Puppetry and Podcasting at Podcamp London

I'm presenting the updated, 2009 version of my PuppetVision: Puppetry and Podcasting presentation this morning at Podcamp London in beautiful London, Ontario. If you're here at Podcamp today, I'll be speaking during session four in the Richmond Room. Stop by and say hello!

For those of you who aren't here, you can attend the presentation virtually! Podcamp London will have a live video feed of the session here. I'll be presenting at 11:15 (Eastern Time).

Live video feeds of all of today's Podcamp sessions are available online throughout the day. Click here for more information.

Monday Morning Inspiration: "Home Slice" Puppets

Scott C.'s collaborated with Russ Walko to create puppets for his recent show Home Slice.

Scott C. (aka Scott Campbell) recently staged a gallery show called Home Slice at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California. The show featured some great-looking puppets designed by Scott and built by Russ Walko, one of the puppeteers on the upcoming Team Smithereen.

Via Drawn!

Sesame Street Panel at William Patterson University

Sesame Street at 40: A Night of Celebration and Discovery with the Legendary Cast was held last Friday at at William Paterson University in New Jersey.

As I type this I'm bedridden with what's probably pneumonia, so I don't know how much I'll be updating the blog this week. Something that I did want to take a moment to share though was ToughPigs' two-part coverage of last Friday's special Sesame Street panel at William Patterson University (click for part one and part two). In addition to Friday evening's panel, there was also a special one for teachers held earlier in the day and Steve Swanson provides coverage in this week's installment of the Muppetcast.

Muppets and other Puppets at the Orlando History Centre

If you live in Central Florida or plan to visit sometime in the next few months, be sure to pay a visit to the Orlando History Centre, which is hosting a bunch of fantastic puppetry between now and then end of April. It all kicks off next week with the grand opening of Jim Henson’s Fantastic World with Heather Henson next Thursday, followed by Look Both Ways, a special behind-the-scenes presentation by Jane Henson exploring the creation of the Muppets (this, alas, is already sold out).

There's lots more planned for the coming months, including:

• Muppets, Music & Magic: Jim Henson’s Legacy - A remounting of the original program that ran at the Brooklyn Academy of Music several years ago
• The Dark Crystal Redux: Klakk smaithh Skwee Kreh - A exhibit of 12 works by photographer John Lawrence Jones that attempt to capture the world of the Dark Crystal (March 14 - May 10).
• Muppets 101 - Heather Henson hosts a special screening of rare Muppet material that includes early TV appearances, commercials, and guest spots on The Dick Cavett Show.
  
• Puppetry in Central Florida - An exhibit that explores the history of puppetry in Central Florida (March 14 - May 10).
  
• Family puppetry workshops (selected weekends, February - April)

Many of these events require advanced registration and are likely to sell out. Visit www.thehistorycenter.org for more information and reservations.

Michael Davis on ToughPigs

Street Gang author Michael Davis (left) with puppeteer Caroll Spinney.

Tough Pigs has posted part one of a two part interview with Street Gang author Michael Davis (see previous post). If you have an interest in Sesame Street and haven't read Street Gang yet, I really have to recommend picking up a copy. It's a great read and available to order on Amazon.com.

This Friday, Michael is moderating a special panel discussion at William Patterson University celebrating the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. The panel is scheduled to include Frank Oz, Kevin Clash, Caroll Spinney, Sonia Manzano, Bob McGrath, Marty Robinson, Fran Brill, and David Rudman so if you're in or near New York or New Jersey this week don't miss it.

2/2/09 Update: Part-two of Tough Pigs' interview with Michael is now available.

Creature Shop Open House Recap

Puppeteers bring characters to life with the Jim Henson Company's patented Henson Digital Performance Studio.

Debra Kaufman has written a nice recap of the previously-blogged Siggraph/Visual Effects Society event at the Creature Shop (see previous post). A couple people who were there Tuesday night wrote in to tell me about it yesterday; it sounds like it was a great event!

Cross-posted from Machin-X: Digital Puppetry.

Open House at The Creature Shop Next Week

Kermit the Frog greets visitors to the Jim Henson Company studio lot in Hollywood.

The Visual Effects Society and LA ACM SIGGRAPH are hosting a very cool-sounding open house of sorts at Jim Henson's Creature Shop next week called Innovation in Puppetry: From Animatronics to CGI next Tuesday, January 13th at 6 p.m. The program includes a presentation about the Creature Shop, a live demo of the Henson Digital Performance Studio, an audience Q & A, guided tours of Jim Henson's Creature Shop and self-guided tours of the rest of the Henson lot.

This event is free to LA ACM SIGGRAPH and Visual Effects Society members and $20 for non-members. New members who sign up on site and pay the $40 annual membership fee will be admitted for free. If you live in or near L.A. and have an interest in the Creature Shop's work or have always wanted to see the Henson lot, this sounds like an opportunity you shouldn't miss.

For more details and to RSVP go to www.visualeffectssociety.com.

Cross-posted from Machin-X: Digital Puppetry.

Note: You're supposed to RSVP at the Visual Effects Society web site, but I couldn't figure out how to do that so if you're planning to attend, it's probably best to email them directly to sign up.

PuppetVision: Puppetry and Podcasting in New York this Friday

For those of you who are in or around New York City, I'm in town with friends this week and doing a one hour workshop/presentation on Friday at Brooklyn Polytechnic from 3-4 p.m. called PuppetVision: Puppetry and Podcasting. It's part of the Podcamp NYC 2.0 conference this weekend (Friday and Saturday). I'll be giving a short history of puppetry on the internet, screening some episodes and clips from various puppet podcasts and talking about the basics of building and performing puppets. Podcamp is totally free to attend so please drop by and say hello!

Also, a quick note for anyone who's sent me email recently and not gotten a reply...I just discovered that my spam filters have been a little hyperactive lately and blocking a lot of messages. I'll be catching up on messages that I missed when I am back home early next week.

Flexitoon Exhibit in Greenwich

Flexitoon is exhibiting over 100 of their puppets, props, sets and other art from various productions this month in Greenwich, CT.

If you are anywhere near Connecticut between now and November 5th you can check out a great exhibit by Flexitoon Puppets (see previous post) in Greenwich, CT. Featured are over one hundred of Flexitoon's puppets, sets, storyboards and production art from all of Flexitoon's film, TV and theatre projects.

There is an online promo available here. The exhibit is being held at the Bendheim Gallery at 299 Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich. For more information call (203) 622 - 3998.

Via John K.

Sesame Street at The Garden State Film Festival

If you're in or around New York or New Jersey this weekend The Garden State Film Festival in Asbury Park, NJ is hosting two Sesame Street workshops this Saturday.

You Can Be A Muppeteer! is for children aged 6 to 12 and explains how puppets are performed on TV gives them opportunity to perform a puppet and watch their performances live on a monitor. The second workshop, An Evening At Sesame Street, is a panel discussion recommended for familes and adults interested in puppetry and is a question and answer seminar with puppeteers Patrick Holmes and Ryan Dillon talking about the different puppetry styles and techniques used on Sesame Street as well as how to get into the business.

More information is available on GSFF web site.

Happy World Puppetry Day

I forgot to mention this in my earlier posts, but today is World Puppetry Day! I celebrated day early by giving a tabletop puppetry workshop here in Mexico yesterday and various events are planned by puppeteers and puppetry organizations around the world. To commemorate this year's World Puppetry Day UNIMA has released a special message from Sennosuke Takeda, a prominent Japanese puppeteer and UNIMA member.

So go ahead, hug a Muppet today. You know you want to!