Help us bring to life the story of "Blue Corners", a once bustling hamlet in the town of Charlton on the Western edge of Saratoga County! This now deserted village was an important stagecoach stop between the Mohawk River and Northville, NY.
To help celebrate that little part of Saratoga County's history, Main Street Studio and the Charlton Historical Society are planning their first large-scale puppet procession as part of Charlton's annual Founders Day Parade on June 8th and we need lots of help bringing the parade characters to life!
Funded in part by our generous Members and a Community Arts grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, Main Street Studio will be hosting a series of free community making sessions for people of all ages and abilities to come in and participate in making puppets and props for the parade.
This project started earlier in the year when Main Street Studio hosted a "master class" in puppet making taught by Processional Arts Workshop. Alex Kahn and Sophia Michahelles amazed us all with examples of quirky and life-like horses and characters of all shapes and sized all made by community members with cardboard, glue, PVC pipes and lots of creativity!
Now, we are ready to start making big puppets of our own and are looking for helpers! Join us during any of our open community making sessions to lend a hand!
All abilities and ages welcome (kids with supervision!), no experience necessary!
Saturday, April 5: 2 – 4pm Create the "skeleton" for the central puppet figure... an Innkeeper! Click here to RSVP
Local artists Maria D'Angelo and Matt Paul will kick off this series of community making sessions with an afternoon of sculpting our central figure in the parade, a 16' tall paper mache Innkeeper! We are also going to be making props for our Innkeeper, including some paper mache pies, loaves of bread and big pints of ale!
Saturday, April 19: 12 – 4pm Begin Stagecoach and Horse Puppet Build Click here to RSVP
In this afternoon making session, we will begin work on creating a jostling stagecoach made out of cardboard, paper mache and stretchy cords! We are also going to be making props to represent goods carried by the stagecoach like crockery and furniture!
Saturday, April 26: 2 – 4pm Stage Coach & Horse Decorations Click here to RSVP If all is going to plan...in this session we will be creating horses made out of cardboard, paper mach and stretch cords to gallop along and pull the stagecoach!
Sunday, May 18: 2 – 4pm More props and Dressing the Innkeeper Click here to RSVP In this making session, we will be working on the finishing touches for the Innkeeper Puppet, Stagecoach and Horses that the community has been working on! There might be some painting, some more props to make, some adjustments to the movements and some practice carrying the puppets before we are ready to march on Sunday, June 8! Come on in and help with what you can!
Funding for this Community Art Project
We would like to thank the Town of Charlton and Saratoga Arts for helping to make this program possible through the Community Arts Regrant Program, funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
We would also like to thank our Supporting and Studio Members who's membership helps us make the Studio space and equipment available for community projects like this!
Donations for materials and workshop time in the Studio are also welcome! Stop by or Venmo @mainstreetcharlton 🙏