Participants will construct a complete hand puppet using styrofoam balls covered with tissue paper lamination. A simple yet effective technique for modeling features using felt pieces will be taught. Participants will complete a head and add hair and costume for a finished puppet. The puppets are lightweight and easy to construct . This is an effective construction method for students and beginner puppet makers. Once you understand the technique of tissue paper laminiation, you can explore a variety of ways to use it including making props, laminating plastic bottle heads, scenery etc.
This workshop is done over two days to allow the puppetheads you are createing to fully dry.
Judith O’Hare is an award winning puppeteer and arts educator; she received the Marjorie Batchelder award for Puppetry in Education from the Puppeteers of America for her contribution to Puppetry in Education. She also received an award from the Reading Cultural council her contribution to the cultural life of Reading, MA. She was invited to teach and perform in Nairobi, Kenya, Tanzania, and Hong Kong, China, as well as across the US. Most recently she organizes and facilitates a “Professional Day for the Teaching Artist and Therapist” for the Puppeteers of America. She has been a teaching artist for the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and she has performed in schools and libraries across MA with a unique style of participatory puppet theater. She has worked as an artist in residence in several urban schools including Boston and she has seen the power of puppets as they have touched the lives of children. Most recently she performs with small table top Toy Theaters and was a featured performer at 2 International Toy Theater Festivals in NYC. Her puppets have been on exhibit at the Ballard Museum at UCONN, CT, International Toy Theater Festival in NYC and at puppetry festivals across the country. She is the co-editor of Puppetry in Education and Therapy: Unlocking Doors to the Mind and Heart, 2002, and she wrote a teachers’ manual with teachers in Nairobi, Kenya. Judith teachers graduate courses in Puppetry in Education through the Northeast and Merrimack Consortiums and has been on the faculty of Lesley University. To see examples of her puppets and her work go to: www.youandmepuppets.com
