Puppets in Sentient Landscapes

In my world of paper puppet making, these things are true;

There is no one way to make a puppet. The way that I have made most of the puppets that you will see is, when painting large images, if one appears to have agency, I will cut it out and give it a backing and place it next to other puppets to see if a conversation happens. If I can sing the voice of the new puppet, I feel success.
A puppet must be able to be clearly read by an audience, like a symbol, but have a presence so to make you feel in their company, and care about their story.

The backgrounds are home to sacred cabins and landscaped with sentient beings.

Puppet making is still new to me and I am figuring my way through.

Animal Numina within the Flower, puppet against cosmic background

This puppet is of a living animal flower with a cosmic background. I have used this puppet in theatrical pieces accompanied by sound and motion.
Shadow Mother and Self Puppet

The Shadow Mother is a recurring being who eats a piece of me in each dream. The piece grows back, but not the right piece and not in the right place. Created for performances in 2024 and 2025.
Dogon Fish Mother, Bringer of Light and Knowledge and The Great Bear Mother

These beings are wooden puppets, Dogon Fish Mother and Psychotherapy Mother Bear. To have both in session is a gift of wisdom and fierce truth telling, uncomfortable. These puppets are against a 60"x60" white ink and colored pencil storyboard of childhood monsters, original ancestors and gods and goddesses of the Psyche.
Feret human teeth.jpeg

Created at the end of 2024, when surveying the New Year. This large puppet is an image painted on black foamcore and cut out, mounted on a handling stick.
MerbirdHuman brings Light to share with the Cherub

2 puppets against a pink background. These images are painted on wood and mounted on a stick for movement
Town Bell Seeing the Human Condition

This is a set piece for toy theater, board and paint, against a story telling galaxy. I created this in 2025 for a Black Cherry Theater Puppet Slamwich, performed at the Current Space.
Twin Dogon Fish Mothers guard the Broom as it sweeps the Galaxy

This is a still from a vertical scroll of images, portraying the act of tidying the internal Psychic galaxy. The medium is gouache, ink, colored pencil on a 25 foot long scroll of black paper. Begun in 2025, completed for performance in 2026.
Cosmic Stump Listening to the Universe Murmuring

This stump with human and reptilian eyes is listening with a human ear to the galaxies. This stump is cut out of black paper coated foam core and mounted on a stick for use in short puppet pieces. Here she is shown in front of the murmuring galaxy. 2024 30"Lx 20"W
Woman from Crete, 500 BCE, Puppet visiting the Soul Cabins with Fingery Feet

This is a still moment in the life of a puppet who is visiting the soul cabins, in search of her personal Cabin. This was created in Fall of 2020 and I am in the process of creating sound to accompany the film.
Feathered Soul Boat

This feathered boat is a cut out from a large painting, mounted onto a wooden hand. This boat is a frequent visitor in my dreams. 2024

Baker Artist Portfolios

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