Aughra – Continuing with a range of marionettes inspired by our love of “The Dark Crystal” and the incredible world-building expanded upon in the “Age of Resistance”, the gallery could not be complete without the font of cynical wisdom that is Mother Aughra.

Mother Aughra was the embodiment of Thra, acting as the world’s eyes and voice. Created by the Crystal of Truth shortly after Thra’s formation in the Age of Innocence to bring peace between plants and animals, Aughra guided the Gelfling in their early development, but later shifted her attention to the stars after being seduced by the otherworldly knowledge of the urSkeks during the Age of Harmony. During the Age of Division, she abandoned Thra in order to explore the Uni-Verse, returning later to guide the Gelfling resistance against the Skeksis.

The creature design and costuming, originally imagined and depicted by Brian Froud and brought to life by Henson’s partner-in-puppetry Frank Oz, is a perfect example of manifest fantasy and a wonderful challenge to recreate through the lens of The Squeaking Tribe studio workshop.

Large-scale Artworks

Fully articulated marionettes and interactive Art!

When I first began making marionette puppets back in 1996 (22 years young), I was living with a potter and a drum-maker in the foothills of Adelaide, South Australia. With access to a whole range of clays, I found myself one day sculpting a hollow head and face. “If I added clay hands and feet,” I thought to myself, “I’d have the basic counter balances for a puppet!” Which prompted two simple questions: a) Of what little marionettes I’d seen, why did so many of them look so cheap and crappy, and b) Why did none of them work!?

My challenge clearly was to make a good looking puppet that would actually perform. As the Internet was yet to become a household fixture and Google not yet a technocrat’s pipedream, I resorted to local libraries whose resources on the subject was terribly lacking. Luckily, the process for making a marionette was a time consuming one with many separate factors; hand sculpting with clay which needed days (sometimes weeks) to dry before firing, sewing and soft-sculpture creation of the ‘skeleton’, costuming and assembling of the basic character, construction of an appropriate crosspiece before stringing and detailing the final finished piece. In all, a process that required a 3-6 weeks work, an opportunity of course which allowed a LOT of extra time for dreaming up new puppet characters to make!

Every marionette I made, I was learning and discovering new ways to make them quicker and more effective and with every idea that ensued, I was having more and more ideas of other puppets I could make. The avalanche of ideas which consumed me in that first year alone could keep me busy crafting for a decade at least; having kept that passion alive for over twenty-five years, I easily have enough ideas to fill multiple lifetimes!

From these humble beginnings, I have since developed a whole range of different interactive effigies which borrow from the traditional methods of Puppetmaking while at the same time improve on ideas of articulation to create marionettes which everyone can use and indeed, with a little practice, manipulate like a professional. Sharing this with others and inspiring a new generation of artists and puppeteers to reignite the tradition is probably the greatest joy in this life I have made and now share with my wife, Sara.

Sol

Doll-form/ full marionette height approximately 50/99cm or 20/38in.