Today we’d like to introduce you to Anne Sawyer.
Hi Anne, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I navigate the glorious, raggedy edges of life through art and the written word. I didn’t study to be a puppeteer or a children’s book writer. I know now there are a few colleges that teach those things, but I didn’t hear about them when I was growing up. I certainly never came across either job in any of those career tests in high school, the ones where you fill in the little grey circles with a number two pencil. I just kept following the things I loved until I stumbled into my current career, back-asswards.
In my early twenties, after a checkered career in which I studied three languages, theater, and creative writing, I was stuck in a dead-end job, teaching Spanish to corporate clients. I hated it. Actually, I loved my students, and I just hated having to dress up and do the same thing every day. I heard about an audition for an interactive puppet dinner theater show where they needed to replace their leading lady. I didn’t know how to operate puppets. I had seen the May Day Parade in high school and fell in love with it, but that seemed like a world apart, and I didn’t know how to access it.
So years later, I went to this audition in the basement of the Center for the Performing Arts. There were a couple of guys with long hair and beards, and they handed me a life-sized Bun raku puppet named Madame Freux-Freux. They told me her backstory and reassured me that they could teach me how to work her, if I could do the voice. And I took a look at her and thought of Margaret Dumont, Groucho Marx’s high-society foil. “Helloooooooo,” I trilled, and they stared at me. “That’s exactly the same voice the other actress used,” they explained. I was just channeling an archetype, but it felt like a sign. I was cast in that show, and those two bearded guys, Chris Griffith and Erik Esse, would come to be close collaborators for the next seven years in a little theater called Galumph. And that was my introduction to puppetry.
That career in puppetry didn’t unfold all at once and it is constantly changing. We are very fortunate here in the Twin Cities. There is a thriving art scene and Powderhorn is one of the hubs of that burgeoning creativity. In the last twenty years, I’ve been privileged to work with groups like Artstart, Barebones, Open Eye, Chicks on Sticks, and yes, as a May Day staff artist at Heart of the Beast! (Cheers, confetti, tossing of boxer shorts.) Puppetry is fun because it can encompass so many of the things I love: felting, sewing, painting, sculpting, embroidery, performing, stilting, producing and writing. It’s one of those professions where there is often no road map. Every puppet and script can bring a new set of problems to solve. You can’t just YouTube it.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My friend Liz gave me a framed picture of an old English word: coddiwomple. Definition: “to travel purposefully towards an as yet unknown destination.” I think that encapsulates it perfectly. It’s not a safe, secure job, being a freelance artist of any kind. One of the biggest challenges is finding a work-life balance. You want to take the work when it comes in, but sometimes it all piles up in a couple of months. Then there are months when there is less work. That being said, I feel so lucky. We have a pretty nurturing puppetry community that values sharing resources and knowledge. Still, it can be a tough row to hoe, making your living in the arts. You have to be a teacher, a grant writer, a business person AND a creator.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in color shadow puppets, stilting, and large puppet construction. I’ve gotten to create commissioned shows for the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Shadows of the Floating World), MacPhail Center for Music (Petrushka) and build puppets for Gustavus Adolphus College (The Other Shore, Measure for Measure). One of my favorite annual projects is directing the giant puppet pageant based on the Kalevala for the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center. I produce my own works under the banner of Magic Lantern Puppet Theater, and have created 15 shows. The most recent ones were Nalah and the Pink Tiger, and Nalah Goes to Mad Mouse City, which are based on my picture books of the same title. I also have a picture book for teens and grown-ups called Mars on Life. Over the years, my work has received significant support from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, the Jerome Foundation, and the Jim Henson Award.
Prior to the pandemic, I found great fulfillment in teaching visual art to adults with disabilities at Lifeworks Day Centers in Brooklyn Park and Eagan. Unfortunately, Covid shut the day centers down. Like everyone, I had to pivot and learn how to teach virtually. During the shutdown, I learned iMovie and made a number of educational art videos for Hennepin County Libraries and taught camps via Zoom. Now that things have opened up, and I’m back to creating and teaching in person. This summer, I got to make the Bigfoot puppets for Open Eye Theater’s hilarious musical HAIRBALL. And thanks to a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, I developed creative writing residencies for two schools based on the theme of mental health. I’m also the Production Coordinator for Minnesota’s only Latino theater, Teatro del Pueblo.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I adore our urban forest, how green and fragrant it is in the summer. I love our wild and varying creativity, our growing diversity. But I think our city has a long way to go when it comes to making our city safe and welcoming for everyone.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.annesawyerart.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anne.sawyer.aitch/
Image Credits
Liz Welch
Jemiah Aitch
