puppet theatre

Residency in review: part 4

| dodington

Below are some close-ups of the puppets I made as part of my library cart. I asked the staff at elsewhere if they were an animal, what would it be and then made an animal-puppet version of them. The results were: a badger, a duck, a turtle, a mouse, an owl and a one-eyed brontosaurus:

hand puppets in puppet theatre, elsewhere, greensboro, nc
hand puppets in the puppet theatre nook
hand puppet of a badger
badger
hand puppet of a duck
duck
hand puppet of a turtle
turtle
hand puppet of a mouse
mouse
hand puppet of an owl
owl
hand puppet of a one-eyed brontosaurus
one-eyed brontosaurus

Residency in review: part 3

| dodington

Here is the sewing workshop at elsewhere, where I spent a lot of time. Can you find me in the picture?

jessie dodington in the sewing workshop at elsewhere, greensboro, nc
where's waldo in the sewing workshop?

This is the newly painted cart with my sewn puppet-theatre curtains:

library cart in elsewhere, greensboro, nc
Puppet theatre!

and here are the puppets I made sitting on the newly-sewn bench cushion. We have a mouse, a duck, a turtle, an owl, a badger and a one-eyed brontosaurus – in that order.

hand puppets at elsewhere, greensboro, nc
hand puppets in the theatre

My project, the boss and bear claws – aka the best week ever.

| dodington

Hi folks!

This past week at Elsewhere whizzed by! My project is a re-invention of the library cart! This little nook on wheels is a part of a “traveling menagerie” (see here). But its home is in the ceiling-high living library of elsewhere. It has a puppet theatre, shelves for books and a bench with cushions for lounging. A seriously day-dream gem of a spot!

Here are some pictures of the cart before I began my work:

photo of library cart at elsewhere cooperative
Front of cart with puppet theatre
photo of library cart at elsewhere, greensboro
Back of cart with bench and bookshelves

So, I’m imagining Elsewhere as an indoor park, which it really is in so many ways. I’m drawing upon my past as a park guide, interpreter and naturalist and drawing upon the wild aspects in elsewhere to make this space sing.

My first step was to strip it of the miscellaneous fabric and pictures that were haphazardly fastened to it, fill its nicks with putty and sand it down with help from the building curator, tool-wielding diva extraordinaire Jen.

jessie dodington sanding a cart at elsewhere greensboro, nc
Power sander!

This is where I have to take a moment to tell you I’m wearing an inside-out Bruce Springsteen t-shirt that I bought at his recent concert in Greensboro. That’s right folks. I saw the boss in concert and my life is now complete. (Mother, my shirt is inside out on purpose, to protect it from getting paint on it of course.)

Meanwhile I’m collecting books and items from elsewhere’s collection for display and contextualization on my cart.

It’s been a great week and I’m happy to say It only got better when I came to use the internet at the Green Bean coffee shop. Here I discovered they have bear claw pastries – quite a favorite treat of mine from Saturdays at the farmers’ Market growing up.

eating a bear claw pastry
Mmmm. bear claw.

Have a happy Monday everyone!