, with the beginning of a plan to work together in person on the design, building, and eventually a live or recorded performance -- in the future when we are able to meet together in groups again. When the attendees started talking about dragons, Mario's dragon puppet joined the party, along with two new puppets - a Muppet-style fuzzy monster and a very large hand puppet frog with a moveable tongue.
Speaking of tongues, Janie introduced us to her original creation Calendula, a large dancing flower with googly eyes, that still needs some design and construction on a moveable mouth. Calendula's stem is currently separate from its head, since a performance a few years ago when the two parts of the flower puppet chased each other around the stage area.
Linda's moveable mouth hand puppet Jennie told a story about when Linda was in 4th grade in a country far away - Chile - and she got in great trouble for telling lies. This prompted a remembrance of Jamie and Jeannie in sixth grade who performed with their puppets in a school show . Their puppets wore paper wigs and sang Beatles tunes, including commercials. For many years they did not do puppetry again until 1994 in Minnesota at Macy's when they bought Lion puppets Roland and Roary. Over the years they have put on shows for groups of veterans and disabled children, practicing overt puppetry where the puppeteers are in plain view while the audience focuses on the close-up puppet. Rowland even tried his hand at auctioneering for a good cause, and we have seen in our recent Guild meetings a few of the roles those twin lions have played.
Gayle demonstrated a little wicker chair just the right size for her Thanksgiving turkey puppet - otherwise known as a toy with a handle - but he will have a new role to play next autumn when Gayle resumes her in-person puppetry sessions at her local elementary schools.
Doris's hand puppets with moveable arms, Bihmo and Bahzi, did a short skit about playing hide and seek.
Speaking of tongues, Janie introduced us to her original creation Calendula, a large dancing flower with googly eyes, that still needs some design and construction on a moveable mouth. Calendula's stem is currently separate from its head, since a performance a few years ago when the two parts of the flower puppet chased each other around the stage area.
Linda's moveable mouth hand puppet Jennie told a story about when Linda was in 4th grade in a country far away - Chile - and she got in great trouble for telling lies. This prompted a remembrance of Jamie and Jeannie in sixth grade who performed with their puppets in a school show . Their puppets wore paper wigs and sang Beatles tunes, including commercials. For many years they did not do puppetry again until 1994 in Minnesota at Macy's when they bought Lion puppets Roland and Roary. Over the years they have put on shows for groups of veterans and disabled children, practicing overt puppetry where the puppeteers are in plain view while the audience focuses on the close-up puppet. Rowland even tried his hand at auctioneering for a good cause, and we have seen in our recent Guild meetings a few of the roles those twin lions have played.
Gayle demonstrated a little wicker chair just the right size for her Thanksgiving turkey puppet - otherwise known as a toy with a handle - but he will have a new role to play next autumn when Gayle resumes her in-person puppetry sessions at her local elementary schools.
Doris's hand puppets with moveable arms, Bihmo and Bahzi, did a short skit about playing hide and seek.
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We ran out of time at the June meeting before we could hear all the stories that were ready to be told, and some of our usual attendees had been unable to join us. So we decided to meet again in July to enjoy Story Time Part 2, and to make plans for the live events our Guild is going to participate in later this summer. *******************************************************************************************
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May 2021 Newsletter
The Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry invited our members to attend their May 8 program “An Evening of Puppetry with Jim 'Nappy' Napolitano,” featuring a live shadow puppet sing-a-long show and backstage tour of Nappy's workshop. Many of our members enjoyed the show and the opportunity to see where and how he created the puppets and the shadow stage, and how he performed the shows. To see one of the stories presented during this evening program, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20POsU3_wb8
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April 2021 Newsletter
On Saturday, April 10 at 10:30 a.m. five Guild members met online to celebrate the theme "The Magic of Spring." This season of fresh starts and the birth of baby animals and plants turned out to be the time when all five puppetry fans were ready to share their new projects in progress - each one new and fresh and growing.
Tara showed off Ophelia, a large black spider finger puppet who used her eight legs to climb along the edges of the screen amazingly fast as she pursued the bugs that had come out for the spring season.
