What’s better than a puppet? A whole room of them, of course. Things N’ Strings, The New School’s official puppet club, held its first-ever meeting this semester. Srija Bhowal and Andria Shafer, club co-presidents and fourth-years in the illustration program, are thrilled by the community’s response thus far.
“There’s a lot of people coming from different majors. There’s film majors, there’s people in illustration, there’s obviously people in product design, at all different levels,” Shafer said.
Each meeting tackles a new kind of puppet fabrication; paper, stop-motion, unconventional, and even 3D-printed puppets encompass some of the forms on the club’s agenda. Big or small, Things N’ Strings is willing to take on the challenge of building it. In its first week, the club saw 20 new members — but it’s not mandatory to attend every meeting, and anyone with an interest in puppets is welcome to join.
“As our social media manager says, ‘the world is your puppet oyster,’” Bhowal said.
At their Oct. 1 meeting, the club got to work crafting hand puppets. Multicolored sheets of felt and an assortment of thread were provided with hot glue guns. The result, as posted on the Things N’ Strings Instagram page, was superb: puppets with bows, bright blue eyes, and pointed teeth materialized, along with finger puppet animals.
The club has also made plans to venture off-campus. “We’re going to Hoboken, New Jersey to see Paul Andrejco’s studio,” Shannon Marsolais said, the club’s social media manager. Andrejco’s studio, Puppet Heap, is an interactive artist’s space “home to teams of talented artists, designers, writers, and producers who create character-based narratives for clients around the world,” as stated on its website. The trip will take place on Oct. 21.
Andrejco is a designer and filmmaker who has worked on titles such as A Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppets from Space, and Bear in the Big Blue House. He is also a professor at Parsons, teaching within the Art, Media, and Technology program.
Shafer and Bhowal were classmates in a studio course Andrejco co-teaches titled Topics: Cute/Kitsch/Horror. Partially inspired by Pratt Institute’s puppet club, the two began mulling over the possibility of starting a similar club at The New School. Andrejco encouraged them to pursue the idea.
“It was definitely really encouraging that Paul was excited about it too,” Shafer said. His enthusiasm is what pushed them to officially start the club, she added.
Puppet Heap isn’t their first field trip — on Sept. 28, the club ventured to the Museum of the Moving Image. Located in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, the museum features a range of exhibits centered around media. The group saw “The Jim Henson Exhibition,” an ongoing installation at the museum. Creator of The Muppets, Henson is known for designing iconic characters such as Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and Big Bird. 47 historic puppets are on view, according to the museum’s website.
For those who are interested in joining Things N’ Strings but are worried their artistic skills might fall short, the co-presidents have one piece of advice: don’t stress. “Our activities are super simple and we’re doing it with you, so it’s not intimidating,” Shafer said.
On Oct. 15, the club gathered around a table in the Making Center. They passed around art materials as Shafer explained the making process for that week’s puppet project: Muppet-style puppet heads. Attendees sculpted the heads with clay, covered them in tape, and mapped out patterns and facial features using paper. Afternoon sunlight poured through the room’s wide windows, illuminating the group’s handiwork.
“I’ve really enjoyed the fun setting of [the club]. It’s very playful, everyone here is part of a community that loves play objects,” Sienna Tohar said, a club member present at the meeting. Tohar expressed gratitude for the creatively free atmosphere of the club, which allows participants to find their design voices in a low-stakes environment.
In the future, Bhowal and Shafer hope to branch into puppets made for the stage. “We really want to put on a puppet show,” Bhowal said. Current members of the club have voiced similar enthusiasm. Puppeteering and theater have long gone hand in hand, with stage productions of Little Shop of Horrors and The Lion King utilizing intricate, large-scale puppets manually operated by cast members.
“Puppet Club isn’t just for people who want to make and do puppet fabrication, it’s also for people who are really interested in theater and how to produce a show,” Shafer said.
Shafer first discovered her interest in puppet fabrication through set and prop design. “Whenever I do props, I always do it in terms of the character,” she said. “So then I thought, ‘Oh wait, I could just do the character design as well.’” The work they are doing in the club will also inform Bhowal and Shafer’s senior theses, in which they plan to incorporate stop-motion puppeteering.
With a full attendance sheet and newly dedicated members, it’s easy to see why Things N’ Strings is popular among The New School’s student body. With an exciting new project at each meeting, the club helps participants reconnect with their creativity while immersed in a nostalgic, comfortable atmosphere. At a university where artistic production is often accompanied by the pressure of grades, Things N’ Strings encourages students to create for the fun of it.
“It’s a little nostalgic. Everyone grew up watching The Muppets or Sesame Street, so I think it’s something that everyone finds comfort in,” Bhowal said. “And I think that can be therapeutic, making something you’ve always enjoyed watching.”
Even for those who have never tried their hand at fabrication before, there is undeniably a seat for them at the table filled with felt, clay, and glue. And when it comes to puppet-making, it’s almost impossible to not have a good time. Bhowal and Shafer said it best: “Who doesn’t love a silly little puppet?”