Cheap Art Manifesto from Bread and Puppet Theater

Our Bread and Puppet artists-in-residence gave me this Cheap Art Manifesto poster on their last day at Waitsfield Elementary.  I love it!  

Bread and Puppet Artists-in-Residence... What we loved

Students used watercolor, Sharpie markers and colored pencils to respond to what they loved and what they learned during our time with our artists-in-residence from Bread and Puppet Theater.  

Many artists drew their favorite parts of the final pageant, which showed our community's response to Hurricane Irene in August 2011. 

Students in Bird Costumes

The River Monster

River Monster! 

Katherine from B+P

Students dancing as the River Monster

Houses and a toilet (!) getting washed down the river

River Monster

Singing songs and playing games

Katherine and Lily from B+P

River Monster

Woman in a boat floating on the river

The River Monster with lots of students inside

Rainsticks

Dancing with rainsticks

Potato people represent the population of the community 

Lily taught us a warm-up that used the Spanish words for body parts

The monster comes out from beneath the river

TEAMWORK! 

Bread and Puppet Theater at Waitsfield Elementary School!

For our Artist-in-Residence this year, Waitsfield School is pleased to welcome four artists from Bread and Puppet Theater from Glover, Vermont.  Ali, Katherine, Lili and Susie are part of a group of artists and performers who work collaboratively to create performances that respond to local concerns and the political climate of the times.  They use paper mache and other recycled materials to make puppets and "cheap art" to use in the shows.   


From the Bread and Puppet website:
"Cheap Art hopes to reestablish the appreciation of artistic creation by making it available to a wider audience and inspire anyone to revel in an art making process that is not subject to academic approval or curatorial acceptance."




Waitsfield students have created a performance in response to their variety of experiences during the Huricane Irene flood.    All grades are involved in different aspects of the process, which integrates art, music, writing, movement and storytelling.