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Mike is learning many new skills in his current online workshop based in Iceland. He is designing and building his first glove puppet, with head and hands carved from wood, and a cloth body. He demonstrated how he can turn the puppet's head without moving the whole body, and how he uses just his thumb and little finger to manipulate the arms and hands. He is painstakingly designing the cloth body to fit his hand precisely as he manipulates his newest puppet, a magician from the traditional Chinese opera..
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Doris used a humanette for the first time time ever to perform a magic trick. She made a red and a yellow scarf disappear, and then they reappeared as one orange scarf.
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Jackson Jackrabbit made his first springtime visit to the Guild, celebrating the seasonal beauty of cherry blossoms, white jasmine flowers, and Mardi Gras beads.
Jackson also displayed a lot of interest in Gayle's presentation today. Inspired by the children's storybook The Carrot Seed, Gayle's three-headed character Joe Blow represented the man in the middle who wanted to grow carrots for the first time, and the two competing voices in his head - the one who always pointed out the abundance of reasons why nothing he did was ever going to work, and the one on the other side who encouraged him to learn more and solve the problems as they came up. Gayle already has the mature carrot puppet ready for the happy ending when she premieres this new show currently in its early planning stages.
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Gayle's adaptation of the classic children's book The Carrot Seed inspired a spirited discussion of puppeteers' use of copyrighted material and of trademarks and logos such as Gayle's Do-Little Puppet Shows. She told the attendees about the annual summer fair that is tentatively scheduled to take place in Cottage Grove, Oregon in August 2021, after being canceled in the Pandemic Summer of 2020. Fair organizers are hoping that some other local puppeteers will join Gayle on the stage to offer live entertainment to audiences eager to enjoy live entertainment once again.
Mike encouraged everyone to enjoy all the opportunities for online puppetry arts featured in museums and collections, as listed in the current issues of Puppetry Journal and UNIMA's Puppetry International -- just arrived in the mailboxes of members of Puppeteers of America (PofA). In case you are not a current member, here is a link to information about becoming one: https://www.puppeteers.org/become-a-member
There is also a link on the PofA website where you can read the digital issue of the current Journal: https://www.puppeteers.org/latest-issue
Now that pandemic-caused closures and cancellations are beginning to ease toward re-opening, our Guild members are starting to get very busy with more hours at work and more scheduled events, and it is becoming harder to get together online these Saturday mornings. It is time to re-think when our group should schedule meetings. An e-mail will be sent to Guild members very soon to find out the best days and times to schedule our meetings. Please help us to plan when YOU would like to get together online, and what kind of activities you want to schedule with a congenial group of puppetry fans. Next online meeting theme: Stories! Date and time TBD
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Mike encouraged everyone to enjoy all the opportunities for online puppetry arts featured in museums and collections, as listed in the current issues of Puppetry Journal and UNIMA's Puppetry International -- just arrived in the mailboxes of members of Puppeteers of America (PofA). In case you are not a current member, here is a link to information about becoming one: https://www.puppeteers.org/become-a-member
There is also a link on the PofA website where you can read the digital issue of the current Journal: https://www.puppeteers.org/latest-issue
Now that pandemic-caused closures and cancellations are beginning to ease toward re-opening, our Guild members are starting to get very busy with more hours at work and more scheduled events, and it is becoming harder to get together online these Saturday mornings. It is time to re-think when our group should schedule meetings. An e-mail will be sent to Guild members very soon to find out the best days and times to schedule our meetings. Please help us to plan when YOU would like to get together online, and what kind of activities you want to schedule with a congenial group of puppetry fans. Next online meeting theme: Stories! Date and time TBD
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March 2021 Newsletter
After last month's amazingly destructive weather over much of the country, the weather reports and forecasts were very much on our minds. So on Saturday, March 12 the Guild tried something new at our online meeting. Attendees and their puppets would present a variety of acts in the tradition of broadcast television programs - everything from the news and weather reports to sit-coms, with some commercial messages and public service announcements interspersed throughout the broadcast. The results ranged far and wide, coming to us live from our hometowns on the West Coast and the East Coast, as well as a location midway between the two.
Our Guild members joined us from wherever they were on Saturday morning. Rozy listened on her phone while driving in the Willamette Valley. She regretted that she could not see the visual images on the screen, but the rest of us were very glad that she stayed safe by enjoying our meeting as a radio show this month.
