International Puppet Festival- September 2017

Prehistoric Creatures

Showstoppasaurus. These guys are amazing.

Posted by Mark Patterson Show on Friday, October 30, 2015

Birdheart Playing in San Francisco

http://zspace.org/new-work/birdheart

B I R D H E A R T Interview with Artists from VisionIntoArt Presents on Vimeo.

On April, 16th I went to see Birdheart at ZSpace in San Francisco. With simple materials and a touch of magic, the puppeteers, Julian Crouch and Saskia Lane brought to life a series of characters made of butcher paper and a few odds and ends. As a prelude, the work opened with  the puppeteers creating masks on themselves. As the masks were being made the puppeteers became the puppets and ended the piece by playing cello and banjo together.

With the crack of an egg the magic commenced. One form morphed into the next in a dark and poetic way.  I would love to describe the whole show but that would take away the awe. Puppet shows are meant to be experienced.

Without knowing it I have been a fan of Julian Crouch's work, collecting images from his productions and assigning my students to make puppet videos using the soundtrack of "Shockheaded Peter"for inspiration.

Thanks for a great show!

Face made by the puppeteers for the 1st part of the performance.