I’m Alison, the reCreate featured artist of September, and Resource Exchange staff member.  I am a theater artist with a concentration in physical theatre, mask, and puppetry.  Having worked in the theatre industry for some time, I know how much waste there is in production, which is why I was so excited to join the re team!

When I make my masks and puppets, I always try to reuse material first.  They are mostly made from paper mache, so that means old newspapers, magazines, and cardboard that I picked out of local recycling bins.

Most of the creations you will see in the Resource Exchange gallery were made for children’s theatre performances.  But if you come to the store during our Philadelphia Open Studio Tour hours, you can also see puppets I made from re materials for The Philadelphia Opera Collective’s fringe show Opera Macare: Edgar Allan Poe.

If you come to my Paper and Shadow Puppetry Workshop on Friday September 27th, I will show you how to make simple paper puppets that look great in shadow, plus paper cutting that can be used to make large scale “scenery,” all out of recycled paper!  Hope to see you at my workshop, until then, check out my mask website, and Found Theater Company, a physical theatre collective I co-founded!