Workshop model - carving - wood puppet
Michaela Bartoňová - master designer from Prague
Learn the fundamentals of puppet making and performance and gain some insight into the Czech tradition of puppeteering. Participants will complete their own wooden Marionette, first designing and then carving all parts of the body and using fabric and leather for costume. There will also be talks about puppets and imagination and art in puppet theatre. No particular expertise is needed however some experience with woodwork or puppets may be helpful.
Michaela Bartoňová from Prague has regularly given puppet workshops in Europe since 1988. Workshops of this kind have been held in the Czech
Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, England and even outside Europe – in Taiwan and Australia. Originally working as a journalist and an artist, she founded the Tineola Puppet Theatre in 1998. Michaela will lead the workshop and teach design, painting, costume, manipulation and will help in carving.
Daily programme:
1.day: DESIGNINGWe will answer this questions: What is a puppet? Why we push forward art in puppets. How to develop imagination through the puppets. We will explain and we will give several examples of:
- Sketch, design, pattern
- What goes before: studying of text, historical circumstances, costumes etc.
- Rules - abbreviation, caricature, drawing, modelling, coloured design
- Choice of material, choice of puppet type
- Design and technology
PRACTICE:
- Students will chose one of three designs of puppets which we will bring
- Carver will show how to pre-cut the parts of body and students might try it
- Students will start with carving hands
Pre-cutting the heads and bodies for puppets
THEORY how to create puppets for puppet performance:
- Story, music, design, technique background. Aim and mood of performance
- Different way of controlling puppets, choice of technology
- Creativity, imagination, rhythm
- Balance in puppet performance
Carver will show the process of carving head, than he will lead you step by step in carving
Each student will carve its own head. This will be the most important day for carving. We will talk about advantage of wood heads - about expression, about characters, about light and shadow, about puppet and child. We will also talk about:
- Painting
- Costumes
- Leading of puppets
- painting of the puppet by oil colours OR
- Give the control to the puppet and talk about the rules of the lines
We will explain it both, but you can probably do only one thing.
If we have 7 days we can spread these two things and finish puppet completely.
Each student will have ready carved puppet.
Working day: We will start at 9 am, have lunch break from 1 to 2 pm and then work till 4 or 5 pm.
TO SEE AND CREATE
Programme
To find what is meaningful for our life and our work
To find the substance of the things
We invite people first to watch, imagine (dream), hear (sounds, pulse, rhythm, melody) and then to create thus SEEING and contriving NEW IDEAS.
The idea of the symposium is to make the participants cooperate in a process of teamwork by creating a puppet performance. People will work on a Bad Script and What to Do about It, inspired by Genius Loci of Vysehrad – oldest part of Prague. The process of making art is an instruction for problem solving, a source of knowledge and – a source rich in experiences!
