RTBTCKI The DragonCon 2016 wrap up
Posted By Kathleen David on September 7, 2016
Few more thoughts about DragonCon before I put it away.
The Art Show gang does not get enough credit for all they do. Anne and John work on this beast the whole year to make sure it is the one of the best and diverse Art shows in the world. They have a jury to select the artists who will be participating with a couple of artists who are grandfathered in for various reasons. They have to assign the spaces to the artists and that takes a lot of work as they try not to put two artists of a similar style/subject next to each other so the flow of the work is pleasing to the eye rather than 12 panels of cats with wings by 4 different artists. At the show the whole gang problem solves, checks artists in and out, answers questions, keeps an eye on all the art to deter both theft and photo taking, and smile while doing so. Thank you from me to everyone who makes this event happen while making it look effortless.
I don’t understand why we had a new thing this year about walking around with one’s personal soundtrack blaring to a point that people walking near could not hear each other talk. I think last year I heard a couple of soundtracks with costumes but those were like the Mario theme or some other gaming themes. They were short and not on repeat. This year the big boom boxes came out of the closets and the basements and were being used to fill the air with sound and they didn’t stop. Then there were the two guys who were not wearing costumes at all but decided that playing thrash metal at 2 in the morning was their jam. Not cool. I know it is now super easy to add sound to a costume but stop and think of the people around you, please.
I discovered this year that I have fans of both my puppet work and my web log. I had a number of people come up and tell me that they love my puppets and love watching the process for getting to a finished puppet on the blog. I had people coming up telling me how much they loved what I put in the Art Show this year. I know I disappointed a few by saying I would not have a piece in the puppet slam this year but they understood why. I cannot even being to express how much this meant to me. I have wondered if people, outside of my personal circle of friends and family, were reading this and enjoying it or at least getting something out of it. Apparently so which gives me motivation to continue both with the puppets and this web log.
It was also fun seeing what people did with the knowledge that they picked up in panels that I ran in previous years. I had people showing me things that they made because of what I had shown them.
I think I am proudest of Spencer who I met back when I was teaching at Georgia Ensemble Theater’s summer program when he was about 8 or 9. I was teaching a puppetry course for the kids. Spencer, who had already started building his own puppets, took to it like a duck to water. I spent some extra time with him showing how I build my puppets and gave him a copy of a basic puppet pattern. A number of years later at a DragonCon, the one where Peter and I got together, I met up with Spencer and his dad where he showed me a puppet that he had built. It was amazing. Last year I met up with Spencer now a young man who was doing fascinating things with puppets. This year he and some friends build a parade puppet of the worm from Labyrinth that marched in the parade with Karen Prell, the original puppeteer of the worm, operating the controls.
I told a number of people that I really feel that my purpose in life right now is to teach others how I do what I do so that the art form can continue. It is nice to see concrete examples that I am doing the right thing.
The Marriott bottleneck was better this year. The hotel and DragonCon staff did a good job of keeping it moving. Not that there weren’t time that it was too many people in too small a space. Physically there is no way to change this but I give props for the solutions they have created to deal with the ongoing issue.
Brian Henson is a very nice man. His father would be so proud of him and what he has done.
Those of you in the Atlanta Area, the Center for Puppetry Arts is celebrating what would have been Jim’s 80th Birthday on September 24. Get your tickets early because it sounds like a blast and a half.
Thank you to Pat Henry, Regina Kirby, and Rachel Reeves for making sure that we had an excellent DragonCon this year. Thank you to Beau Brown, Lee Cox, and Sue Philips for allowing me to be part of their tracks this year. Caroline says that she is perfectly willing to participate as a panelist next year.
I am grateful for all the people that make DragonCon such a great experience.
