Trained in both theater and visual arts, puppetry is the medium that allows me to stretch my artistic wings and explore questions about our collective humanity. In my role as the founding Artistic Director of Cozy Arts, I create original puppet productions for family audiences, develop educational materials, and collaborate with artists from across Canada and the US.
I have been a teaching artist for over twenty years in traditional and non-traditional educational settings. I specialize in arts based curriculum development. In this capacity I have designed and facilitated puppetry programs for numerous institutions from preschools to universities and in classes as far off as Brazil. I love working with people and have a deep commitment to making the art of puppetry accessible to all.
So where did it all begin….
In the fall of 1996, while cycling through rural Ontario, I happened upon a heritage home featuring a small puppet exhibition. I stopped to take a look. Standing alone in the small stuffy room full of puppets from across the country I had an epiphany, “I want to be a puppeteer!” Within the month I was apprenticing under the exhibit’s curator, Canada’s acclaimed puppeteer Noreen Young.
To further my training, I moved to Quebec to study “Theatre and Development” at Concordia University. While living in Montreal I was inspired by the vibrant interdisciplinary theatre scene. Collaborating with contemporary dancers, installation artists and electro acoustic sound engineers I created several multidisciplinary image based theater productions.
Later I pursued an MFA in Puppetry Arts at the University of Connecticut. During this period my interest in experimental work was tempered by a growing desire to be more attentive to the dramaturgy of my work. I started working with Brazilian storyteller/puppeteer, Andi Rubinstein and under the banner of Foreign Landscapes Productions, we co-created “By the Willow.” I continued to produce work under this company name until 2018 when I transitioned into focusing solely on developing work for young audiences and formed the company Cozy Arts.
“I believe that puppetry is a theatrical art form that embodies the poetry of dance and the fluidity of music. It is a kinetic visual world that relies less on language and more on metaphor to lead audiences down pathways to uncanny worlds that delight the senses, challenge the mind, and bite at the heart. I want my shows to make children squeal with delight and adults sigh with remembrance.”