Did Things Get Weird Yet?

Nims here. Attempted art, puppets and other stuff

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Annabelle

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*frustrated artist noises intensify*

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Can I just ask, why puppets?

In a most basic sense for me personally, puppets can be anything. And as a maker a performer this is so exciting and freeing. They can be as simple as a caterpillar, they can be an old man, they can represent sadness, or the sea. If done well anything can be ‘brought to life’ and when it all clicks its genuinely magic to find yourself or your audience invested and believing in something as simple as perhaps a tablecloth is alive.

It’s hard to break the stereotypes that especially the UK and US have of puppetry, that it’s just avenue Q or punch and judy (or it’s a thing for children). If you look closely however puppets are everywhere, in adverts, in films, in theatre. They can do things that people can’t and they’re amazing story tellers. 

They can tell stories with no words (for anyone who needs or prefers visual only story telling this is brilliant) They can bring a shy child out of their shell as they can breath, sit and listen and not have all the emotional weight of a human. They’ve been used in schools, in prisons, with people with dementia, to help with integration for refugees…the list goes on.

I personally think they’re a very underrated art form. Also you don’t get many opportunities to make something and get to bring it to life and kill it all in a matter of minutes, pretty exciting ;D Sorry if I rambled! x

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To say i’ve been inactive is a total understatement, so sorry! There are many many reasons, one being my graphics tablet finally died and I don’t have the funds to replace it and another being that i’ve been super busy.

I created my first public puppet show! And amazingly performed it in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. ‘Plague’ was an exploration of the great Plague of London, the whole show appearing from inside an old wooden box. My art has really switched the last year towards puppetry and if you want to follow any performances that I make I now have a facebook page,  https://www.facebook.com/Messageinabottletheatre I also have a (still slightly inactive) tumblr that stores photos and info about my puppet making for my uni assessments, @progressingpuppets  

I’ll try and stay more active, thanks for your continuing support guys! x

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Long time no see!  Thanks to the help of around 25 people on tumblr i’ve made my first draft of ‘Are You?’. So far the performance involves a puppet made from my clothes and things found around my desk. it’s an essence of me but it’s not me, deliberately genderless and raceless. However people tend to look at it and go ‘awww’ and thats the point. For this piece i’m exploring the concern of being taken seriously in the societies we live. Although the puppet has the vulnerability of being small and voiceless there is a defiance. It inhibits its own space and controls its own existence, from turning on the light to using the speakers. It asks to be watched and listened too.  Within the performance I play a soundscape of recordings of actors and friends reading the stories and responses people sent me. They form the audio world of the piece, a sea of worries, interpretations and disagreements with the whole concept. While during this my own puppet pulls my own personal response to ‘are you taken seriously?’ from its mouth.

This was only a scratch performance and I am currently developing it further, at the beginning of next month I shall hopefully be performing it to the public in the Battersea Arts Centre and will aim to get a recording then to share with you all. 

As i’m in a development stage i’m still open to more responses, feel free to see my previous post on my main account and send me an ask of message. It can be anon if you wish

Thanks again to all those who helped me so far! 

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For those currently helping me with my project here’s an update!

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Dear Tumblr! I need your help!

ARE YOU TAKEN SERIOUSLY?

Firstly i’m sorry i’ve been so damn quiet, uni has really really snowed me under D: BUT On the topic of uni i’ve just started a project where i’m going to work performativly with peoples responses to a personal prompt. For this to work I not only need lots of responses but I also need responses from people of all areas of society.

The prompt is centered around being taken seriously. Any response to this is helpful!

I can be anything, a one line response, a drawing, a recording, a short story...anything. If you choose to help you can Message me, send me an Ask, Reblog this, Tag me, anything that gets through to me via tumblr. 

I’m working on ideas of how to reward people who help me and i’ll be posting up the final work probably in video form in about a month so you can see how your response has been included. Please share if you can and thank you so so so much in advance if you help or share!

xxxx

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Hullo! Is there a place someone can purchase your welcome to night vale stickers. I know it was kinda a while ago and I don't even know If they are a thing any more, but they are super cool and I would love to get some. :P

Hi! I decided not to sell them after the makers of wtnv requested fans didn’t sell works that were wtnv themed. I gave any left I had away to people cosplaying as wtnv characters at conventions I went too :) However I am in the process of making a load of new sticker packs for my etsy and one of them is science themed :DX

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Happy holidays to my gorgeous followers!

I hope whatever you're doing today is full of love, laughter and fun <3

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I adore BB-8 <3

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Feelin’ festive

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First sketches and final result of a week long puppet build. (Foam, wood, fabric, paint, wool) Didn’t have time to make the glasses shhhhh

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So I am working on some art promise!

But if anyone is interested I have a tumblr for my uni that I started the other day. It’s mainly just for storing my photos and journalling on my days for future assessments buuuut it’s always useful to have some extra eyes :) 

progressingpuppets.tumblr.com

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HOT NEWS!

There are currently two packs of stickers for sale in my etsy! One with hats and one with no hats!

SQUIDS. 

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Been making tiiiiny squid stickers! (And normal squid stickers (and squids in hats stickers)) YAY

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(So I may have gone and moved to London)

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Shark inspired Character Design for an Art Trade with the amazing krallentier

Hope you like him! (I totally didn’t hide his arms cause I failed about 60 times at drawing hands *cough*)

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*is making super secret sticker/temporary tattoo packs (and other things ;D) to finally open my etsy*