collaborations

A giant collaborative puppet created during La Liga Teatro Elástico’s bamboo workshop at the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival. Team members: Salt, Anni and Emory. Photo by Detroit Puppet Company. 2024.

Artist Catherine Nelson and I have had an ongoing drawing collaboration for the past five years. Pictured is a drawing that was passed back and forth in the mail over a series of months with the instruction: pay attention to what this drawing needs. 2020.

Stefanie Loeb and I created a shadow puppet crankie for the re-release of Leyla McCalla’s “Girl”. Filmed by Ben Depp and with a puppet assist by Phoebe Vlassis. Photo by Stefanie Loeb. 2020.

A short collaborative piece created as Ginger Ryan taught me stop motion animation. 2018.

Brought to Light is a collaboration with journalist Natalie Yahr in which we create shadow puppet shows to accompany true stories.

In the pilot story of what we hope will be an ongoing series, Alejandro Salazar speaks to the often-misunderstood role of reconstruction workers and shows how they might also be slightly reshaping people's hearts. 2017.

Every year I created a bicycle-themed puppet show for RUBARB, a youth-focused, community bike shop in the Upper 9th Ward of New Orleans. The show pictured above is from The Anatomy of a Volunteer. Photo by Nico Krebil. 2017.

Created in collaboration with Jess Pinkham for the opening day of Country Day Creative Arts summer camp. (If you look closely, you can find an ant climbing up the tree and a fly in the branches.) Photo by Jess Pinkham. 2016.

A series of short, one-puppet monologues created in collaboration with Phoebe Vlassis for a specially created one-person audience theater. Commissioned by Antenna Gallery for presentation during the I AM AN IMPORTANT GIANT exhibition. In this photo we see Maude, a puppet created by Phoebe and the star of the show. 2016.

Created with Whitney Raynor, Josie Scanlon, young artists from Grand Rue, and an all female youth puppeteer troupe, this shadow puppet show debuted at the 4th Ghetto Biennale in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The screen was made from all used materials and the shadow puppets were made from old tires. 2015.

A collaboration with the band Hestina to make a shadow puppet video for their song Belong. Click here to see the full video. Photo by Greg Tilton. 2015.

A collaboration with the band The Swamp Lilies for a performance in the Sculpture Garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art. 2013.

Co-created this giant, indoor, interactive play structure made completely from cardboard for Newman Summer Day Camp. Pictured is the Dr. Seuss-inspired entrance. 2013.

15 ft tall ice towers created with cardboard and scaffolding for the Pearl Assemby, a puppet production by Skookum Heebee Tumtum Productions. 2012.