Chicken: the inspiration

Some chickens in the Common Ground chicken yard. The Giant Chicken Puppet project was first dreamed of as a distraction from the ever popular chicken yard in a growing camp, a way to get chicken-crazed kids interested in cooperative puppetry and public community art, and to show how great big fun things can be made from the most humble materials that are all around us.

Here, chickens in the trees seeking private time during camp hours.

Chicken: the design (part 1)

On the very first day, before they knew what the project was, the campers were asked to each draw a chicken from memory.

Chicken: the design (part 2)

After drawing chickens, we tried out different kinds of puppets- hand, rod, shadow, marionette, and then some wonderfully uncomfortable physical theater games. Next, out to the chicken yard where we absorbed live inspiration and cut out paper for each chicken part, hinged together with pins on homosote board, so we could play with movement. Then we brainstormed ideas for what the Giant Chicken Puppet would do. We came up with things like laying eggs and playing the ukulele. Everything went onto the design board.

Windflags #1

In between our big communal chicken project, we took breaks to work on individual personal projects. These windflags were made using junk and found objects to make prints with tempera paint, and represented things we hoped to experience during camp over the next weeks. The first round of fabric was colored with natural dyes.

Chicken: the plan

Meanwhile my job was to draw up a technically realistic plan for the Chicken combining elements of all the 5 designers, applied to my past giant puppet experience.

The Chicken was to be made with all free, rescued trash materials, starting with a refrigerator box body, recycle bin paper for feathers, used-up bedsheets for the neck, and scrap lumber for interior structure and rods. Only wood glue, staples, and a few bolts and tie lines were purchased.

It would also need to be operated by a team of at least 4 people in the style of bunraku puppetry, which would require great cooperation and communication between the campers, as well as physical strength and dexterity .

Chicken: build day #2

Every Giant Chicken Puppet day was a mystery as to how it would unfold. On this day I experimented with letting a very young team of 3 take on stapling feathers to the wing completely on their own, and they did the job as well as anyone of any age. Also, feather making began in earnest, while the egg making table couldn't believe how big the eggs needed to be.

Treasure maps #1

This was the class I hadn't planned on or researched, but added last minute after staff orientation just because I badly wanted to do it myself, and it was apparent that deep down the campers had a similar intuition, and we sort of all worked through it together in a couple of dramatic and active sessions of map-drawing-in-the-field.

Many campers got really serious about making a correct map of the Common Ground campus, and about accurately depicting direction and perspective. The heart of the class was the "treasure", a simple stone or stick they painted at the start of class, to be hidden in a spot that held importance to them. One by one I took each camper a little ways out from the group to hide their treasure. It was an intense, suspenseful, adventurous and meaningful 60 seconds for each one.

We used large sheets of manilla paper that are soft, speckled yellow, and distressed looking. Some of the campers went further and distressed them more with dirt and crumpling. All were rolled and tied with string at the end, to be proper pirate treasure maps.

Flying bug puppets

I didn't have my camera the day of class, but got pictures of a couple of the flying bug puppets left until the next day. They were super cool. Choice of butterfly or dragonfly built from shishkebab sticks, paper, pipe cleaners, and pom-poms. Terrific flapping motion out of the simplest materials.

Chicken: build day #3

The puppet class was designed as a community project so that new kids could jump in at any point each day, and with 2-5 different activities going on at once that they could switch between, for optimal boredom control. This makes for many chaotic moments, and so smocks were acquired at the Goodwill per pound outlet. They weren't put on quite right by this day, but one step at a time. Lots of good work and new papier mache skills happened here, and 2 of the original designers returned to materialize their ideas.

Windflags #2

More trash objects found to use in printmaking on fabric, which we hung in the camp art room to keep it vibrant. Although the above was a little masterpiece of the camp cat painted entirely with the tip of a bit of foam. The campers amazed me everyday.