The Greatest Exhibition

The Greatest Exhibition (Illustration for visual narrative, March 2017, Acrylic on tracing paper mixed on acetate)

 

Artist & Illustrator, Fann Peeti
[See her mouse toy theatre HERE...]

In this project, I created a replica of The Crystal Palace, the building in The Great Exhibition of 1851. This artwork shows ten (10) innovations that changed the world. 


Also, it tells the viewer that the most incredible creation is themselves, hopefully to increase viewer's self esteem.

Lost & Found: Tinkering with Intent

Take a peek into Blair's bizarre and beautiful world. In a remote corner of New Zealand's South Island, tucked away among the last remaining tracts of native forest, lies a little-known place of wonder. It is the life's work and extraordinary creation of inventor, artist and self-confessed tinkerer, Blair Somerville.

For over twenty years Blair has single-handedly owned, operated and ceaselessly expanded the Lost Gypsy Gallery, his wonderland of homegrown wizardry and a playground for kids and adults alike. Using only recycled materials, Blair takes DIY to artistic extremes. His creations are ingenious, interactive, and often hilariously impractical. They take many shapes and forms and share an uncanny ability to amaze, entertain and inspire.


Art and entertainment don't need to be expensive. Sometimes the most fascinating and wonderful things come from the most peculiar places.

Blair Somerville lives in the remote town of Papatowai, on the South Island of New Zealand. He uses found materials and other curious objects which he re-purposes into magical moving artworks.

Blair realized early on that he didn't need a lot to live, and that money and material possessions were not important. Instead he has chosen to value happiness, creativity, and well-being.
__________

If you'd like to visit Blair, please note that he is open summers only, November - April, 10am to 5pm. Closed Wednesdays

Coming in July: The Smallest Show on Earth!

Coming up next month in July: The Geisel Library's annual Paper Theatre Festival, aka

..."the Smallest Show on Earth"!

Every year, the UC San Diego Library hosts a Paper Theatre Festival, celebrating an art form with roots in Victorian Era Europe. Paper theatres, also known as toy theatres, were used to promote productions. They were printed on paperboard sheets and sold as kits at the concession stand of an opera house, playhouse, or vaudeville theater. The kits were then assembled at home and plays were performed for family members and guests, sometimes with live musical accompaniment. The theaters gradually declined in popularity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but have enjoyed a resurgence in interest in recent years among many puppeteers, filmmakers, theater historians, and hobbyists. Presently, there are numerous international paper theater festivals throughout the Americas and Europe, as well as several museums.

Watch this short documentary celebrating paper theatre filmed by UCSD-TV for the Library’s Channel!

Shadow Smash Hit: Feathers of Fire

Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic is a visually breathtaking cinematic shadow play for all ages, created and directed by Hamid Rahmanian, a 2014 Guggenheim fellowship-winning filmmaker/visual artist. The play unfolds an action-packed magical tale of star-crossed lovers from the 10th-century Persian epic Shahnameh (‘The Book of Kings’)

6th International Toy Theatre Festival at Vischmarkt

I am happy to pass on that there will be another toy theatre festival in Harderwijk, Netherlands next month, May 9-11, 2018!



The organizers, Harry and Tieneke Oudekerk, have shared:

Eleven paper theater companies from the Netherlands, Germany, and England have been invited to perform at the festival this year.  Over the course of the festival, more than 40 performances will be shown in residential buildings around Historic Vischmarkt. 

It is a special feature of the festival that you not only get to see jewels of this small form of theater, but also have the unique opportunity to look behind the facades of beautiful historic homes and to talk to their residents. A wonderful concept, it allows visitors to feel the familiar atmosphere in which paper theater originally took place. The central meeting place for the players and season ticket holders will be the old synagogue again this year - a wonderful location to meet friends and talk shop.

