To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 23:43:02 -0500
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] A destiny that shapes our ends


Rolande asked:
>> Are there born puppeteers, I wonder?


I think there are.
I'm not yet considering myself a fully grown puppeteer, but at least for the 
part of "puppetry person", I'm certain I was destined to be one.

Everything artistic and technical I've ever learned before even thinking 
that Puppetry was an actual career, pointed me to be a puppet artist.

-I was named after a Gerry Anderson puppet character (that spy puppet named 
Matthew that lived in a suitcase). My parents watched that show. And since 
Matthew is a biblical name, it also made my grandmother happy.

-I grew up on TV puppetry, both local shows (many) and some from the USA. I 
watched Sesame Street even though I didn't understand the language. I was 
hooked on Labyrinth the first time I saw it, although I don't think I 
understood the story fully. The movie was translated, but not the songs. I 
must have watched it many hundred times! I converted the kids in my 
neighborhood to it too, organising playings of the soundtrack (dubbed from 
the movie, which is much better than the official reccorded soundtrack) in 
my garage, so we could dance to it. Not one of us understood english, but we 
knew the words, howver distorted we made them.  I only saw The Dark Crystal 
when I was a teenager, it wasn't that popular a movie in my TV area. I loved 
it too. The Storyteller was a favorite of mine, but I rarely got to see it, 
and only the same episode over and over again, it was one of those shows 
that never gets scheduled fully, kind of used to fill in some blanks.  I 
loved Blizzard Island (by Terry Angus), a miniseries with "muppet types".
Despite all these influences, I never considered that Puppetree could be an 
actual career.
I kept being distracted by the details, never fully seing the picture!

-I never finished a 3D art project when I was a kid or teenager. I had no 
proper training available in any basics (not even mixing plaster or proper 
hammering of nails), so I failed miserably, yet I kept at it, by some 
mysterious need. I learned a lot about what not to do, that way. I learned a 
lot of basics about a lot of techniques. I couln't concentrate on any single 
one of them, I needed them all, so I was frustrated at not being able to 
justify being so spread out. Eventually, I had one success, then another. 
The first fully finished 3D art piece was a marionnette, which actually 
became fully complete when I realised he was actually perfect as a tabletop.

-I started showing a consistent interest in puppets about the time internet 
became available in my area for home use. That was the revelation. So much 
info was available, so many colleagues!
There was Puptcrit! At the same "era", I went to a used bookstore, where the 
only book that caught my attention was a catalogue from a puppet exhibition 
at the Civilisation Museum, which spanned the local History of Puppetry in 
Quebec. It was quite a revelation that we indeed had had and still had 
Puppetry here!

-All those various techniques that I just had to learn and use, became my 
toolbox to build puppets, once I finally finished one and realized THAT was 
my bliss. For once, I could finally bring most techniques together to make a 
single piece! And I never felt anything so wonderful from something I had 
created.
Not a painting, not a drawing, even ever came close.

-Puppetry improves my life in all ways. I'm more outgoing, daring, creative, 
and even became a good cook, by some weird transference of abilities from 
the studio.

I'll stop now, because I'm too curious to see what others know about being 
destined to be a Puppet person...


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