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Mario and his frogs and dogs, panda, giant cat, and even a taco joined us from Texas. Melinda and her son Anthony (not pictured) brought us a Rainbow at the park with a masked moose, and Anthony's pterodactyl in his skit "Inventing."
From sister stations WPUP in Stone Mountain, Georgia and WVPG in Philomath, Oregon Jeannie and Janie brought us a live broadcast that included weather reports from both locations and several public service announcements including tonight's switch to Daylight Savings Time, upcoming holidays such as ST. Patrick's Day and World Puppet Day, and a reminder of the current campaign to get everyone vaccinated against the pandemic - interrupted by the Covid-19 virus itself, until a syringe filled with vaccine chased it away. A variety of animal puppets participated in the program, including a surprise batch of puppies.
From sister stations WPUP in Stone Mountain, Georgia and WVPG in Philomath, Oregon Jeannie and Janie brought us a live broadcast that included weather reports from both locations and several public service announcements including tonight's switch to Daylight Savings Time, upcoming holidays such as ST. Patrick's Day and World Puppet Day, and a reminder of the current campaign to get everyone vaccinated against the pandemic - interrupted by the Covid-19 virus itself, until a syringe filled with vaccine chased it away. A variety of animal puppets participated in the program, including a surprise batch of puppies.
Look at all the frogs at the March 2021 puppeteers meeting! Is it because of the arrival of spring, or what?
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Louise demonstrated storytelling with puppets in the old tale of the search for a star inside an apple.
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Gayle's Sammy Frog, roving reporter, interviewed Mr. Ball who owns the new retail business by the pond, The Balls Store.
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Doris's hand puppet Bimo attempted to present a weather prediction. But when the Doppler radar wouldn't function, Bimo resorted to his crystal ball, notoriously unreliable for prediction of the weather. Speaking of the weather, woodcarver Mike showed us his photos of the powerful ice and snow storm last month that toppled a large tree onto his roof, and the enormous dragon (not one of Mike's marionettes this time, but rather a modern mechanical wonder) that was able to remove the giant tree without major damage to the building. Linda with her Wizard and Jennie Muppet-style puppets chose our theme for the next meeting.
Next meeting - Saturday, April 10 at 10:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time online via Jitsi
Theme: "The Magic of Springtime"
All attendees are invited to present a short skit or presentation on the theme of the day.
As always, please feel free to invite a guest
Theme: "The Magic of Springtime"
All attendees are invited to present a short skit or presentation on the theme of the day.
As always, please feel free to invite a guest
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February 2021 Newsletter
On Saturday, February 13, seeing that Valentine's Day appeared on the calendar for the very next day, and knowing that all of us could use some caring love these days, six puppetry fans, in locations from the East coast to the West and a midpoint in between, met online to celebrate the theme of Love. More of our members had been planning to participate, but huge storm systems had brought deep snow, icy roads, fallen trees, and power outages to large parts of North America, including the hometowns of several of our active Guild members. A big thank you to Guild member Janie way out in Atlanta, Georgia for providing these photos from screenshots she took during our February online meeting.
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Loving family members Rozy and her grandson Mario in Pflugerville (near Austin, Texas) brought their love of puppetry to life with several hand puppets as well as toy animals acting out original skits onscreen, including a cup of kindness and a chocolate rose. Mario's stories featured a variety of animal characters, especially several frogs in a tabletop pond filled with lilypads. Frogs also played a part in Gayle's skit based on her husband's song "Meeting of the Minds," about two very different characters who had only met in an online chat room, and now waited for their dates to arrive in-person at the bus station, where they hoped to impress each other with the perfect gift to show their love.
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Doris's blue monster Muppet-style puppet claimed that love was in the air, as evidenced by a red paper heart decoration suspended from the ceiling. But as he sang love songs, he was interrupted when the swinging heart collided repeatedly with his head. Since love was too painful to sing about, he decided to show his love with a more traditional gift such as flowers or candy.
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Janie's packrat hand puppet, wearing his Mardis Gras beads and carrying his camera and an assortment of other useful objects in his backpack, was planning to perform today with Jeannie's twin puppet, but that plan was foiled when a major power outage in large portions of the Willamette Valley left Jeannie without Internet access.
