JQ: Are they all from CalArts?
MD: […] Well there are some people from CalArts and there are some people from UCLA and there’s some unknown entities.
JQ: So what I want to know is – when you were in Boston
MD: Yes
JQ: Were you into the arts?
MD: I was. I mean I was there until I was in high school and then..
JQ: And what little community did you live in?
MD: I lived just outside of Boston in this little community called Belmont (where Mitt Romney’s from)
JQ: Belmont? My show goes to Belmont
MD: Really?
JQ: Yes
MD: Massachusetts?
JQ: Yes! Belmont. Isn’t that great?
MD: Hi Belmont
JQ: And when I walk on the street they go, “There’s Joan Quinn”
MD: There’s Joan!
JQ: I know – it’s great. Belmont – I love Belmont! So you were into – What were you doing?
MD: […] I was more like your last guest [Lisa Adams], doing visual art and it turned into installation, performances, and then I started making dolls, and I went to the Chicago Art Institute
JQ: Yes, but were you painting at the Chicago Art Institute?
MD: I was doing all of it. Like I went there because they had performance art, film and painting, and it was so well rounded and […]
JQ: And who teaches that?
MD: Well there’s painting teachers and
JQ: And then you integrate them?
MD: Yeah
JQ: Because you have to do the integration
MD: Right
JQ: It’s not a class – I got it – in that… but is there an actual class in puppetry?
MD: There was! There was one taught by Blair Thomas there. He started the Red Moon Theatre and then they had Janie Geiser as a visiting artist and I ended up studying with her here at CalArts.
JQ: Oh, so she taught at CalArts too. There is actually – cause this is pretty interesting – a puppet making class at CalArts?
MD: Yeah
JQ: And this puppet – we have. Did you make the face?
MD: I did. I did. So I sculpted..
JQ: Out of what?
MD: I used foam and styrofoam and masking tape from Staples – but then I put all art supplies on it…
JQ: But did you learn that in class?
MD: Yeah, I mean – you learn lots of different techniques. I also study at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center every year and they have a puppetry festival – and – I mean there’s lots of techniques, but you have to decide what works best for your show.
JQ: So there’s a puppet on a hand
MD: There’s a Muppety style
JQ: Yes
MD: There’s American Theatre Table Top style
JQ: That’s this
MD: That’s sort of an offshoot of Bunraku, which is the Japanese style..
JQ: Oh – Bunraku
MD: where six people..
JQ: And then there’s the other
MD: There’s rod puppetry, shadow puppetry, there’s kites
JQ: strings?
MD: There’s theatrical things. There’s…
JQ: What about those old fashioned puppets..
MD: Marionettes.. Yes! Yes!
JQ: What about those? Are they anywhere anymore?
MD: Yes! They are. At the O’Neill Center, I actually studied with the maker of Howdy Doody’s son,
JQ: Ohhh ohh
MD: Jim Rose and Philip Huber who did the girl in the Wizard of Oz movie that just came out. But it’s a very old art form and very few people do it now, cause it’s so precise and it’s kind of the opposite of computers
JQ: How did you choose?
MD: It kind of chose me.
JQ: It loves you
MD: It loves me! I was making dolls and people were like, “Well what are their stories about? They seem pretty far out. What do they…”