Embrace the changes 

As cooler temperatures are settling in, it feels like a good time to look back and forward.

While I can still feel the summer that was just there, full of free time, explorations and adventures, I am grateful that our freezer is full of beautiful salmon, berries and local grown vegetables. While I can mourn the warmer days, I am grateful to settle back into a routine that allows me to spend more time in my workshop again. While I can see their needs changing, I am grateful to see my kids grow up into fun teenagers and surrounded by great friends, giving me the peace of mind to pursue my own dreams.

Upcoming events in Fairbanks

Trying to find a time in the year where evening darkness isn't too late, while the temperatures are still bearable can be quite a challenge in Fairbanks. October it is, and I am excited to to share this new collaboration piece.

On November 25th, I'll be at the Handmade Holiday Market at the Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts in Pioneer Park. Drop by and say hello if you can!

In Alaska and elsewhere

Performance: It was super fun to present Mitten, the kitten, again at the Children Museum last February. The show had been upgraded and the kids had a lot of fun making their character to take home and continue their adventures!

I am excited to bring this family show to Switzerland in La Chaux-de-fond at the Figuresco Festival and Vevey in a local theater this November!

Puppet's life: "Clone Rob" puppet made a fun intervention during last February Dark Winter Nights, and is now enjoying his own life with big Rob in the lower 48.

Education: Two weeks of shadow residency in a K-8 school allowed me to work with middle schoolers for the first time. I really enjoyed working on a different scale, exploring masks and full body shadows. Another special treat was to see how some elementary teachers used this art focus residency to work on literacy. Reading their thank you notes and small text explaining what they did during a week of shadow puppetry was not only moving but also an important reminder on how art can be integrated in schools as a mean to improve students motivation to write and read.

Talking about residency, I am currently working with high-schoolers arts and engineering students this time on a specific set of puppets for their school upcoming performance "Shrek, the musical" (like a giant dragon!).

In June, our outdoor puppet summer camp was fun! We (as in my daughter and I) had a great group of kids who made beautiful puppets and were super engaged in the process. While not escaping to the mosquitoes, we were lucky to get nice weather and no smoke. It had been a few years since I made a puppet camp back in our piece of forest land, and it reminded me how I love to hear and see children play and use in this space. Seeing the puppets take shape, the story appearing and all the work going into rehearsing and adding the necessary props and set pieces is a treat each time. And, of course, their final show " The mystery of the lost treasure" was a big success :-)

Puppet movie: The "Elvel" puppet movie project is coming along. In April I spent three weeks in Victoria B.C to work intensively with Tatiana and our team on making the puppets, planning for sceneries, and doing the full storyboard of this traditional Itelmen story. We based our visual work on Tania's own footages from her years lived in the village of Kavran, historic ethnographical research documents, as well as direct elder's knowledge trough live zoom sessions. We all left with some pieces, props, and parts to finish before reconvening next July to actually film it.

Often on an artistic project, there is more than the end product. The whole journey to get there, matters a lot (which is good, because these kinds of projects take a long time). For me, having puppetry as a mean to reconnect with a piece of Kamchatka again after all these years, allowing me to spend time with my friend Tania's family and enjoy the spring flowers is something I wouldn't have dreamed of when I started this journey in puppetry.

 I plan to only send you a letter twice a year, with some updates on what is happening with CHAKPuppetry! If there is something you would be particularly interested, let me know and I might integrate a new column.  

For regular updates, Instagram and Facebook are still my go to platform. 

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