Hi Katherine, thanks so much for answering my questions in such detail! You are fantastic. I have friends on the Illustration course at Brighton and they love it, lots of making and performance involved. I was worried for a while that I was on the wrong course but Illustration is so broad and it is the act of storytelling that excites me. I went to uni thinking I wanted to make children's books but now I'm so much more enamoured by making physical things, bringing characters to life. There are so many crossovers between disciplines and I know that whatever I end up doing after graduating, the skills I have learnt on this course will be useful. Your puppets really do have a handmade charm. I love how you and Polly work together and it's fantastic to see the translation from drawing to puppet. What materials do you use? I'm personally put off by CGI and I think it's a shame that the artistry and hands of the maker are so often replaced by computers, but maybe that's art school process fetishism talking. What you said about a magical effect made me smile and think of the very things that got me 'into' puppets - Jim Henson, Labyrinth and Bagpuss - it's that childlike awe and wonder that puppets evoke - they're from another realm, not quite from this world but still living, coexisting. I'm really excited to see what comes next for you and Long Nose. I've not seen your ceramics before but just had a quick google search and found them, they're lovely! Your studio sounds a lot like mine, so many tins and jars of buttons/broken jewellery/things that might be useful for making with one day... I've only been to Brighton once but I can see why it's such a great base for you, it certainly made an impression on me. I'm quite a way away in my tiny Yorkshire town but I'll give you a shout if I am ever in the area of any of your shows. Thanks! I am trying to get more involved with festivals and things going on, like Leeds Young Film Festival, Newcastle Moving Parts Festival and Skipton Puppet Festival. I've heard of the courses at Little Angel, I'll look further into that. Your answers have been so useful! Here's my Facebook and Instagram for photos of my puppets, dolls and drawings if you want to have a look! www.facebook.com/jaystellingdesign instagram @jaystellingdesign Thanks again, have a great day Jay Stelling
Hi Jay, here are my answers to you questions: How did studying illustration inform your practice? Did you enjoy your degree? I think as illustrators we look at the aesthetic of the piece first, it is designed around the look and feel of the book. We are completely self-taught so we make puppets by trial and error and are therefore not bound to rules or conventions. The limitations of our making knowledge give our shows the handmade charm! Our degree at Brighton University did have a playful element and encouraged making illustration using multi media. I was always making 3D illustrations and photographing them and trying to change course as I thought of myself as more of a 3D practitioner and I love the theatre so puppets are a perfect solution to that desire. I think making a show is similar to making a children's book: how does each page/scene develop, how can you use the space in the page/scene, what colours, materials , light, special effects can you use to best describe the mood or excite your audience. What is your favourite puppet/what project are you most proud of? Our first show 'Shoe Baby’ will always be dearest to my heart. We had no idea that a puppet company and business would follow. It was made out of fun, friendship and with no budget! We even cut out all the tickets ourselves and hand printed on them and sold them in the street to passersby. What are your ambitions as a company and as an individual? As a company we aim to continue to make theatre for the very young which excites and surprises. We are always thinking about the things that delight us as artists and how in turn can we can we present these things in the most exciting way- are the characters going to delight the audience? what will appear next to keep their eyes fixed? What will make the audience feel in the mood of the scene? What will make the audience laugh/surprise/shock. How can we take the young audience to a magical world to ignite the imagination? We have always worked under the fabulous umbrella of Polly Dunbar's books which has given us a great tangible world to bounce from but I have decided to challenge myself and have a go at writing an idea for a new show. This is a new area for me but one that is very exciting and is keeping me awake at night! Describe an average working day for you. What I love about making puppet shows is that every day is so different... there is a seasonal cycle of different tasks: firstly the task of brainstorming ideas with Polly and Tom, our musician, then the fun of making and getting dirty with paints and band saws, then the rehearsing and development in a team of puppeteers and then the tweaking until we feel the show is right. Finally, the touring around the country with the team, getting to go to all the wonderful theatres and schools, a lot of sitting on the M25 but the most rewarding bit is talking to the young audience after the shows.... and then there is the admin!! What is your studio like?
Polly and I have always shared a studio until recently- we have boxes and boxes of old clothes, bit of found objects, jars of ribbons, buttons, bits of fabric and wood. Now I have a studio at home which works with having children and it also doubles as a pottery as I make pots too, so I have to see-saw between having it as a a dusty clay studio and a drier puppet studio. It is very cold in the winter so I try and fire the pots at night to warm it up! Why Brighton? You went travelling after uni but you came back to Brighton, what is it about this place? Brighton is fun- it has just about a festival a week- The Chilli festival, The Great Escape, open houses, burning of the clocks. It is a vibrant place of open minded people. We have a good following here and The Komedia in Brighton has supported us all along and has let us use their theatre to rehearse in....and the pubs are great too! The face of puppetry is changing in the digital age; do you think that Long Nose puppets will retain their handmade quality or adapt to make the most of digital technology? I personally favour the handmade look- if I see something made out of real bits of fluff and paint, I instantly make a real connection with it. It feels like a part of the real world and I want to touch it, a bit like an old teddy, when you see the stitches sewn in, you see the love that went into making it. We considered using projection in our last piece and did investigate the use of animation on top of the show. We met with animators and thought of ideas but in the end when we tries out our ideas in front of kids we found they responded more excitedly to the very simple use of things like a piece of cloth on a stick. If something can be made without digital media with the same magical effect- why would you use it? How did you and Polly start your business? Did you find it difficult to work for yourselves? As I mentioned before, we are very lucky in that the company was born naturally through love and hard work. We hired a theatre in Brighton for 2 afternoons and sold tickets and then booked a spot in The Brighton Fringe and to our great delight won 'best children's show' and went from there. Everyone in the company including myself, Polly, Tom The musician, my husband Ant and the other puppeteers have had other jobs too: teaching, illustrating, acting etc. We do not try and force work , we make it when it feels right to make a new show and then it has about an 12 month tour season. The great thing about children's shows is that new audiences are always popping out, so we can re- tour our shows to new audiences. It is a pleasure to work for yourself, especially if you are lucky enough to work with other people who inspire you. I hope this is okay and best of luck to you- please send me any pictures of your work, especially puppets. There are BRILLIANT courses at The Little Angel in Islington that you can book onto. Also, lots of puppet festivals to go to/be part of. It is a lovely world to be part of. Let me know if you would like to come to one of our shows. All the best Katherine