Puppet Revolutionary: An Interview with John E. Kennedy.

John E. Kennedy is one of those rare people who found his creative voice at a remarkably young age and from that day on knew exactly what he wanted to do and why. He began designing and creating puppets when he was 7 years old and there are no indications that he plans to stop any time soon. Although he is a young artist, John has already had a remarkable career.

At the age of 22, John was hired to work as a Henson character in a live stage show at Disney World. His association with The Jim Henson Company grew and has included working for them on television shows and in the movies.

John currently teaches foam sculpture workshops in Orlando, Fla., owns his own company that produces puppet kits and organizes puppet seminars, and, of course, makes puppets.

In this interview, we learn how John discovered puppet making and how he translated his childhood passion into an exciting career. He also shares ideas for making puppets and some thoughts on creativity.

H.G. How young were you when you began showing this amazing creativity?

J.E.K. When I was three, I asked my mom if she would build a monster costume for me. She told me that she didn't know how, so I decided that I would just do it myself. With the help of her fabric basket, I used materials to make a character that I stapled together. By the time I was seven, I was malting a lot of characters and experimenting with a lot of new materials. One material I really liked to work with was loam rubber, because I could carve any character out of it. In fact, the workshop that I give now comes from the same design I made when I was 7.

H.G. Often, children with unusual talents are not recognized until they get older. Did you get any encouragement?

J.E.K. I was very lucky because I got a lot of encouragement from both my elementary art teacher and music teacher. In fact, the music teacher let me put together presentations with my characters during some of the assemblies. From these presentations, I even developed a show that I could perform at birthday parties and special events. When I was 13 years old, I went to the Indiana University Summer Arts Institute for the Gifted and Talented. During that two-week program, I learned a lot about drawing and painting, how to silk-screen, and even took some music classes. As a result of that summer program, I knew I would continue in the arts. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was performing regularly at Indianapolis Union Station as a singing, dancing, banjo-playing puppeteer.

H.G. You said the "arts.' It is obvious that you were as talented in the performing arts as in the visual arts. What direction did you decide to take?

J.E.K. As high school was coming to an end, I had to decide whether to study music or continue with my puppet career. I'd been offered some scholarships in music. I decided to attend Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis (IUPUI) to study children's theater with Dr. Dorothy Webb, who headed that department. While a student in this program, I also learned stage construction, costuming, make-up and acting. I toured with the school's children's theater group building puppets and performing at Indiana schools.

I also studied puppet building under the great Verna Finley, the famous ventriloquist figure builder, who taught me many of the techniques in puppet building that I use now. I attended many Henson workshops for performing before finally having the good fortune to work with Jim Henson in 1990.

H.G. How did you get to work with Jim Henson and what did you do?

J.E.K. I had a short stint on Time for Timothy, a local Indianapolis show about a mouse. It really made me interested in television puppetry, an area in which I had not yet had any experience. In 1990, I heard that Disney and Henson might be merging and realized that I should go to Orlando, Fla. Fortunately, they were having auditions in Indianapolis for the Here Come the Muppets show, a live stage show featuring the Henson characters to be shown daily in the Disney parks. Because of my dance background, I got the job that day. This job changed my life, because before I knew it, I was working on a commercial with Jim Henson himself. This was just a few weeks before he died. Then, I found myself on the set of Dinosaurs, the prime-time sit-com for ABC featuring Dinosaur characters built by the Jim Henson Creature Shop.

H.G. What did you do on this show?

J.E.K. I performed the facial expressions of the little baby dinosaur, Baby Sinclair. The show lasted for three years. It was an incredible honor to be associated with such amazing talent and an amazing experience for someone as young as I was.

H.G. Have you continued to work with The Jim Henson Company?

J.E.K. Since then, I've worked on Sesame Street, Muppets Tonight and The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss on which I performed Horton the Elephant, Sam I Am and Norville the Fish to name a few. Lately, you may have seen me in Muppets from Space where I'm actually a "loony" at the end of the movie and have a line as myself. I think I say, "I'm cold. Come on, guys, let's go."