Several other active Guild members were unable to participate in the meeting or even to contact anyone as electric lines, telephone lines, and even some cell phone towers were taken down by the snowstorm. We will be happy to meet again online with our fellow puppetry fans next month.
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Several other active Guild members were unable to participate in the meeting or even to contact anyone as electric lines, telephone lines, and even some cell phone towers were taken down by the snowstorm. We will be happy to meet again online with our fellow puppetry fans next month.
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January 2021 Newsletter
On Saturday, January 9, 2021, nine puppetry fans met online to share puppet skits and projects in progress on the theme of Something Old and Something New. Jeannie showed us her Covid-10 virus puppet, a new creation who just loves people and wants to go up their nose, a practice that is getting old fast - his real-life counterpart has definitely worn out his welcome worldwide. In fact, Covid's continuing presence is making everybody feel as crabby as Crabby Crab, a Folkmanis puppet that is being newly introduced to the Willamette Valley Puppeteers. Jeannie also brought her lion puppet Rowland who is growing old - almost 30 now - but wearing his new elf suit and a jacket from Macy's . Rowland's twin Lion puppet Roary appears here with Jeannie's twin sister Janie and a wintertime companion, a newer character familiar to many of us from his role in Frozen. These two puppeteers bring to our guild the essence of our New Year 2021 meeting's theme of Old and New, with their wealth of new ideas and their many years of experience in the art of puppetry.
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Doris demonstrated a very old bird marionette chasing a newly made caterpillar. Louise showcased two dragon hand puppets - an older big dragon teaching the younger, smaller dragon. She is searching for a new dragon story to perform. Mike demonstrated his newest carved wooden dragon marionette. He also took the attendees on a journey through hundreds of years of puppetry with a variety of puppets in action. He demonstrated a very old toy theater from the United Kingdom for a Punch and Judy show, the type that was so popular in the Victorian era featuring printed paper scenery and puppets to be cut out and glued onto cardboard, with puppets sliding across the stage from the wings, manipulated through slots at the sides of the stage. He also showed us one of his first attempts to turn a toy into a puppet - a Halloween bird skeleton from the Dollar Tree, taken apart and strung onto an airplane control with a simple rocker, with movable legs, wings, head, tail, and even a movable mouth. In answer to attendees' questions about storing and transporting marionettes without tangling the strings, he said that he displays his marionettes on stands, and that for storage or transportation he twists their strings together around the controls and puts them inside paper bags (not plastic). He also showed how he uses old socks with holes in them to make simple mouth puppets, with buttons for eyes and nose. Gayle showed how she uses old calendars that have pictures just the right size, shape, and subject matter for backdrops and scenery for small puppet stages. She especially likes to use old calendars featuring landscapes or holiday scenes. Gayle brought two of her oldest puppets - Rosco and Adam Do-Little. Adam was a featured character in her new original holiday story presented at our December guild meeting.
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Not pictured are several other attendees. Our newest guild member Terra demonstrated her oldest puppet creation Momo, a paper movable mouth puppet that she used years ago when she was a youthful babysitter. Cindy brought something both old and new to the online meeting - a teddy bear she had given to her grandmother years ago, which was given back to Cindy as a Christmas present in 2020. Rozy and Suzanne joined us off-camera.
What a fun way to start a new year, in the company of puppetry fans and puppeteers who have designed, built, and performed with an amazing variety of puppets in diverse settings for art, education, and social purposes. We are looking forward to our next online meeting on February 13 featuring the theme of love - sharing the art of puppetry with others who love it too.
What a fun way to start a new year, in the company of puppetry fans and puppeteers who have designed, built, and performed with an amazing variety of puppets in diverse settings for art, education, and social purposes. We are looking forward to our next online meeting on February 13 featuring the theme of love - sharing the art of puppetry with others who love it too.
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December 2020 Newsletter
On Saturday, December 12, 2020 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 Noon Pacific Time
the Willamette Valley Puppeteers met via the online platform Jitsi.
Eight members enjoyed sharing their projects in progress and short presentations on the theme "Bringing Hope and Light" on a dark day in December. The puppets in attendance told about their plans for shows and events in the future, when we are once again able to gather
in person to be presenters and audience members sharing the arts we love.
