Adeline O’s AP Compositions

Start by thinking about what your puppet needs to accomplish

By Adeline O’Neal 

“Puppetry is a coming together of art and science,” says Amanda Petefish-Schrag, an Associate Professor of Theater at Iowa State University who was “born into” puppetry. Growing up, Petefish-Schrag’s parents were puppeteers with a workshop in their basement where they would enlist her help with constructing puppets. She says she has come to appreciate and even love the art form, as well as the way it was passed down to her through her family.

Before you start the process of creating a puppet you have to determine the type of puppet you would like to make, “whether that be shadow puppets, or rod puppets, or hand puppets.” You must also establish what the purpose of your puppet is going to be. It could be a certain emotion or idea that you want to express with the puppet. After this you can think about the logistics of it: the size, shape, and relation to the audience. 

When you have decided what the purpose of your puppet is going to be and what you want it to look like, you can start together the materials you would like to use. “I’m really inspired by materials, and what materials mean,” says Petefish-Schrag. The story of the puppet is not only the story you want it to tell, but also of the materials you use to make it with. Petefish-Schrag often uses trash as material for her puppets because of what it says about who we are, and the story that it tells independent of the character she makes with it. 

Puppetry can be more of an exact science than you may think. “Physics doesn’t care about your aesthetic,” Matthew Laird, a puppeteer Petefish-Schrag admires, says. When you are setting out to make a puppet, you mustn’t think that the first version is the final version. You should allow yourself time to make multiple prototypes to insure that the mechanics work as best they can. “Puppetry is always a coming together of at least two different machines. No matter how simple your puppet is, it is always interacting with the human machine,” says Petefish-Schrag. This can sometimes complicate how successfully the puppet maneuvers, and subsequently, the message it gives to the audience. But as Petefish-Schrag says, “sometimes those moments that are really really frustrating, are also really exciting because the solutions people come up with are better than maybe what could have been done originally.” In her experience, puppeteers are collaborative problem solvers, showing one way this art form brings communities together. 

Art museums allow us to learn about other perspectives by seeing visual representations of different experiences. However, this is only feasible if our art museums show a wide range of perspectives and cultures, and in a way that is ethical and accessible. In order for museums to decolonize their exhibits and provide more inclusive environments for marginalized communities they must work to implement anti-racist policies and diversify their staff and boards. 

Art museums are traditionally “the bastions of high culture” (Booth 2), and are most often inherently elitist institutions made to cater to middle class white people. Today, most art museums in America are directed by boards of mainly white women with under 25% of important positions being filled by people of color in 2022. This presents a problem in how the space of the museum is perceived by marginalized communities. 

A job posting for the Indianapolis Museum of Art said that they were looking to maintain their “traditional, core, white art audience”, a sentiment that led to the hire of their new director, Belinda Tate, a Black woman. This hire came after a petition made by Indianapolis community members and signed by 2,219 people, which called for substantial changes to the Museum such as: a more diverse faculty, the creation of more accessible policy for underserved communities and students, the participation of antiracist programming and training, and engaging programs for marginalized communities. 

It is clear that there is a problem with the lack of inclusivity within American art museums, and that there are people asking for changes to be made. But there is nuance to how museums must handle these changes. For Indigenous art/culture, inclusivity is not enough for fair representation in art museums. Inclusion does not account for the decolonization of Native American art that must happen in order to show a more accurate view of Indigenous culture. Museums must at least consult Indigenous communities and preferably have Indigenous directors to plan and create exhibitions for Native American art. Exhibiting Indigenous art/artifacts is in and of itself often a harmful depiction of the culture. Many objects express intangible values (like heredity) that can’t be translated through Euro-centric aesthetics. So, when museums show these objects as if they are meant to be seen for their aesthetic value only, it is a misrepresentation of the culture and serves to stereotype and fetishize instead of offering appreciation and education. 

An Indigenous art exhibit showing decolonization (taking away Euro-centric influences) is the 1987 performance by James Luna at the Museum of Man in San Diego, where Luna himself is in a glass case. This forces the audience to confront a live presence of an Indigenous person instead of a passive display. 

