“Army Ants and their Guests: Works Inspired by the Carl and Marian Rettenmeyer Collection” and “Immaterial Remains: Can You Preserve a Shadow?”, October 17, 2019-February 9, 2020
In collaboration with the AntU project through UConn’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, the Ballard Institute presents Army Ants and their Guests: Works Inspired by the Carl and Marian Rettenmeyer Collection to celebrate the Rettenmeyer army ant collection. AntU is a UConn endeavor designed to involve […]
[Read More]“Living Objects: African American Puppetry”, October 25, 2018-April 7, 2019
The Living Objects: African American Puppetry exhibition at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is an event of national significance focused on an important but often overlooked aspect of American culture: the work of African American puppeteers. Bringing together puppets, performing objects, masks, and media work by over twenty different puppeteers from the late 19th […]
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Grand Opening of “Spiffy Pictures: Adventures in Television Animation” and “Frank Ballard into the 80s” on 7/14
The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present the grand opening of its new exhibitions Spiffy Pictures: Adventures in Television Animation and Frank Ballard into the 80s: Babes in Toyland, The Blue Bird, and The Fantasticks, on Saturday, July 14, 2018, with refreshments at noon followed by a free […]
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“American Puppet Modernism: The Early 20th Century,” February 22 – July 1, 2018
American Puppet Modernism: The Early 20th Century celebrates the puppet revival that developed across the United States in 1920s and 30s. Inspired by the European avant-garde; Asian, African, and Latin American performance; the vibrant culture of American cities; and the possibilities of such new technologies as film; puppeteers, artists, and writers decided that puppetry was […]
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UConn Avery Point Exhibit: “Sailors, Sea Creatures and Strings: Maritime Puppets from the Collections of the Ballard Institute,” 10/11-12/17
UConn Avery Point, in collaboration with UConn School of Fine Arts and the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut presents Sailors, Sea Creatures and Strings: Maritime Puppets from the Collections of the Ballard Institute in the exhibition space located on the second floor of Branford House at UConn Avery Point. UConn Avery […]
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“Mascots! Mask Performance in the 21st Century,” 10/19/17-2/11/18
The world of mascots is one of the most vibrant and active areas of contemporary mask performance in the United States. With their combination of costumes and over-life-size head masks, mascots are stunning symbolic representations of professional, college, and high-school sports teams, companies, and other organizations. Through their performances at sporting events, parades, theme parks, […]
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“Banners and Cranks: Paintings and Scrolls in Performance”, February 23-June 11, 2017
Cantastorias and crankies are forms of sung picture story-telling that trace their origins to 6th-century India. These paintings mounted on sticks, flipped over and revealed, or unfurled on scrolls and moved by means of a crank are performing object precursors to the popular puppet traditions of many countries. Despite the prominence of new technologies in […]
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“Frank Ballard’s Marionette Modernism: ‘Peer Gynt’ and ‘The Love for Three Oranges'”, October 22, 2016-February 12, 2017
Frank Ballard’s Marionette Modernism: Peer Gynt and The Love for Three Oranges will be a striking exposition of Frank Ballard’s life-long passion for the artistic possibilities of string marionettes as it emerged in his spectacular versions of two modernist classics: Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, with music by Edvard Grieg; and Gozzi’s The Love for Three Oranges, […]
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“Object, Image, Text: The Bread & Puppet Press”, October 22, 2016-February 12, 2017
Object, Image, Text: The Bread & Puppet Press will feature an integral element of Bread & Puppet Theater director Peter Schumann’s prodigious artistic output: the production of pamphlets, books, posters, and book-like constructions that have complemented his dynamic Bread & Puppet shows since the 1960s.
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“The Bureau of Small Requests: Puppetry and Animation of Laura Heit,” April 23-October 9, 2016
The Bureau of Small Requests includes multiple examples of the masterful small-scale puppets and objects from Laura Heit’s varied repertoire of performances, films, and installations. A West-Coast-based artist whose work has crossed many disciplines, Heit has deep roots in puppetry and animation and all things miniature. After studying at the School of the Art Institute of […]
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