The Bread and Puppet Museum

You’d never guess that an old weathered barn, located in the small village of Glover, Vermont, would be home to some of the world’s largest and most outrageous puppets.  And I’d never guess that I’d be here photographing them in the middle of winter at 14 degrees and no heat!  Frozen to the core of my being, I could not pass up this opportunity.

What once began in New York city’s lower East Side as the Bread and Puppet Theater  is now a museum whose performances cover political, social and economic issues, entering the semi-retirement stage and finding their place in theatrical history.

Whether you find it humorous or haunting, being in the presence of these magnificent pieces of art will certainly have an effect on you.  It’s a place of imagination, of creativity and of a time when art forms interacted with us personally to present a message.

The barn houses puppets from only a few inches tall to masks that measure up to 18 feet from chin to forehead.  They’re propped in corners, lying on stairs and hanging from the rafters.  They fill every square inch of the building.  They are arranged as if the characters were frozen in time during their performance. These are the inspiration of primarily one man,  choreographer and sculptor, Peter Schumann and cover a period of over 4o years of performances.

And since this is not your typical museum concerned with preservation but rather a natural display subjected to the elements of time, I’d suggest you visit it sooner than later.

Feel free to visit my online gallery to view the entire collection:

http:www.mitchellblochphotography.com

Mitchell