According to Arizona State University professor Johanna K. Taylor, the main role of an art museum today is to serve its communities in engaging ways. She states that art museums must do in depth research on their communities, its demographics, and its struggles. This will allow the museums to incorporate and reflect the identities that make up the communities they serve. 

In order for art museums to deliver their full value we must rethink the purpose of them altogether. Instead of playing a passive role in how art is viewed from other cultures museums must find ways of displaying art without doing cultures a disservice. Museums must also work towards providing more inclusive spaces, because art is a universal human experience and should be for everyone. 

Works Cited

Bahr, Sarah. “Years After Racism Outcry, Indianapolis Museum Gets a Director.” The New York Times, 21 Sept. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/arts/design/indianapolis-museum-belinda-tate.html.

Booth, Kate. “The Democratization of Art: A Contextual Approach.” Visitor Studies, vol. 17, no. 2, July 2014, pp. 207–21. Advanced Placement Source, https://doi.org/10.1080/10645578.2014.945353.

Caldwell, Ellen C. “How Luiseno Indian Artist James Luna Resists Cultural Appropriation – .” JSTOR Daily, daily.jstor.org/native-disruptions-with-artist-james-luna/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2023.

Calling Artists, Cultural Leaders, Advocates and Allies Against Racism – Google Docs. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yL1oStV2qc5Kj_V8ldego89SwQ_kBC-NEe27EX2jwpQ/edit?fbclid=IwAR1WX5opfaWJR7fnMW90icgnb0F3nbZKT34W57SbOcRqLDNvfXHjur16fyc. Accessed 29 Nov. 2023. 

Green, Christopher. “BEYOND INCLUSION.” Art in America, vol. 107, no. 2, Feb. 2019, pp. 72–77. Advanced Placement Source, research.ebsco.com/c/5cvfut/viewer/pdf/xzn7uqfzw5. 

Quinn, Mairead. “The Art Museum Redefined: Power, Opportunity, and Community Engagement: The Art Museum Redefined: Power, Opportunity, and Community Engagement, by Johanna K. Taylor, Tempe, AZ: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, 214 Pp., £44.99, ISBN 9783030210236.” Journal of Arts Management, Law & Society, vol. 52, no. 5, Sept. 2022, pp. 342–44. Advanced Placement Source, https://doi.org/10.1080/10632921.2022.2052780. 

S+R, Ithaka, and American Alliance of Museums. “Art Museum Staff Demographic Survey 2022.” American Alliance of Museums, 22 Nov. 2022, www.aam-us.org/2022/11/22/art-museum-staff-demographic-survey-2022/.

Ames High School

High school presents a varying experience for everyone, so it is hard to capture what it is like for all students. Generally, high school is a way to prepare for college or the workforce with extra support so you learn from mistakes without too much of a consequence. High school is for being put in situations where you must be flexible and learn to work with others. But in the current state of the world, many if not all high schoolers are in uncharted territory. 

After the pandemic, which in and of itself offered unique challenges, what was trending down feels now like it has gotten worse. The gaps in knowledge left by the years of school interrupted by covid, and the growing problems of teen mental illness are issues that have been a commonly discussed topic for many in recent years. This generation of students has to continue to try and focus on the task of graduating when the curriculums are being restricted, the climate is changing at a frightening pace, and school shootings are a regular occurrence in the news. All of this while still trying to have normal high school experiences like balancing social activities with academics. 

But in spite of all the world issues and stressful societal trends, what high school is like turns out to be fairly monotonous and mundane. Having a regular schedule of school and homework is a surprisingly good distraction from all that is going wrong with the world. When students focus all their attention on tasks that seem pointless, to prepare for a future that looks grim, all they can do is put their energy into small daily tasks. Sometimes the problems of the outside slip in and create frustrating and scary situations like school shooting scares, disappearing books and critical discussions, and frustrating legislation. And of course, not all students find school a distraction from these issues, only an amplification. But for some, school is unremarkable and just a regular routine. It can be comforting to know that while the world is burning and rights are being taken away, there is school tomorrow and you will have an assignment your teacher assigned just to have something in the gradebook. 

But, of course, students in 2023 cannot stay blissfully ignorant forever. If the world is going to get any better, students are going to have to be the ones to do it. Although school is a nice distraction, it is important to remember that high school is also giving students the tools they will need to solve the problems we are troubled by today.