The theatre companies/individuals and their plays that will be performing are:

• Poppentheater Damiet: "Het Bubbelbabbel bos"
• Haases Papiertheater: "James Honk versus Dr. Kamishibai"
• Paper Theater Fabula: "Kalief Oojevaar"
• Paper Theater Chaya: "Peter en de Wolf"
• Paper Theater Kitzingen: "De Kikkerkoning"
• Roman's Private Theater: "The Hokusai Museum"
• Papiertheater Heringsdorf: "SOS Italia"
• Papirniks' Paper Theater: "The Flying Dutchman"
• Poppentheater Belletje Sterk: "Ssst! De Tijger slaaps"
• Phoenix Paper Theater: "De Nachtegaal Chinese"
• Alice's Upside Down Theater: "Alice in Wonderland" (Ted Hawkins)

A New Toy Theatre is Born: HAMILTON

The toy theatre includes a great example of pre-restoration (2013) interior architectural accuracy...
[Photo Credit:  Kelli Kirk]

Last week, one very lucky little boy received a rare Christmas gift nowadays:  A toy theatre. Not only was it a toy theatre, but it was an original, newly-conceived theatre based on the Richard Rodgers theatre in New York City.  On top of that, it was based on that theatre's current production - HAMILTON.

Milo's mother, Kelli shares a bit more:

For the past month, Mark and I have worked late at night after bedtime to build Milo a Victorian style "Toy Theater" of the play Hamilton: An American Musical - it includes a wooden stage, and all the players on tiny marionette wires. It was a

Actual side marque that Milo's toy
theatre was faithfully based upon...

painstaking project with tremendous scope creep but it is faithful to the original Victorian style toy theater as we could muster, except in the LED lighting - executive prerogative.

Toy Theater was a cultural phenomenon in the 19th century, a style of puppeteering that included a small stage and tiny 'marionette' style characters. Parents would go to the theater and bring home a toy version of the theater so the child could act out a play. When we visited London, puppeteers recommended we visit Pollock's Toy Museum which has a large collection. Pollock's was one of those quintessentially London places - tiny, many floors tall, higgledy-piggledy collections of amazing old toy theaters and childhood ephemera. Milo was completely captivated by them -- but they aren't really made today [at least not in the same way they once were - Note from Trish.]

Milo has had a passion for puppetry ever since he can
remember.  His Christmas gift of a toy theatre version
of the Richard Rodgers Theatre, featuring a production
of "Hamilton", made at night in secret by his parents!
[Photo Credit:  Kelli Kirk]

Our gift was a success and Milo declared, "Mom, this is the best present I ever got!" and quickly set about to acting out the Cabinet Battle.

From an article called The Rise and Fall of Toy Theatre (in recent years, it is rising again):

...A toy theatre was, as we will see, a tiny but complex structure—as intricate and lovingly assembled, in its way, as model railroads can be for today’s hobbyists. In its prime, it was not a nostalgic hobby but a breathless bulletin from the newly emerging world of mass communications and global celebrities—a chance for ordinary people to touch their heroes in person...

I have it on good authority that Milo and his Mom are two of the very lucky people who have secured tickets to HAMILTON, and will be attending a performance in the new year, in the new future. When Milo comes back home, I have a feeling he will be even more excited about not only the theatre but putting on a performance.

Welcome to the toy theatre family, Milo!

Comparing the theatre's exterior front to the toy theatre's, you can see the amount of detail that Milo's parents,
Kelli & Mark, put into recreating the Rodger's theatre on a miniature scale - a very fine job for their first time.

The Gnomist

Deep in the forest of Overland Park, KS, little gnomes made a home. But how did they get there? This is the story of paying it forward, one little house at a time. A Great Big collaboration with filmmaker Sharon Liese and CNN Films, present The Gnomist...

Crankies!

What exactly is a...crankie?

It's a panoramic scene, rolled up like an open scroll on two spindles, that are hand-cranked so that it scrolls across a backlit "viewing screen".



An example of a crankie, by the talented Katherine Fahey; I can hardly wait to see her recent work for an upcoming film, coming out in 2016.  According to Katherine, It will be a film about "...a traveling story teller, who uses a crankie to tell the story of the American revolution through 6 different people who lived through it.  Among them, a housewife, a native american man, and an African american man.  These stories are taken from actual oral histories of people who lived at the time."  Sounds amazing, and it will be a GIANT crankie, the biggest she's ever made!

A still from the upcoming 2016 film (as yet unnamed), featuring a giant crankie, made by Katherine Fahey...

To see more crankies, go to the Crankie Factory!

