Artist Candice McMath of New Philadelphia has combined an early love of puppets with a formal art education to create a unique niche.
As a child, McMaths love of theatrical arts and puppets was fostered by her fathers ability to do the perfect Grover voice and a willingness to help his young daughter perform plays with her stuffed animals. From the age of six, Candices grandmother taught her needle arts and sewing. As an adult, she received a formal education in studio arts and business from Muskingum University, where she continues as a graduate student working towards a Master of Arts in Education degree. During her journey, she also obtained her license to teach visual arts for grades 4 through 12.
McMath has combined these experiences and education with her talents to create several facets of puppet education for area children and adults. Each fall and spring she teaches semester-long classes at the Tuscarawas County Center for the Arts (TCCA) for children age 10 and older. McMath describes the class as a creative process; They think about their characters, they draw them out, they choose their fabrics, cut out their pattern, and hand sew the materials together.
McMath also teaches acting techniques for puppets as well as how to write small skits for them. Students perform their skits while being videotaped so they may critique and refine their skills. McMath also instructs a two-week workshop each summer that meets for six sessions.
Custom puppet design and creation are another area of expertise for McMath. She has fabricated a number of puppets according to client specifications for area theater productions as well as for educational purposes. She recently created a set of five puppets for the First Ladies Library in Canton, Ohio for their Fun, Fitness, and the First Garden Project. She was asked to create a set of vegetable puppets to be used in their performances this past summer, one of which was scheduled to be attended by the First Lady. The museum has expanded the show and is adding additional puppets, which McMath is creating for them.
The third unique facet to McMath is that she is also an actor and can perform with or as a puppet. She describes her most challenging performance, due to the sheer size and physical strength required, as the plant puppet in the play Little Shop of Horrors. The full-body puppet had to be carried by several people. It was so complex that it required two actors to operate, with McMath donning the forty-pound creation and timing her body movements to the voice of another actor.
Some puppets are easier to play, especially those she describes as similar to herself with bright bubbly personalities, but McMath must work a little harder to create the characters of puppets with low gruff voices. She finds that when she is working and performing with a puppet, her audience ceases to see her and concentrates instead on the fabric creation on the end of her arm. She has discovered that people are more receptive to education and messages from puppets. She credits this to shows such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, where puppets were presented as nonthreatening and entertaining as well as educational. Puppets appear easier to relate to because they do not have an agenda or ulterior motive.
Current and future projects for McMath include making additional puppets for the First Ladies Library and continuing to teach classes at the TCCA and as a member of a development team for an adult puppet ministry being formed by the Muskingum Valley Presbytery, where she is Missions Coordinator.
McMath summarizes her work:
You cant have a bad day around a puppet. You just cant. I dont care what else I have going on; good, bad, or indifferent, I can put a puppet on my arm, and everything changes. People are happier. Theres laughter. Theres silliness. There are smiles when people see that colorful creation on the end of your arm. From your elbow outward, something transcends normal and this other creature just pops to life to give us something to smile about. Its the most amazing thing I know.
