Archives for category: Fun

gone

I am very surprised. I thought the Dedes would be very chirpy and keen to tell me what happened at the gallery. We all know travelling broadens your horizons and there is always so much to talk about when travellers return home. But no, they are quiet. They seem pretty exhausted and maybe sad they lost one of their mates. The one that left us for good is Freeloader, the cute little Dormouse. I don’t have many pictures of her. She was one of the puppets I made especially for the exhibition and to sell. I did not want to listen to her story because I was worried I would get too attached to her.

During the exhibition I had a competition going where people could tell me which puppet they liked the most.  The most votes any one puppet got was four, and there were only a few puppets who didn’t get any votes. The favorites were The Magician and Foxy Lady. I find it very interesting that not one Dede stood head and shoulders above the rest. I, of course, think some of them are more beautiful than others, so the voting proved to me once again that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I have so many stories to tell about the exhibition, but most of them need to be told verbally. They need the animation given by the story-teller. But I will recount one tomorrow.

Today a little crowd came together in the Gallery to play with the puppets. This morning we had one keen participant who read  about the workshop on KiwiKids. He immediately dragged his mum to the Gallery, only to find out that the workshop would be two hours later. So he made sure he had a place in it and came back at 1 o’clock with a friend as his mother was otherwise engaged.

All I can say is: I loved the workshop! It was a small group of 10 people, and all different ages. Observing how everybody interacted with the puppets gave me a few more ideas. Here only a little selection of images to give you an impression of our session.

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twofaced2 copy

Two-faced and I are starting to get worried. The Dedes seem to have too much fun at the Gallery and we feel a bit left out. They definitely wooed the staff. Each of the Dedes tried to adopt a staff member, but there weren’t enough staff members to go round, so only a few got lucky. I will have a hard time convincing them to come home with me next week.

Here is a link to the Gallery’s blog, so you can see what mischief they are getting up to :)

 

twofaced

All the puppets are at the gallery. All but one!

I was short of one puppet stand and I had to decide which one to leave out. First of all I asked for a show of hands, but nobody volunteered. They are all very keen to be shown off to the world. They want to be famous and they believe being on display will finally bring about their big break. Never mind that they might be sold and that would mean they won’t be coming back to the house, will loose all their close friends, and we’ll never hear from them again. You certainly will have gathered by now they are not particularly good planners. They don’t worry about implications. They just live in the moment and dream of being famous.

Since no-one held their hand up, I decided to take Two-faced home. She is the only puppet I dislike, and I really mean it. Two-faced is not my thing!

Surprisingly, she didn’t mind hopping back in the box. I think she saw her chance to have me all to herself for two weeks. Now she is sitting on the cutting mat in the office and so far we haven’t spoken to each other. Two-faced just smiles, but I have no idea what she is thinking when she looks at me.

Last week I was interviewed by the local newspaper and the article appeared today. I have to say, the journalist captured the essence brilliantly.

I just re-publish the article here.

NST 25_6_13

snotty nosed prince

Any puppet troupe needs to have a queen and though my lot have this lovely looking king he is still desperately looking for a mate. But for some strange reason I seem unable to create one :). This one here was destined to become his queen, but the result looks more like a snotty nosed, spoiled prince rather than a queen.

Ah well, the king will have to wait a little longer.

knowitall

There is just over a week to go until the exhibition opening. Some press releases have been sent out. As I am so used to doing my own thing quietly, I am not not particularly well connected. Unfortunately that now shows when it comes to inviting media. I basically have no clue what to do. The staff at the gallery is very supportive, but of course I am not their only artist. Last night I sent a mayday email to a PR friend who is currently overseas and she too was very helpful. She got back to me immediately with some really good ideas. I can’t complain. Indeed, the feedback I get is overwhelmingly positive and it is amazing how this positivity can carry you.

I spoke to the gallery manager today and finally decided to print a few nice posts (images and text) from the blog to hang up on the walls. Does anybody have a favourite to suggest?

Two of my personal favourites are the “dharna” episode last year and the guy fawkes one. I just re-read them and honestly, I am so looking forward to settling back into our normal life once the exhibition is over and the house is all done up … Hopefully soon!

Today’s new puppet is Know-it-all. Outwardly he is quite loud, but if you get to know him better, it will soon be revealed that it is only a disguise. He tries to paper over his cracks by simply being noisier than anybody else.

witch and screamer

Last night I finally finished my twenty puppets. They are in the office today, as I still have to coat them (for UV protection and to make them water restistant, so that one can wipe them down with a damp cloth). A psychologist certainly would have something to say about my last two creations who are lying here side by side.

I have one friend who can’t look at the puppets, not even the pretty ones. I don’t think that he will come to the exhibition opening, but if he does, I have to hide those two. To make sure that nobody is questioning my state of mind, I add another picture of my Magician, who I think looks very mellow.

magician

So the puppets are complete, now I have to think, how I fill the wall space. There is really no rest for the wicked!

lap dog and court jester

I wish I had more time. Today was a public holiday in New Zealand (Queen’s Birthday) and I had hoped I could catch up on a lot of work, but the day is coming to an end and there is still plenty of things left on the to-do-list. I spend all day working on new  puppets. My goal is to finish 20 puppets for the exhibition. Under normal circumstances that shouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately the working conditions are far from perfect: the house still isn’t finished and I don’t have a studio space. I share a little table with the builders and of course I can only use it when they are not here.

This leaves me with the weekends and nights. Fair enough. But while the house is water tight it is not totally enclosed yet and we are approaching the middle of winter. Okay, one could argue New Zealand is a Pacific Island and therefore the winter can’t be that harsh. After all, there is no snow in Auckland. But then, there is not much between here and Antarctica either and it is frigging cold at night.

Enough whingeing… I have nearly completed eleven new characters. The picture shows Lap Dog and Court Jester, two companions of the King. He is acquiring quite an entourage. I know Lap Dog won’t keep him honest, so I pin my hopes on Court Jester.

(Notice the ladder in the background? I wonder where these two want to go with it!)

kiniI

I spent a lot of time with the King lately while I helped him into his new clothes. And yes, I do like the King. He is a fun guy to be around. There is no doubt he is a giver and he is very benevolent to his subordinates. He gives freely but he is not a sharer. I would advise you to never ask him a question. He won’t give an answer, at least not a straight one. Instead, he wiggles and squirms and tries to put the ball back into your court. I finally figured out it is all about control. After all, he is the king and he is the one who rules. Unfortunately, every so often he has to make it clear that he doesn’t have to justify himself. If he wants something he has to get it, no questions asked!