Grace Maclaren: “Beffica”

by Jessica Suzanne Stokes
A bird made of recycled cardboard rests atop a tree. In the background are woodchips, a brick wall, and an early spring sky. The cardboard bird is puppeteered by a person wearing all black clothing who has red hair. No skin or identifying features of the puppeteer are visible.

Image Description:

A bird made of recycled cardboard rests atop a tree. In the background are woodchips, a brick wall, and an early spring sky. The cardboard bird is puppeteered by a person wearing all black clothing who has red hair. No skin or identifying features of the puppeteer are visible.

I had never made a puppet before until I made this bird puppet (which I decided to name “Beffica”) with the aid of Eli Nixon at the Cardboard Mutations workshop. To me, Beffica represents the ability of any material to come to life – something as simple as cardboard can be shaped into a moving creation, something that I had known beforehand but hadn’t been truly aware of until I looked at the mess of cardboard scraps on my work table and found Beffica sitting in the middle of it.