Videos

The Sub Atomic Lean 2 is a tent created by Hobey Ford and Jeff Ashton. It is the result of two avid camping enthusiasts who are both claustrophobics. We resorted to a tarp lean-to until one day we decided to design and build a new tent/ lean-to. We began with the dimesions of our tarp lean-to and from there created paper models. We then created full scale templates and began sewing our creation. A year and a half later we completed our tent which Jeff (Buck) and his daughter Laurel are currently camping in all over the southwest US. The tent features water collection/diversion gutters.

Turtle Island Tales is a puppet production by Hobey Ford from 20 years ago. It is a shadow show of Native American stories. The shadow puppets are performed within projected scenes of artwork. The proction was funded by The Jim Henson Foundation and won puppetry's highest honor, a UNIMA Citation of Excellence. It has been performed all over North America including, The Kennedy Center, The Jim Henson International Puppetry Festival, The Detroit Institute of the Arts and The Smithsonian Museum. Contact loydartists.com for booking information.

Steven Widerman shows Hobey Ford shadow puppets of Bil Baird's which were inspired by Richard Bradshaw.

The late John Payne created museum installtions with his industrial steel sculptured marionettes. Here is a clip of his work.

The original Peepers Puppet.

El Coqui the frog is a legendary Puerto Rican folk character. Here is the El Coqui story set in shadow puppetry. The idea was given to me in the form of a shadow puppet after a workshop I gave in San Juan Puerto Rico several year ago. A teacher gave me the puppet he had made and told me about El Coqui and suggested that I tell the story. I got musical help from Ronnie Delerme who performedl soundtrack in several tracks. My hope is to put a Spanish version soon.

A video illustration of a mouth mechanism on a profesional shadow puppet

Around three years ago I was visiting my buddy, steel sculptor John Payne's studio when I noticed his oil can collection. In a flash I imagined a video about "Tin Man". That year The Firecracker Jazz Band was looking for a theme for their Asheville Christmas Parade float and I suggested "Wizard of Oz goes to Mardi Gras". I built the Tin Man costume for Asheville tapper, Joe Mohar and Firecracker's entourage started building costumes and a float for the parade.

Here is a quick demo on using Peepers Puppet. If you have a short video clip with your own Peeper creature idea, put it on youtube and send me a link. Winners will be posted here!

I made this rod puppet in 1979 see photo album for a detailed story

I am working slowly at putting together a video version of "Whale Walker" This clip is an experimental test of a compositing technique.

A short sample animation using shadow puppets.

A ballet of carved foam animal puppets set to the music of Paul Winter Concort (www.livingmusic.com)

A hand comes to life as it discovers Peepers Puppet

Tin Dog is a collaborative effort with the late John Payne and puppeteer Hobey Ford. John was an Asheville based artists,sculptor and arts activist. Tin dog was built for the Firecracker Jazz Bands music video "Happy Feet". It was filmed at Payne's Wedge Studio's in the Asheville River Arts District.

A Planchette Piper Arnaud Degimbe in Brussels in 2005
He is available for performances.
His e-mail is
arnaudegimbe@yahoo.fr