I currently teach a foam sculpture workshop called "Character Lab 2000" at the Orlando Science Center. The workshop, for individuals ages 8 and up, is endorsed by The Jim Henson Foundation. I'm also writing a book for The Jim Henson Company based on this workshop which will include the techniques involved in foam sculpture for puppets, as well as many secrets of performing.

H.G. What teaching experience did you have before developing your current workshop?

J.E.K. Before I moved to Florida, I did some artist-in-residence work in elementary schools near my home in central Indiana. I would come in twice a week after school for six weeks, and by the end the program, the children would have a show prepared for their parents.

While attending classes at IUPUI, I was asked to perform my standard kids' party show for one of the early childhood education classes. The emphasis was not on the show, but on the puppet techniques I was using for character development. As I remember, I had a puppet named Skelly who had a big mouth. He was a hand puppet that would sing songs. Then Stringbean, who had long, stringy legs, would come out and dance. I also had a cuddly bunny that liked to give hugs. I was able to show that the exaggerated feature of a puppet defines its character and personality. It helps if that feature is movement-based--just as Stringbean's stringy legs helped him dance.

I tell my students that when they design their own puppet, they must emphasize the features that describe who the character is. As an interesting footnote, the classes that I attended at The Jim Henson Company early in my career I now occasionally teach.

H.G. Tell us about Character Lab 2000.

J.E.K. I'm very excited about all the positive attention and publicity this workshop has received, but I'm more excited about the response from the kids who have attended. I explain at the beginning of the workshop that there are no boundaries to imagination, and I let the kids decide what they want to make. The kids are usually timid about cutting the foam at first, which makes for slow beginnings. However, once they start to visualize a completed character, they work very quickly, inspired by their own creativity.

What's even more amazing is that every kid begins with the same kit of materials, and each one makes something different--each one's puppet is unique. Some of their characters have three eyes or scales or crooked teeth. They take the basic concept and make it their own. Without instruction or a signal, the kids immediately break into improvisational skits after which I lead them in a puppet-aerobic session. I teach them isolation exercises that help their puppeteering skills.

H.G. Your workshop students use a kit of materials that you have created. What is in this kit and why is it necessary?

J.E.K. When I was kid and wanted to make my own puppets, I never knew where to get fill the raw materials and "parts" I needed. I always wished that there was a way to get the simple basic materials to make good, fun, creative, puppets. Now, I'm trying to make such a kit of materials available for beginning puppet makers in my work shop, in schools and at home.

The great thing about this kit is that it is totally experimental, but contains all the necessary materials. It was designed to make characters quickly and freely. The puppet mouth is already there, so you're not experimenting mechanically, but purely in the imagination and creation of personality traits. I like coming up with ideas that help challenge creativity. Since the materials are easily available and inexpensive, teachers can put together similar kits so their students can make puppets using this technique.

H.G. How do you make a puppet using these materials?

J.E.K. You start by drawing the facial features on the foam block with a permanent marker. Then, you clip in on the line and cut away one side. The side you don't cut away raises above the rest and gives depth to the feature (like a nose).

This same technique can be used on all the features until your basic face is roughed in. You can then begin experimenting with eyes and hair, attaching them to the foam with glue. After those are attached, you keep clipping the foam. Everywhere there is a raised ridge, clip it away, making smaller ridges. Keep clipping those ridges, 'and the face becomes smoother and smoother. Then you can attach the teeth and other things to define the character of your puppet. I supply the body with the workshop kit, and participants can draw whatever they wish on it with a permanent marker (buttons, vest, tie, etc.).

H.G. Your workshops have been very successful. Why?

J.E.K. The process is so simple, and I believe that the simpler the better. Everyone has a completed puppet at the end of the workshop and that is very rewarding. Our workshops last, generally, from three to four hours. Since the students not only make a puppet, but also learn performance techniques, we needed a design that lends itself well to building quick and very usable puppets and gets kids right into experimenting with their performance skills.

H.G. Why do you feel that puppetry is so enriching?