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November 2020 Newsletter
Five members got together for a virtual meeting using the online platform Jitsi on Saturday, November 14. With the broad theme of Food and Gratitude, we shared our current puppetry projects.
Gayle presented a Thanksgiving story with a series of characters sharing their feast. Doris brought hand puppets Tino and Spotty out of retirement to help each other through a scary time. Jeannie brought the scary time with her Covid-19 virus puppet joining the celebration. Rowland showed off his new costume as he prepared for the holiday during cold and wet weather in western Oregon. Janie recorded the event with her photos, as Roary (Rowland the Lion puppet's twin brother) took a break after showing off his holiday costume for a hot and sunny day in Georgia.
Woodcarver Mike Reifel demonstrated his new puppet Mac the Dragon Whisperer in action.
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Unlike Mike's dragons, Mac is not a marionette. His head and arms are operated from behind with rods and levers inside the puppet's body, and the puppeteer uses gravity to swing Mac's jointed legs.
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October 2020
Nine people met online via Jitsi on Saturday, October 10.
Six of them got together online for a Halloween Party on Saturday, October 24.
Two Guild meetings in one month! Truly something to be thankful for, in these difficult times of isolation,
so we are already making plans for a meeting featuring two topics - gratitude and food - on November 14, 2020.
Six of them got together online for a Halloween Party on Saturday, October 24.
Two Guild meetings in one month! Truly something to be thankful for, in these difficult times of isolation,
so we are already making plans for a meeting featuring two topics - gratitude and food - on November 14, 2020.
 Jeannie Goul with Rowland in his clown costume
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Meeting online October 10 via the Jitsi platform
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Guess who????
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Online Halloween Party October 24, 2020
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September 2020 Newsletter
September 2020 Newsletter
Nothing can keep the Willamette Valley Puppeteers from finding a way to share their enthusiasm for puppetry every month -- not a global pandemic, not technical difficulties with online meeting platforms, not even massive wildfires blanketing the entire region with choking blankets of smoke that keep people closed inside their homes and cause the cancellation of outdoor events, preventing travel between home and other buildings. By September 12, 10% of the population of Oregon had been evacuated from their homes, with no indication of when the crisis would end, even for those residents whose homes had not been destroyed by fire.
Even while all this was happening, on Saturday, September 12 nine members of the Guild met online using the platform Jitsi instead of Zoom. The attendees and their varied assortment of puppet characters participated enthusiastically in two storytelling activities, and enjoyed a Show and Tell session where seven attendees shared their current puppet projects.
Even while all this was happening, on Saturday, September 12 nine members of the Guild met online using the platform Jitsi instead of Zoom. The attendees and their varied assortment of puppet characters participated enthusiastically in two storytelling activities, and enjoyed a Show and Tell session where seven attendees shared their current puppet projects.
The first story circle was a retelling of the children's easy reader book Are You My Mother, with the baby bird encountering an elephant, a frog, a clown, a koala, a packrat, Rosco (we're not really sure what kind of animal Rosco is), a lion, and even the novel coronavirus along the way before a dog offered the baby bird a ride back to her nest in the tree. There she found her mother (a very large bird marionette) returning to the nest with food. The second story was a free form original tale of hunger, aggressive viruses, and smoke from wildfires, with a few happy moments including the arrival of an ice cream truck.
Show and Tell is a favorite feature at every guild meeting, as members share their current projects in progress . This meeting featured popup puppets, a packrat's collection of valuable possessions in his backpack, a magical elf's clever promise to tie a ribbon on the tree beneath which his treasure was buried - he kept his promise, but he also tied a ribbon on the trunk of every tree in the area , a koala's wonderful workshop with a door that opened to let him go inside where he could work on his own inventions and projects, and a puppet who recited rhyming verses of love, inspiring several other puppets to compose and recite their own more or less rhyming verses.
Show and Tell is a favorite feature at every guild meeting, as members share their current projects in progress . This meeting featured popup puppets, a packrat's collection of valuable possessions in his backpack, a magical elf's clever promise to tie a ribbon on the tree beneath which his treasure was buried - he kept his promise, but he also tied a ribbon on the trunk of every tree in the area , a koala's wonderful workshop with a door that opened to let him go inside where he could work on his own inventions and projects, and a puppet who recited rhyming verses of love, inspiring several other puppets to compose and recite their own more or less rhyming verses.
