CLASS: DIY Post-Apocalyptic Puppetmaking

_tastycakePost-Apocalyptic Arts & Crafts Survival Skills Workshop No. 1: “DIY Post-Apocalyptic Puppetmaking”

A green art workshop with artist and Hollow Earth Society co-founder Ethan Gould
Date: Sunday, May 22
Time: 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Admission: $15
Presented by the Hollow Earth Society

Part one of a four-part series

Post-apocalyptic arts & crafts survival skills workshops, you say!?  That’s right:  Creative-making for the improvisational, post-industrial future (and present).  When the apocalypse comes, these definitely won’t be the first things you’ll need to know… but they’ll be on the list! In this workshop series, learn how to make beautiful objects you’ll actually use out of materials that would otherwise go to waste.

(Ominous movie voice:)  IN A WORLD.  Where electricity and fossil fuels have failed you.  Department stores and cineplexes lie in smoking ruins throughout the world.  (Cue Latin choir.)  ONE PERSON (you) will learn to fabricate a new way of entertainment from the detritus of the old world…

This summer:  Post-Apocalyptic Puppetmaking.  This class includes a brief history of puppetry, thoughts on puppets in eco-friendly/DIY culture, visual samples of work, and hands-on techniques for building puppets out of pretty much anything.

Topics of focus include finding supplies, how to adhere together disparate materials, paper- and cardboard-sculpting, building in 2D and 3D, basics of puppetry movement, and how to think weirdly about ordinary objects.

Ethan Gould is an artist and props/puppet builder who has assembled/performed for Dixon Place, Imnotlost, Waterwell, the McCarter Theater, In Extremis, The Ontological Hysteric Theater, The Assembly, and ABC’s Wife Swap.  He is a member of Observatory and 3rd Ward as well as the co-founder of the Hollow Earth Society, and has been building theatrically entertaining stuff out of less entertaining stuff for years.

Materials will be provided, but feel free to bring your own!  Ideas include cloth scraps, cardboard, felt, half-used Elmer’s glue bottles, craft objects, balsa wood, wire, buttons, and the like.  Think light and cheap.

Bring an apron or smock if you are concerned about getting glue on your clothing.  Gloves will be provided for those who need them.

RSVP to karen@hollowearthsociety.com.

This workshop is one part one of the Hollow Earth Society’s Spring 2011 Para-Academic Colloquium on Education for Sustainable Public Esthetics Through Enviro-nomadic Rigor (SPACE SPECTER). SPACE SPECTER is made possible by a generous grant from the Hollow Earth Society’s Department of Perpendicular Ecology—and the ongoing support of people like you!  Please note that the following SPACE SPECTER workshops are at full enrollment and no longer accepting RSVPs at this time:

  • Beetle-Cloak Weaving & Improvised Food-Blankets
  • Swords > Plowshares? Letter Openers > Spearheads: The Nomadic Post-Future of Weaponry
  • Microwave As Forge: PLASTICS
  • Treehouse Triage: Saving a Limb (Human/Arboreal)

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