Chase Woolner
  • Home
  • About
    • Gallery
  • Shop
    • Online Classes
    • Private Online Classes
    • Puppet Shop
  • Contact
  • Busy Hands Studio

Brooklyn's Monkey

6/5/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Several weeks ago I was commissioned to design and build a puppet character for a little girl and her family who spend quite a bit of time in hospitals. This character was intended to lift spirits and entertain while waiting for doctors - what better animal than an energetic and happy little monkey!

The fabrication of this puppet was really interesting and there were quite a bit of considerations, such as;
- This puppet would be used by a young child, so it must be durable and free of things that could be swallowed.
- The puppet would visit hospitals and there should be a way to clean it.

I chose to line the inside of the puppet with antimicrobial fabric so that it could be cleaned easily. The arms, legs and tail were all attached with doll joints as well as sewn on for added security. 

The puppet was also designed so that it can wear Build-A-Bear and/or American Girl doll clothes. 
0 Comments

Teaching with Bright Futures through EMU

6/5/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
During the last four months, I have had the pleasure of teaching with Eastern Michigan University Bright Futures 21st Century Community Learning Centers. 

I have been teaching puppetry classes at a handful of the program's sites, ranging from 2nd grade to 8th grade students.

My class was titled "Puppetry 101." 

The class was essentially a survey of many different puppetry styles, learning about and designing/performing a new technique every-other week. While we created many, many puppets throughout the four months and were very creative - we focused mainly on developing teamwork and collaborating together in order to bring a puppet character to life and develop performances.    


The Puppetry techniques we covered were;
• Table-Top/Bunraku
• Paper Bag Puppets
• Hand Puppets
• Rod Puppets
• Marionettes

From the Bright Futures Website;
"EMU’s 21CCLC Bright Futures are high quality after school programs.

The focus of Bright Futures is to improve academic achievement, develop self-efficacy, and prepare elementary, middle, and high school students to transition to the next level of schooling.


The main goals of the Program are:
• Increase academic achievement
• Increase student academic learning
• Increase student learning in non-academic areas
• Increase student knowledge of career options and how to achieve them
• Increase the experience of students transitioning to the next level (elementary to middle, middle to high school, high school to post-secondary)
• Increase the literacy of parents in the skills that will help their children in English, Language Arts, and Math.
• Increase student self-efficacy through leadership experiences and service-learning"

0 Comments

    News / Updates

    .

    Archives

    June 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    October 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012

    Categories

    All
    Calarts
    Classes
    Commercials
    Henson
    Muppets
    O'Neill Conference
    Performance
    Puppet Building
    Puppet Design
    Puppeteer
    Puppetry
    Sesame Street
    Students
    Teaching

    RSS Feed

© Chase Woolner 2021
* Pictures, Video, Audio and Other Media used on this website are for reference only.
Other Copyrights are held by their respective owners.
  • Home
  • About
    • Gallery
  • Shop
    • Online Classes
    • Private Online Classes
    • Puppet Shop
  • Contact
  • Busy Hands Studio