The Ghastly Dreadfuls: Vaudeville Puppet Theatre

An amazing show called "The Ghastly Dreadfuls:  Raising Spirits" is being performed right now, through October 31st, at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia.

Reporters...recently had the pleasure of attending a performance of the award-winning The Ghastly Dreadfuls, and were astounded by the beautiful mixture of live music and dance combined with incredible elaborate puppet shorts. From the set design to the choreography, this production proved to be one of the most cleverly crafted and executed theater sets this reporter has seen in recent years. 

A well rounded production introduced the audience to the Dreadful Family of ghouls who rise from the grave during this time of year and take human form. Rising from the dead, it seems, involves a lot of wonderful showmanship and musicianship in Victorian inspired costuming. Each of the Dreadful is introduced in turn by the ring master of this frightful circus, Simply Dreadful. 

The show continues by interspersing vaudeville styles shows with a selection of puppet vignettes representing puppet stories from around the globe. Some of the vignettes include songs such as the opener, “La Petite Vampyr,” and others work through voice over or dramatization, such as the compelling “11:59″. Not one of the pieces or songs fell flat. In a very real way, this production combined the best of early 20th century live theater with the best of modern puppetry.           

- Ghastly Dreadfuls Sell Out at Center for Puppetry Arts  

Lady Dreadful (Reay Kaplan)

Dapperly Dreadful (Bryan Mercer)

Dizzily Dreadful (Scott E. DePoy)

Shockingly Dreadful (Spencer G. Stephens)

Daftly Dreadful (Kristin Haverty)

Catly Dreadful (Jason von Hinezmeyer)

Simply Dreadful (Jon Ludwig)

Above and below - Cast: Scott DePoy, Kristin Haverty, Reay Kaplan, Jon Ludwig, Spencer G. Stephens, Bryan Mercer, Jason von Hinezmeyer

All portraits by Clay Walker

Featured: One Man Show

A recent article featured the amazing David Lewis Worobec
[Click to Enlarge & Read]

World Puppetry Festival 2015

Still from production of "Blind" (DudaPaiva Company), premiering at the festival...

Every three years, a very special festival is held in Charleville-Mézières, France.  In 2015, it will be held there September 18-27th.

To find out more, check out their website...

Depict-O-Mat: Toy Theatre "Photo Booth"

Depict-O-Mat Kickstarter video from Depict-O-Mat on Vimeo.
A toy theatre-related fundraiser needs your help.  Yes, you!  I just got done donating $15 to them. They need about $400 more to reach their goal.  Let's help them get there!  [Read how, below...]

Created for event entertainment, Depict-O-Mat is modeled after a vintage photo booth and dispenses short, personalized stories.

Depict-O-Mat is a live machine that tells visual stories ABOUT you and STARRING you!

Combining nostalgia, improvisation and toy theater, Depict-O-Mat is a unique experience that will soon be available to rent for special events. It is modeled after the original photo booths. Imagine entering Depict-O-Mat, having a unique experience interacting with our Advanced Depict-O-Mat Technology, stepping out and getting to watch a tiny show inspired by you - starring YOU - that others get to enjoy!


You can help by providing a donation to our fundraising campaign.  Go here, and see what neat 'thank you' gifts you can receive with your gift...

GSW10: Toy Theatre Museum

Tess' two theatres on exhibit in the museum...

The festival has a Temporary Toy Theatre Museum that is available for viewing during the entire run.  Read below all about it, and the opening day's parade, as reported by Tess Elliott:

This is a playful crowd at the 10th International Toy Theater Festival. It starts with a Miniature Parade, complete with a band, marching with care around Dumbo, and ended at St. Ann's Warehouse with a wonderful imaginative crowd of mini floats, made by children and professionals alike. I only got a few pictures of the floats, because sadly this year most of the participants took their toys right home, instead of leaving them for display! I was so sad to see them go. After that, the Temporary Toy Theater Museum opened and people flocked in to see all the wonderful interpretations of Toy Theater from art pieces, old classics, and working theaters. There is a lot of beautiful work here, and I am biased because I have two pieces in the show myself. I am mostly here writing about the performances, but will try to cover some of my favorite pieces in the museum because building them is what floats my boat.

