News update...
Having not posted for a while, here’s an update on what I have been up to over the past few months!
March and April…
My new 10-part Carve a Puppet Hare tutorial series launched at the end of March and during April I was busy fulfilling orders for carving kits and editing tutorial videos. There are still a few more videos to upload before the series is complete and I am aiming to get them online by the end of the summer (find out more information on how you can take part here).
On 21st March I submitted an Arts Council application to create a touring puppet show of Flying with Strings. On the 5th July I found out that my application was unsuccessful. While this is disappointing news, I am already re-thinking and re-evaluating my plans for Flying with Strings, with new hopes and ambitions of how to take the project forward. The scope and scale of the project needs some re-thinking, but the dream lives on!
In April I also completed a small commission for a hummingbird marionette!
May…
Most of May was taken up with a project for Above Bounds Theatre Collective (Plymouth). I was commissioned to make three intimate-scale wood-carved human figure puppets and five ‘suitcase theatre’ sets for a puppet film, which was created, scripted and devised by year 5 children at Beechwood Primary School in Plymouth. The children have painted and decorated the puppets themselves and I look forward to seeing the results!
June…
In June I went on a much needed holiday to Cornwall with my partner Louis. This was my first trip away from home since the pandemic began in early 2020. We spent a week exploring the coast paths of the Lizard peninsular and camping with friends.
Not long after my trip to Lizard I returned to Cornwall, this time to Gorran Haven to attend a one-week puppetry training course with the Curious School of Puppetry (I originally attended a 10-week course with the Curious School back in 2016). I’ve just returned from this AMAZING week, crammed FULL with puppetry workshops, sea-swimming, camp fires, singing, community, generosity and wonderful new friendships. The whole experience has added some much needed fuel to my creative fire, after a long winter lockdown!
What’s Next?
I am about to start building a cat marionette for Running Dog Theatre (Exeter), which will feature in a new street performance they are developing. I also have another potential marionette commission coming in… so I’m feeling thrilled to be continuing the ‘string thing’!
I will be exhibiting my three bird marionettes at Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre this summer, for their new exhibition ‘Your Voice’.