Giant puppets will come alive in Ruskin when puppeteer and puppet artist, Sara Peattie, travels from Boston to be the Artist in Residence at the Firehouse Cultural Center from Monday-Monday, July 16-23.
The next Artist in Residence at the Firehouse Cultural Center in Ruskin is Sara Peattie, a puppet artist and puppeteer who lives and works in Boston. Peattie will be in Ruskin from Monday-Monday, July 16- July 23. During her time here, Peattie will hold multiple classes and workshops.
Peattie was a member of the touring troupe Bread and Puppet Theatre, and has been a puppet designer, builder and performer for 30 years. She creates outdoor puppets for parades, pageants and community events such as the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival in New York and First Night Boston.
Laurie Burhop, a member of the board of directors for the Firehouse Cultural Center and a member of the programming committee, said, “Sara was here for the Big Draw in 2009. She had a fabulous workshop with great outcomes. Students were really engaged in her class. We knew she would be unique and special, so we felt she would be great for a summer residency to help kick off the Firehouse Cultural Center.”
Peattie will lead two workshops and an open studio on “Giant Puppet Construction.” Here, you can learn to design and construct a giant puppet and use it. You can create one on your own or form a team.
In “Small Puppets and Shadow Puppets,” children ages 8 -11 will explore great ways to make small puppets and create puppets with shadows.
In “All Things Puppets,” teachers, teaching artists and the curious will get a short background introduction for teaching and working with puppets as well as the history of pageants and theatre and how to make puppets.
The dates, times and cost of each of these workshops and classes can be found at www.firehouseculturalcenter.org. You can register online.
Burhop said, “Everyone taking these workshops will come away with knowledge of how to make puppets, and how to creatively bring them ‘alive.'” Burhop added, “Not only is Sara a visual artist, but a performer with the puppets as well.”
The Firehouse Cultural Center is undergoing renovations, which will transform it from a working firehouse into a world class cultural center. The renovations are expected to be completed by September.
For more information, please visit www.firehouseculturalcenter.org.