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August 2020
12 people attended our online get-together via Zoom on Saturday, August 8. The theme was "Show me something new," so several people showed an unusual item that could be used as a puppet, or a new puppet they had just built. Some also passed along several new ideas, links to upcoming online events, and the possibility of recording our meetings and shows to post them online, either as a live performance or as an edited compilation of individual members' contributions.
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July 2020
Seven puppetry fans met via Zoom online at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 11, 2020
to celebrate Christmas in July.
They showed off their puppets, costumes, decorations, and skits about the Christmas season.
With the Covid-19 quarantine and stay-at-home order now in its fourth month, we needed this online get-together
to enjoy talking about puppetry while we spread some joy right now.
And what a variety of puppets were featured in this meeting!
Rowland and Roary (twin puppets manipulated by twin puppeteers) show off their Christmas outfits, complete with elf shoes - although Roary told us on Saturday that it was really way too hot to wear these leggings where he lives - in Atlanta - in July. And what is that on Roary's hand - could it be a puppet?
Even the puppets are entertaining us with puppets!
Gayle Kahane's lyrics set to the tune of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" were a hit. She made this custom stage to showcase her dancing virus puppets in their debut music video at the Guild's July meeting. Gayle says, "The covids 'puppets' are plastic tumblers, that accompany laundry while in a clothes dryer. Each 'covid' has a knitting needle stuck in it; so it can be manipulated from above." In this photo you see the stage in its revised form, following Guild meber Mike Reifel's suggestion that she cut a slot in the top of the frame for the knitting needles.
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Six members and numerous puppets attended a virtual get-together via Zoom on Saturday, June 13, 2020. The puppets included Muppet-style, string, rod, and hand puppets (both movable mouth and movable hand style) and a banana. Discussion topics included costuming, manipulation techniques, placement of hand rods, online puppetry-related movies, the Puppeteers of America's financial assistance for performing artists suffering from the ongoing shutdown, and ideas for puppets to bring cheer to people during this time of social distancing. You can tell from the smiles on these puppeteers' faces that the June meeting brought cheer to this small group, with the magic and art of puppetry.
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May 2020 Newsletter
As the Stay at Home order continued nationwide, puppeteers were lonely, and looked for ways to make contact with audiences and fellow puppetry enthusiasts. On Saturday, May 9, 2020, the Willamette Valley Puppeteers Guild enjoyed its first online meeting via Zoom. Nine puppetry enthusiasts attended for an Open Mic/Show and Tell.
Jean Goul of Philomath, Oregon with Rowland.
Jeanie's twin sister Janie with Rowland's twin puppet Roary joined the Zoom meeting from Stone Mountain, Georgia. It was this Guild's first ever coast to coast performance!
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Jane Schindler and Roary
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Doris Hicks (behind the curtain) with the First Little Pig and the Big Bad Wolf.
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Cindy Sekiguchi with Koala Pete
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Gayle Kahane with Sammy giving a plug for Puppetry Journal and PofA membership.
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Suzanne Class with Red
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Winter 2020 Newsletter
Two different types of hand puppets - one with moveable hands, and one with a movable mouth.
The New Year - a time to look to the future and the past
while we enjoy the present moment:
On Saturday, January 11, three long-time guild members and three new guild members got together for a hands-on exploration of hands - puppets with hands operated by rods, strings, and fingers, as well as gloves on the puppeteers' hands. They got acquainted with each other, discussing their experiences with puppetry and their plans and projects to come.
Then the six puppetry fans made plans for the next three guild meetings, to feature an open mic Showtime on March 14, a demonstration of Shadow Puppetry on April 11, and a make-a-puppet workshop on May 9.
In early March these meetings were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as public buildings throughout Oregon were closed, and public gatherings were prohibited, as part of the Governor's Stay Home, Save Lives order to slow or prevent the spread of the virus.
Please stay safe during this difficult time,
and let's look forward to a healthy and safe future with opportunities to join together to enjoy puppetry.
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while we enjoy the present moment:
On Saturday, January 11, three long-time guild members and three new guild members got together for a hands-on exploration of hands - puppets with hands operated by rods, strings, and fingers, as well as gloves on the puppeteers' hands. They got acquainted with each other, discussing their experiences with puppetry and their plans and projects to come.
