{"id":46622,"date":"2017-09-13T16:30:06","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=46622"},"modified":"2017-09-13T16:30:06","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:30:06","slug":"brock-alum-to-share-hands-on-experience-in-puppetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2017\/09\/brock-alum-to-share-hands-on-experience-in-puppetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock alum to share hands-on experience in puppetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a little felt and a lot of talent, Sarah Argue (BA \u201906) has created a career for herself in the world of puppetry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through her business, Rock the Arts, the Brock dramatic arts alumna has been touring across Canada with her crew of unique characters sharing shows about compassion, enjoying the little things in life and the power of choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

She will return to her alma mater Friday, Sept. 15 to share insight into her professional puppet company. The presentation will take place at 1 p.m. in Studio A of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. All members of the Brock community are invited to attend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Argue is in town to receive the Faculty of Humanities Distinguished Graduate Award, to be presented on Saturday, Sept. 16 during the Alumni Recognition Reception held as part of Brock\u2019s Homecoming weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been seven years since Argue launched her successful business after quitting what she described as a \u201cnormal job\u201d \u2014 working as a program co-ordinator for the City of Ottawa \u2014 to pursue her passion.<\/span><\/p>\n

She taught herself how to make the felt creations and began taking her show on the road.<\/span><\/p>\n

Argue now has a roster of 80 puppets that she uses to perform shows in schools, libraries and theatres. She has also produced a children\u2019s CD and currently has multiple projects on the go, including a film, children\u2019s book and book to support other artists wanting to build their own careers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Argue credits the diverse theatre experience she received at Brock \u2014 where she performed in <\/span>The Crucible<\/span><\/i> and directed a Norm Foster play, among other productions \u2014 for preparing her for the stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t realize at the time what a gift it was,\u201d Argue said of her Brock degree. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize what a well-balanced degree I was getting in theatre.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Her time as an undergrad had her touch on lighting, acting, directing and costuming \u2014 all beneficial to her career. That experience gave her the confidence to walk into any theatre and comfortably speak to the techs in charge about how her show is set up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Argue\u2019s love for creating puppets is matched only by the experience of giving them a voice and watching them evolve into life-like characters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turning her passion into a business hasn\u2019t always been easy, but Argue has relied on the support of other artists. Puppeteer Noreen Young, from <\/span>Under the Umbrella Tree<\/span><\/em>, has been a mentor to Argue, helping her learn how to pitch to networks and encouraging her to keep going when times get tough.<\/span><\/p>\n

Workshops with puppeteer Trish Leeper of Muppets fame have introduced Argue to the idea of puppetry on camera, guiding her toward more film work, including the #IHopeFor awareness campaign for childhood cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou need a lot of support from other artists to keep going,\u201d Argue said, while expressing her desire to pay that sentiment forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Carol Merriam, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, said the Faculty is pleased to recognize Argue with the Distinguished Graduate award.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe skills that she learned in her studies in dramatic arts and the creativity, enthusiasm and drive that were fostered at Brock have led her to create her own niche,\u201d she said. \u201cHers is the kind of success we hope and expect from graduates of Brock.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a little felt and a lot of talent, Sarah Argue (BA \u201906) has created a career for herself in the world of puppetry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":46623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,37,1,4],"tags":[3364,46,5759],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46622"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}