Serving punch at the reception in the lobby, you can see what a creative crowd this is: within minutes children and then adults were turning the lobby fan into a theater or a puppet, depending on which side you were on. It was great fun watching hot people of all ages stop and sing into the blades to hear that funny cut apart staccato the blades cause. I remember doing that as a kid a lot—humming, singing. So I am not writing as a critic. I am a passionate fan, an open admirer of all efforts to move me, make me think or feel something whether it's through primitive & charming cardboard cut-outs, traditional toy theater, or modern technically enhanced pieces with video and contemporary politics. They all embrace humor or tragedy, they are all passionate. It's about time we looked at our world with a willingness to play to counter a world at war, with soldiers and civilians dying every day. There is far too much unwillingness to be moved, even by death. So I invite all people to stop and engage with your local artists, enjoy them, embrace their efforts to spin a tale, and share what inspired their vision. You might come away richer, happier and more thoughtful. How bad is that?

To see Tess' theatres up close with commentary, check them out below:

Ye Ballade of Ivan Petrofsky Skevar

A Karaghoz inspired shadow show adapted from the popular song by Percy French circa 1850, presented by Puppet Heap!

Christmas Retold

Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theater artists bring alive the Nativity as an Immigrant Story...

In my own state of Minnesota here in America, an extraordinary production is underway right now of the age-old Nativity story.  But this version is told in an innovative style - using large-scale puppets and as an immigrant story.

Read, see, and hear more about this, here...


The video above, from a presentation of this same production in 2009, shows a bit of what you would see, as well as clips from behind the scenes...

Doctor Parnassus Toy Theatre

I recently began watching the incredible film, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS. I did some research on the film, and lo and behold, someone has made a wee toy theatre kit based on the traveling theatred featured in the film!

Toy Theatre Contest Starts!

Opening Event for Pollock's toy theatre iPad application competition...

Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop has announced an exciting competition involving toy theatre, using their amazing new iPad application...

The beautiful toy theatres of the Victorian era have been brought to life again through Pollock's gorgeous and innovative application for the iPad. Just like the original toy theatres where you immerse yourself in building your own theatre sets, etc.

Description
Competition Closing Date: 31st August (midnight GMT)
Join in the celebrations and be in the chance to win a fabulous new iPad and exclusive Pollock's Store Lock-In. Follow these simple steps and get creative:

1. Download the Pollock's Toy Theatre app from iTunes to your iPad
2. Record your play on your iPad. Don't forget to save it!
3. Decorate your iPad
4. Video yourself, your decorated iPad and your play.
5. Upload the video to youTube and send us a link via the competition facebook page

Terms & Conditions:
Submissions after 31st August will not be counted. The prize is a pair of tickets for the winner and 10 friends to a private hire of the Pollock’s store in Covent Garden, London with refreshments and storytelling entertainment, on a date to be agreed between the winner and the prize provider before 1st October 2011, within a 6pm- 8.30pm Time Slot. These dates/ times are subject to change. The winner acknowledges that in the event that Pollock’s have to change the dates/ times, the promoter does not accept responsibility in these circumstances and no alternative prize will be provided. Prize winners under 18 years of age must be accompanied by an adult at all times at their Pollock’s event.

My apologies for not posting immediately, since this actually started a few days ago, but I only became aware of it today.  Get your thinking caps on and your iPads out!  August 31st is the deadline.  Good luck, and I hope some of you reading this will share what you come up with...

Precious Object: Toy Theatre

The toy theatre sat in the front room of her house for years when she was married and was played with a lot by every child that came round for tea. Once a letter was posted through the letterbox addressed to “Wooden O’Theatre”.  - From Treasure:  The World's Most Precious Objects

Twenty-three years ago, a woman began making a toy theatre for her son.

           It was during a happy phase 
           when he loved to sit next to her...

It never quite got finished, but it also was never forgotten...

A Man & His Dolls

My friend Vanesa shared this trailer with me recently. As she says, "This looks like an extraordinary film about dolls and a man's relationship with them..."

A Nazi scrutinizes Captain Hogancamp...

After viewing the trailer, viewing still shots taken by Mark (the man behind all this), and reading about the story behind the film, I couldn't agree more. An amazing use of the imagination and creativity for self-healing.