A collection of thirty puppets and puppet show props that I made and used in performance from 1997 though 2013 is currently on display as part of Paulina Olowska’s cabaret installation Puppetry in America in Truly a Lonely Craft in the 2013 Carnegie International. I met Olowska and co-curator Daniel Baumann in November of 2013, when the artist visited the Carnegie Museum of Art to plan the transformation of the museum’s Carnegie Cafe into a cabaret installation inspired by puppetry and the legendary Pittsburgh puppeteer Margo Lovelace. I shared my collection of puppets, props and posters, and was later invited to participate in the project.
Aside from the collection, I also organized a performance for the opening day of the International with Pittsburgh puppeteers Kristen Barca and Joann Kielar. Based on Olowska’s cabaret concept, the performance titled Museum Piece: For Margo Lovelace involved Barca and Kielar manipulating marionettes on a sculptural stage to a piano and accordion score. The piece, which is now on view as a video recording, played to a packed crowd on opening day.
Yawny
Puppets made from fabric, wood, paint, hardware and found objects.
Monster Burger looks out at diners in the Carnegie Cafe.
Tom Sarver 