Monsters Under the Bed

Some fun "Monsters Under the Bed" shadow puppets.

Mission Statement - Work in Progress

One of our semester-long assignments for my acting class with Marisa Chibas was to create a "Mission Statement."  I'm not sure how successful this is as a mission statement, but it's a slice of my tongue and mind.  Felt nervous/excited about sharing it with my acting class but, quaveringly, I did.  So I'm rolling up my sleeves and sharing it here as well.

"My Mission Statement, A Work in Progress--"

by Leah N. Olbrich

The majority of what I seek in this lifetime is immaterial.  My greatest goal and challenge in this life is to find happiness.  I seek work that brings me passion.  As of now I find many aspects of my life to be enjoyable with elements of passion, but finding true passion is a journey.  Perhaps passions change, or evolve.  Maybe passion means putting your entire heart into what you do, no matter what it is.  This is something I hope to discover.  I find joy in creating art, building things, working with my hands, singing, dancing, laughing, playing, observing the beauties of nature and the simple delights in life.  My great hope is to continue working in the arts, as an open-minded individual, who cannot be described by labels.  My work includes aspects of illustration, puppetry, photography, collage, found object, writing, maybe even music or film but I hope the creation process always includes joy.  My work also reflects my intrigues—texture, line, color, stories, fantasy, creatures, people, dreams, energy, healing.  Utilizing spontaneity.  Embracing unanticipated changes as happy accidents rather than unsolvable mistakes.  In this life, I hope to find peace within myself.  Learn how to articulate my voice beyond the written word.  Find my voice in song and communicate without fear.  Find the feeling of home.  Know sleep.  And dreams.  Be confident in myself and trust that I am worth sharing with others.  Be comfortable in this body and energetically present.  Maintain the use of my third eye without hindering my first two from being active in the same space.  Know when to guard my energy and when to share it. Allow myself to be vulnerable in front of other people.  Permit myself to find excitement in challenges. Be unafraid to love, to exist, to be a part of the world. 

My mantra: I send maximum gratitude and unconditional love to the conscious and unconscious universe and beyond.  I am infinite.

Monkey Puppet

The monkey was one of the sketches I made for "The Jungle Book" costume puppets project during my last semester at Pratt.  It was one of the designs that I never got around to building.  Finally got the chance to build a mock-up of the design.  The goal of this puppet is for it to be worn hands-free to move mimicking the natural movement of the human body.  Not a perfect design but it's a start.  It was fun to prance around in...on my porch, among other places!

Some fun examples of its versatility of movement:

(nothing like posing awkwardly with your artwork)

Just frolicking:

(great for dancing and prancing)

What a GiggleFritz!

AntiCozy Continued

view here:

AntiCozy Commercial

AntiCozy Cozy (Front): Muscle Abs Etc

 AntiCozy Cozy (Back): Muscle Trapezius Etc

 Wonk-tacular AntiCozy from all 4 sides:

 Wonk-tacular Mini AntiCozy:

Bluebeard - Puppets

Some crap-tastic scans of the assembled "Bluebeard" puppets, title cards, and (un)used prop bubbles.  I think the strange background gradiation is appropriate, given how I felt about the project.

Title Cards:

(the last one was ditched)

 Used Prop Bubbles:

 Unused Prop Bubbles:

Anti Cozy

A satirical commercial for a bad invention I created for my Materials class, a plasma-cut "Anti Tea Cozy."  Special thanks to Tania for being such a lovely actress.

Still having issues uploading videos, so here's the YouTube link:

Anti Cozy

Bluebeard - Performance

Here is footage from the class performance.  It is more like a work-in-progress sketch than full-fledged performance.  Not as I hoped it would be, but it's a beginning.  Loved making the puppets though.  Thanks to Brian for helping me perform and to Zach for filming.  We had no tripod so it's a bit shaky.  My favorite parts are the puppet sex scenes from 6:50-8:50.

Had some difficulty uploading the video through Blogger, 

so here's a link to it on YouTube.

Bluebeard Toy Theater

Bluebeard - Process

Just finished making a Toy Theater adaptation of Charles Ludlam's play "Bluebeard."  I've decided to post some of the images from the puppet-making process, from drawing to inking to painting.  These are mostly scanned images that I cut out in Photoshop so that I could print them for paper mounting and puppet assembly.

Good/Bad Angels

Bluebeard

 

Miss Cubbidge

Hecate

Keys to Bluebeard's Laboratory

Mrs. Maggot

Lamia Leopard Woman

Sybil's Locket

Sybil

Rodney

 

Sheemish