The Ballard Institute to Present MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON-Focused Online Puppet Forum This Month

As part of the 2022 Online Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host Guess Why I Smile a Lot? How Media Figures in "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" with moderator Dr. Paulette Richards and panelists María Andreotti and Becky Van Cleve on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. ET. This forum will take place on Zoom (registration required) and Facebook Live and will be available afterwards on the Ballard Institute's Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

While artists active in puppetry and animation often have an affinity for both, media, puppetry and animation are usually treated as separate disciplines. However, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, which began as a viral video phenomenon and became a full-length feature film about the beloved shell's adventures in 2022, blurs the boundaries between puppetry, stop-motion, and 2D animation.

This conversation, moderated by Atlanta-based teaching artist and independent researcher Dr.Paulette Richards (co-curator of the Ballard Institute's acclaimed 2019 exhibition Living Objects: African American Puppetry), with Becky Van Cleve, Head of Puppet Fabrication, and María Andreotti, Puppet Coordinator/Fabricator for the Marcel the Shell with Shoes On feature film will therefore outline the intricacy of the film's production process, review the different types of puppets involved in the production, comment on how targeting an adult audience influenced the design of the puppets and sets, and reflect on how the nature of material performance highlights humans' relationship to "vibrant matter."

This forum is co-sponsored by the UConn Art and Art History Department.
For more information about this forum and the speakers, visit bimp.uconn.edu/2022/10/06/marcel-forum or email bimp@uconn.edu.

Photo by María Andreotti

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