Join us for Puppet Building workshops at the Global Market and the Avalon!!

Free and Open to all!

Join artists Ifrah Mansour, Lys Ackerman-Frank, Gustavo Boada, Chelly Beaver, Spencer Arevalo, Jake Quatt, Stayci Bell, Lena Manefee-Cook, Kate Foley and Maggie Chestovich as we engage with different puppetry forms!

Come learn how to papier mâché, make a crankie, use recycled materials to create marionettes and more!

At the Avalon: 3d Saturday of the month 10:30-12p

August 17th, September 21st, November 16th, December 21, January 18th

At the Midtown Global Market: August 15th, September 18th, October 17th, November 21st, December 14th, January 15th

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

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Winter 2024 Puppet Building Workshops at the Global Market were a great success!

Thank you to all who joined us for the BEAST puppet building workshops at the Global Market! More than 150 participants ages 2-80+ engaged in creating a BEAST puppet and then participating in a parade at the AVALON.

You can see the videos from the workshops here:
Art Shaping Change HOBT 2024 Workshop Recap - Replay (dropbox.com)

Art Shaping Change - BTS + Parade - 2024.mp4 (dropbox.com)

Stayci is a granddaughter to her deceased grandparents Louise and Willie Caliup and a niece to her deceased Uncle Calvin.

She is a daughter, mother and grandmother.

Stayci is a grower of food.

She is a theater actress, puppeteer and stagehand.

Ifrah Mansour is a Somali, refugee, Muslim, multimedia artist and an educator based in Minnesota. Her artwork explores trauma through the eyes of children to uncover the resiliencies of blacks, Muslims, and refugees. She interweaves poetry, puppetry, films, and installations. She's been featured in Middle East Eye, BBC, Vice, OkayAfrica, Star Tribune, and City Pages. Her critically-acclaimed, “How to Have Fun in a Civil War” premiered at Guthrie Theatre and toured to greater cities in Minnesota. Her first national museum exhibition; “Can I touch it” premiered at Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Her visual poem, “I am a Refugee” is part of PBS’s short Film festival. "My Aqal, banned and blessed" Premiered at Queens Museum in New York. Learn

More: facebook.com/ifrahmansourart

Lu Calvo Searle (they/them) is a high school puppeteer, artist and actor from Minneapolis.

A fan of making people laugh, most of their work is silly and comedic.

They have worked with Barebones and Adventures in Cardboard and have collaborated with Heart of The Beast.

Their pride and joy is Richard, a Blue Footed Booby puppet that was gifted to a friend.

Felicia Cooper makes puppet shows for children with a loose definition of puppets and children. Her work as a performer, researcher, designer, and maker has been supported by the Bell Museum,  Minneapolis Parks Board, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Connecticut Sea Grant, the Heinz Small Arts Endowments, the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, the Chicago International Puppetry Festival, and others.

She is currently working as part of Puppet Lab and the National Humanities Festival. She helps to produce both Minneapolis's Fringe Festival and Crankie Fest. Felicia holds an MFA from the University of Connecticut.

More info: www.feliciatmcooper.com

Jake Quatt is a multi-disciplinary artist from Vermont. He received his B.A in Fine Arts and Journalism from Beloit College in 2019, and moved to Minneapolis in early 2020.

Since arriving, his work has progressively become weirder, more experimental, and increasingly full of puppets.

He is currently illustrating several books for Madhat press, animating on the automata project for the Science Museum of Minnesota, performing at Weird Stuff Only, and collaborating on a wide array of new and old projects with his partner, Ches Cipriano.

Fletcher Wolfe (they/them) is a puppeteer, educator, and improviser based in Minneapolis.

Their work is rooted in expressive absurdity.

They love to make people laugh and are willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen.

When they’re not making puppets, they’re playing with their miniature schnauzer Nanette.