More three string Marionettes

Recently I spend a day at Boulcott school a primary school in Lower Hutt New Zealand. Apart from giving two performances and demonstrations and question session with the children, there was a learn to make a three string marionette session with the teachers. It was a fun time for all the results where great. I thought I would like to share the end result with my blog readers. And please send in photos of your own results. Love to see them :)

Puppet Festival in Wellington, October 2015

YES ITS ALL ON, did mention it before a wee while ago but its all coming together. The second ever national puppet festival will happen in October and the website is there for your information! If it does not work with your search engine try outofthesuitcase puppetfestival. One or the other will work. Cheers that's it for this blog entry. Enjoy :) It will be fabulous!



http://www.ootspuppetfestival.com

Exhibition at Te Papa / National Museum of New Zealand 2

Here are some photos of the display. No question I think it looks mighty and am super happy with it.

The large case shows three figures from my production - Mustava and the Kauri Giant. All carved and painted they still look perfect after years of touring

Beside Goethe is the first Marionette I made. Sewn out of old t-shirts and fabric I found at home. Later I turned it into a hand puppet, so nice to see it on display. 

New Zealand is a bilingual country. Maori and English are to be seen on all the display boards. Yes and for all puppeteers, Karetao means puppet. Have a look in one of my earlier blogs about a traditional Maori Karetao I have.

And this is where it is all happening, the Discovery Centre on the fourth floor of Te Papa. Don't miss out you have a year to pop in and have a look.

Here is another one of those boards. Yes, te kaha o the karetao - puppet power. Enjoy :)

Exhibition at Te Papa / National Museum of New Zealand 1

Tuesday, 16 June the exhibition opened of some of my marionettes and I was certainly excited. Not being part of the Museums world I had no idea about all the things that have to happen before the public can see the Marionettes. There were photos to be take, texts to be written, conservators and display specialists to be talked to. Marionettes had to be restrung to fit into display cases. The photos should give you a behind the scene look.

Here I have to restring my Goethe Marionette to fit the displaycase.

The display specialist had to create special constructions to facilitate the display. Pretty cool I thought and a very creative way to show them.

Being present for the installation was also interesting. Lights had to be adjusted and after a few trials and errors everything was 100%.

Here they are in special storage boxes before they are hung in the cases. For me they are my everyday tool of the profession though as soon as they enter the museums world it is all white gloves an conservation requirements.

Shortly after the two cases were closed the opening ceremony happened with a Karakia by the Kaumatua of Te Papa. Very moving moment for me and very much a unique New Zealand experience. A number of my friends and all the staff of Te Papa involved in the set up of the exhibition were present. There were speeches and songs and the public could enjoy them on display for the next year.

More about the exhibition in my next blog entry. Cheers

Marionette gallery 23 - Little boy in sailor outfit

The little boy in a sailor outfit was based on a old photo of my father. He played a role in Fading Memories and Titanic. He is smaller than my average figure of 600 mm and operates very easily. Thought of a little prince version for him. Who says you have to stick with the look of the original illustration. The message in The little Prince is beautiful and can be transformed. Didn't he age with the time of his travel? That for a start. So here he is living with all the other characters I created. Waiting for another part in another performance I suppose.

Te Papa - National Museum of New Zealand will have an exhibition of my marionettes

Te Papa  is Maori and means our place and it is the National Museum of New Zealand here in Wellington. For those readers that have never been to Aotearoa / New Zealand, Wellington is at the bottom of the North Island and when you walk along the foreshore you can not miss it. Five of my Marionettes will be there for a year in two displays. One will show one of my earliest figures, see photo at the top and a very recent one. The larger case will have three characters from my play Mustava and the Kauri Giant. You will find all the images in other blog entries but I thought I put two of the characters here to give you a little preview.    

news update for 2015

Even when you try to build a house news happens. A group of us here in Wellington are working on the second puppetry festival in New Zealand. It will be on in October this year.

out oft the suitcase puppet festival and Leda Farrow created a very nice website for it. Not live as I write but very soooon. Will keep you updated.

Te Papa, the National Museum of New Zealand will have an exhibition of my marionettes in June. Seriously very happy, proud and exited about it. The promotional photos are beautiful too. More about it and in the next few blog entries.

Still building my house and it takes so much longer than thought so the entries will be sparse and not very regular.

Thanks for your ongoing interest.

Norbert :-)