Santa Barbara Giants (USA)

In February & March 2018, we were invited to lead a two-week giant puppet workshop in Santa Barbara, California. With the support of the Squire Foundation, Santa Barbara Community arts Workshop and Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Celebration, we worked with a dozen local artists to make 2 new giant puppets which are now owned by that community. We worked form design to build and took them into performance for apuppet festival parade.

As this communty is still recovering from wild fires and flash floods which occurred a few months before the workshop, the group decided to make a phoenix puppet and a Fire Rescue Service dog.

Since the workshops, the puppets have been in the Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Parade (performed by actual Fire Rescue volunteers) and the Ojai Fourth of July Paradw where they won first prize!

After our workshop, a few of the artists used the same techniques they learned and made an ensemble of diansaur giant puppets for the Summer Solstice Parade.