Then the six puppetry fans made plans for the next three guild meetings, to feature an open mic Showtime on March 14, a demonstration of Shadow Puppetry on April 11, and a make-a-puppet workshop on May 9.
In early March these meetings were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as public buildings throughout Oregon were closed, and public gatherings were prohibited, as part of the Governor's Stay Home, Save Lives order to slow or prevent the spread of the virus.
Please stay safe during this difficult time,
and let's look forward to a healthy and safe future with opportunities to join together to enjoy puppetry.
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Autumn 2019 Newsletter
In September, October, and November of 2019, the Guild offered a series of free puppet-making workshops.
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On September 21 we used peeper eyes to practice having our characters make eye contact with the audience and with other puppets. We explored ideas for costuming our new peeper characters. |
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On October 12 we made two types of stringed puppets:
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On November 9 we explored various mechanisms for a puppet with a movable mouth, and we made mouth slider puppets.
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Spring 2019 Newsletter
On Saturday, April 13 the Guild met at the Petersen Barn Community Center to enjoy a short performance followed by a sharing session about converting toys to puppets.
Long-time Guild member Gayle Kahane provided a short performance of the Beatles's song "When I'm 64" with Doris Hicks assisting with the manipulation of the puppets. Gayle used a Mr. Potato Head toy set to create the Couch Potatoes puppets sitting permanently on their couch, watching television, controlled by a simple string mechanism from above and behind them.
New Guild member Linda Reynolds demonstrated her giant bird puppet, created from common household objects including foam pool noodles. Details of the mechanism used by the puppeteer's feet to control the bird's feet are shown in the close-up photo on the right.
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Two examples of toys or decorative items that Guild member Suzanne Class is converting into hand and rod puppets.
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On Saturday, May 18 the Guild held their last regular meeting of the season at the Petersen Barn to play improvisation games with a variety of puppets. During the summer, there will be no regular meetings, but all members were invited to join a new performing troupe organized by Linda to plan and present an original puppet musical variety show to be performed free of charge for family audiences at several venues throughout the area in late 2019.
A variety of puppets, including marionettes, rod puppets, and hand puppets, participated in improvised skits at the May 2019 Guild meeting.
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Winter 2019 Newsletter
Every year the guilds of Puppeteers of America are encouraged to provide a day of public programs to acquaint people with the art of puppetry. The Willamette Valley Puppeteers Guild's 2019 World Day of Puppetry events were actually spread over several Saturdays. On January 26 an hour of free demonstrations were provided at the Albany, Oregon Public Library. Louise Johnson opened and closed the event with a circle of young children on the floor enjoying a demonstration of windups and then acting out a story together with hand puppets, assisted by the teens of the Albany Library Marionette Troupe. Doris Hicks presented a hand puppet performance featuring Tino and Spotty who used to perform at story times and other programs at that Library from 2001 until 2017. Silverton woodcarver Mike Reifel demonstrated his marionettes in action in his first performance onstage. And the Albany Library's own teen marionette troupe participated with hands-on demonstrations of marionettes and rod puppets.
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When the storyteller got to the part when everyone fell asleep, the puppeteers as well as the puppets acted out that part of the story.
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The Guild scheduled a World Day of Puppetry in Eugene, Oregon on February 9, with guest presenter Dustin Curtis scheduled to bring his shadow puppets down from Seattle. And then the entire region was hit with a snowstorm that covered roads and brought traffic to a standstill. Although Curtis could not travel south from Seattle, and guild members who lived south of Eugene could not travel northward, Eugene's streets cleared enough to allow the local puppeteers to offer their Saturday event at the Petersen Barn Community Center. Several guild members set up hands-on displays, demonstrations, and performances of various types of puppets. A highlight of the Day was the amazing display and demonstration of Javanese rod puppets and of wooden marionettes by woodcarver Pete Johnson.
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After another snowstorm covered Eugene with 18 inches of snow (and more than that in the South Hills) in late February and early March, the snow melted in time for the Guild to meet on March 9 in Eugene for an introduction to crankies and shadow puppetry presented by Dustin Curtis of Trivia Puppet Company. Three new members joined the Guild, and we look forward to a discussion and demonstration of converting toys into puppets at the next Guild meeting on Saturday, April 13 at 11:00 a.m. at the Petersen Barn Community Center in Eugene, Oregon. As always, guests are always welcome to attend and to participate.
