Juise

I met Juise tonight (pronounced Joo-iss--very fun to say), the Sesame Street puppet maker that will be making the Audrey 2 puppets for Little Shop of Horrors. I met him at his house. I l-u-v love Juise and his wife. They are these amazingly prolific artists who will soon be shown around the world via the Piet Mondrian Foundation in Holland. It was really cool being in his house. He is one of my favorite Bangladeshi artists, although I didn't know it before being in his house. Last year he displayed these amazing sculptures in our school, which were about religious and political oppression in Bangladesh, yet somehow still very fun. He also makes these great masks that have a sandy texture. Tonight he showed me his latest sand paintings--literally made from sand and glue, with some shattered mirrors. They have shattered sand masks in them. They have this wonderful nostalgic sand castle feeling, yet are about things like lost identity which are not very nostalgic. Somehow they are lyrical yet disturbing. I love them. I loved his house. So many cool things to look at, all of them made by him or his wife.

They were as sweet as could be. They fed me cake. We talked about their work, their 4 dogs (their favorite recently died), the price of rice, Bangladeshi Sesame Street, and of course plant puppets. I asked if I can help make the puppets. The directors want this because it will help with sizing the puppets to fit me (I'll be inside of 2 of the puppets), and also keep him to our deadlines (in general, Bangladeshis have a time span all their own. Schedules don't mean a whole lot). After talking to him, I can tell that that won't be an issue. His day typically starts at noon and ends at 3 a.m. He has said that this will be his only project until it is done.

I am absolutely thrilled that I will be helping Juise to make these puppets. I'm sure I'll be of little real help, but I'm going to learn so much from him about making things. We're going to build these 5 puppets that will dominate his house (quite a large house, actually, but so are the puppets). I'm going to get to talk to him and his wife about their art and all kinds of other interesting things. We are planning on spending a month making these puppets. I think it will be a very fun month for me!