J.E.K. I think puppetry is the perfect outlet for me and others who enjoy making things, as well as performing. With one puppet, you can touch upon so many different art forms. You get to use techniques in the visual arts like sculpture and drawing, and also acting anti movement from the performing arts. Puppetry is a multi-dimensional creative endeavor that also happens to be very economical.

H.G. What about your puppets? Where do you make them and how do you get your ideas?

J.E.K. I have a studio that is more like a manufacturing plant filled with hands, heads, eyes and bodies all laying about. The ideas for my own puppets come from wherever I am when the spark of a new character is lit and I've been known to make them anywhere--on a plane, in my home or in the Sesame Street greenroom.

H.G. Why do you think that puppetry has been such an incredibly important part of your life?

J.E.K. I consider myself a puppet revolutionary. I believe that puppetry is a great means of expression and everyone, young and old, can reap the rewards from this ancient art form. It also provides a mental and physical challenge to the senses and allows the human soul to be able to express itself creatively. But most important, puppets are fun--fun to make, fun to perform, and fun to watch.

Note: Kennedy's company, Hands in Art, Inc., is dedicated to providing hands-on experiences in art that everyone can complete in a short amount of time. For information on workshops or puppet kits, e-mail John at handsinart@earthlink.net. Friendly Plastic Registered trademark, used to make the features on the pencil puppets, is manufactured by American Art Clay Co., Inc. (AMACO Registered trademark). John also uses FIMO Registered trademark from AMACO Registered trademark in the creation of his puppets.

I recommend this exercise for 8-year-old students and older. When I was in fifth grade, I made little foam creatures to go on the top of pencils and gave them to my friends. Soon, everyone wanted a pencil head, and I began charging a quarter for each one. I got so good at making them and business was so brisk that I started taking orders in the morning, riding my bike home for lunch, and returning with the finished products. I perfected my technique and made some money.

1. Cube of ordinary cushion foam, roughly 2" square

• 2. Strip of 1/2"-thick foam, roughly 2" x 3 1/2"
• 3. Piece of shag fur (any color)
• 4. Pencil
• 5. Permanent marker
• 6. AMACO Registered trademark Friendly Plastic Registered trademark
• 7. Glue (hot glue works nicely)
• 8. Anything else you can imagine adding to your character--little glasses, felt cap, necktie, crown
• 9. Scissors
• 10. Cup of warm water heated to 160 Fahrenheit to soften the plastic modeling material

If you want to make other colors of foam, it is possible to dip it in a fabric dye before you attach the character features to the head. Follow directions on dye packet. You can dry it with a hair dryer.

Step 1

Step 1. With the permanent marker, draw your character design on one side of the foam cube. If you mess up or don't like what you've drawn, start again on another side. You'll he cutting away a lot of the foam, including all of the markings.

Step 2

2. Using scissors, cut straight into the foam on the drawn lines--all the way through on the sides and in just a little bit on the facial features. The deeper you go, the bigger those features will be.

Step 3

3. Cut away the areas around the features that you don't want to keep with a flat-on scissors cut. This will raise the features from the head. The more you cut away, the more prominent they will become.

Step 4

4. Start to smooth out the head's appearance by carefully trimming away all remaining marks on the face with the same flat-on technique. Then continue smoothing and rounding off bumps and corners. The more you do, the smoother it will get.

Step 5

5. At this point, look at the foam shape and imagine your character. You'll begin to see where a divot-cut could add on eye socket or a nostril. You can do this by pressing down flat with your scissors slightly open and then snipping. Clip or pull away the excess.

Step 6

6. Next, melt the Friendly Plastic Registered trademark by dipping it in a cup of hot water, pulling a section off and molding it in the desired shape. It will cool slowly at room temperature or quickly by submerging it in cold water. Continue until you have all desired parts (eyes, nose, teeth, etc.).

Step 7

• 7. Now fasten all the pieces together including hair and ears with glue. If you don't want them permanently attached or want to experiment, you can cut little pockets or slots in the foam for the pieces to be pushed into. The foam will grab around them because of its spongy nature. Cut a deep slot at the bottom for the pencil.
• 8. Enjoy your new friend!