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January 2019 Newsletter
Our first meeting of 2019 featured the creations of local artist
Diana Stearns at the Petersen Barn Community Center in Eugene, Oregon.
Local artist, designer, and builder Diana Stearns discussed design considerations
for building puppets, masks, and props, showing examples from her work
and from her current project in progress building a colony of prairie dog rod puppets
for the Coming Alive theater group in Eugene.
January 2019 Newsletter
Our first meeting of 2019 featured the creations of local artist
Diana Stearns at the Petersen Barn Community Center in Eugene, Oregon.
Local artist, designer, and builder Diana Stearns discussed design considerations
for building puppets, masks, and props, showing examples from her work
and from her current project in progress building a colony of prairie dog rod puppets
for the Coming Alive theater group in Eugene.
The eleven attendees paid rapt attention to Stearns's explanations about design considerations as illustrated by diverse examples of her creations.
Stearns showed the rod mechanism that would enable her prairie dog puppets to raise and lower their heads as well as turn them from side to side. Heads and hands were molded with Sculpey, oven-dried, and then painted in several layers before they were glued . . .
The loaf of bread prop was made from super-lightweight insulation foam covered with cloth and painted with several layers of different colors, making it practical for an outdoor event featuring Vikings.
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. . . onto the sewn fake fur bodies.
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After the presentation, attendees shared ideas and information. Gayle and Suzanne recommended the political satire of "Puppet Regime" available online at https://www.gzeromedia.com/puppet-regime/ Kim asked for suggestions on how to remove cigarette smoke from craft supplies. Jan recommended surrounding them with crumpled newspapers that will absorb smoke, mildew, or mold smells. Tentative plans were discussed for the upcoming World Day of Puppetry events in Albany and Eugene, Oregon as well as future meetings, with possible topics including a demonstration of various types of toy theaters and a fun workshop about partial masks and peeper eyeballs, as well as a workshop for making and performing with small moveable-mouth puppets in the style of Rob D'Arc's "Pop-Up Puppets." Some attendees were interested in joining Puppeteers of America, our national organization, with information provided at
https://www.puppeteers.org/product-category/membership/
https://www.puppeteers.org/product-category/membership/
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November/December 2018 Newsletter
Members of the Guild met on Saturday, November 3 at the Eugene Hotel Lounge for a show and tell session sharing a wide variety of puppets. On Saturday, December 1 attendees enjoyed a demonstration by Bob Hartman featuring several of his original puppet creations, followed by a short hand puppet show by Doris Hicks.
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Attendees were fascinated by the rod and cable mechanisms designed and built by Hartman.
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Attendees were fascinated by the rod and cable mechanisms designed and built by Hartman.
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September/October 2018 Newsletter
On Saturday, September 22, 2018 members and guests met in the Eugene Hotel's second floor lounge to enjoy a game show featuring puppets asking questions about Music, Life and Love, and Jokes, with live music provided by Suzanne Class.
September's game show program was the debut of Doris's new very portable screen stage with black velvet curtains.
Gayle offered some rare and classic books about puppetry free to attendees at the October guild meeting.
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It was pointed out that Doris's new Muppet-style puppet resembled its puppeteer very much.
Trish brought her new puppet that she will use in her counseling work with adult clients.
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At the October meeting attendees brought puppets costumed for Halloween. They made plans for the guild to participate in the Boo Barn on October 26 at the Petersen Barn Community Center in Eugene. The WVP's booth will feature a performance by dancing ghost marionettes, and guild members will give cardboard finger walker puppets to the first 140 attendees.
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Readers Kim and Gayle collaborated on the voices for their presentation of the poem "The Spider and the Fly" while Doris enacted the tale with her newly created glove puppets. This program had been presented the previous evening as part of the Cabaret fundraiser at Unity of the Valley in Eugene, with director and reader Diana Stearns. Stearns is a local artist and collector whose original puppets as well as selected masks from her personal collection will be featured at the January 12, 2019 meeting of the Willamette Valley Puppeteers.
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