Exhibit Celebrates Renowned UConn Puppeteer's Influence

STORRS, CT — The University of Connectict's world-renowned Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is celebrating Puppet Arts program director Bart Roccoberton’s career as a puppeteer and educator with “It’s Always Pandemonium,” an exhibition of nearly 100 puppets created by Roccoberton, his Pandemonium collaborators, and dozens of UConn puppet arts students under his guidance.

The exhibition was curated by MFA candidate Matt Sorensen, who says there is a cohesiveness throughout the wide array of puppets on display owing to how Roccoberton has passed along the technique of designing puppets using paper sculpture as the starting point, utilizing the shapes of cones and cylinders as the foundation to make facial features and body parts. Roccoberton learned the technique when the German master puppeteer Albrecht Roser was a visiting professor in Storrs.

"Bart Roccoberton is, behind the scenes, one of the most influential puppeteers in the United States, and has been so for many years," says John Bell, a puppeteer, director of the Ballard and author of American Puppet Modernism. "We thought it was time to understand not only Bart’s influence as a teacher, but also his fascinating work as a puppet designer, builder, and performer."

Among the puppets included in the exhibition are those from "A Christmas Carol" (1992) and "Fabula" and "Tales of the Leatherman" and "Eleventide" from Pandemonium Puppets and travinsky’s "Firebird" and the giant polar bear created for " Winter’s Tale" and the Arthur Fiedler puppet created for the 2016 "Puppets Take the Pops" performance developed by puppet arts students for the Boston Pops Orchestra.

"It's Always Pandemonium" continues through Sept. 29 at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, 1 Royce Circle, Storrs. For more information go to bimp.uconn.edu.

To see more on his career, visit Uconn Today.