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We have world renown MONSTER PUPPET maker coming from New Orleans to teach a class on how to build your own wearable, MONSTER PUPPETS!

For a class fee of $100, you can walk out in your own human eating monster costume! This includes ALL materials and instructions and, of course, a party at the Museum to show off your masterpiece with a stroll downtown to eat some humans-like a monster does.

More about the

MONSTER PUPPET WORKSHOP
Participants in the Monster Workshop will be introduced to a groundbreaking cardboard construction method commonly used to build the sculptural elements of classical Mardi Gras floats. Henry has adapted this technique to create large scale puppets, costumes, and head pieces with very simple construction, eliminating the need for chicken wire, armatures, clay molds, and much of the mess that generally comes with these projects. The workshop will give clear instructions in this method, and all participants will be guided through the process of building the personalized monster of their dreams (or nightmares) from start to finish. We will cover:
● Monster concepts, ideation and design
● Cardboard construction
● Paper maché
● Backpack puppet construction
● Puppet animation
● Parade craft and drama building

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More about Henry:
Henry Lipkis is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on public murals, parade, social practice, and puppet making. Born in Venice, California, Lipkis moved to New Orleans in 2014, and found himself captured by the spirit of Mardi Gras, drawn to its vibrant and varied pageantry and the city wide suspension of disbelief. With a passion for large scale spectacle, Lipkis and a small group of friends co-founded "La Maraude des Monstres", affectionately known as the Monster Parade. Regularly drawing crowds of 1000+ participants, the Monster Parade marries love for the grotesque, the cute, and the fantastical, featuring larger than life monster puppets, and countless hand crafted rolling floats that blur the boundaries between reality and living mythology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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photo by Pableaux Johnson

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Lipkis has also spent the past decade in New Orleans working with various tribes of Black Masking Indians, designing suits to be beaded in the traditional style made famous by luminaries such as Big Chief “Tootie” Montana.