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July Issue 2003
Sumter Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, Features Works by Lyon Hill & Robert Padley
The story of Pinochio continues to fascinate children. We all know the Disney version of how a wooden puppet turns into a little boy, but what of the real story behind creating a marionette?
The Sumter Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, will present the exhibition, The Magic and Mystery of Marionettes: The Art of Lyon Hill and Robert Padley, on view from July 18 through Aug. 22, 2003. This fascinating exhibit explores the creative process of building marionettes, or puppets with strings.
Lyon Hill 
Robert Padley"We wanted to take the puppets out of the context of a show and display them as individual sculptures," says Lyon Forest Hill of the Columbia Marionette Theatre. "We put an incredible amount of detail into each marionette we add things that most people in the audience never get to fully appreciate. This exhibit will allow people to get up close to the puppets and see the tiny details, like the fact we even carve fingernails."
Hill works with co-artistic director Robert
Padley to develop the puppets used in the theatre's five major
productions each year. The process of building a marionette is
a labor intensive one that takes approximately two to three months
from start to finish. Each puppet is unique and requires a different
method of construction to achieve the desired look and range of
movements. Numerous visual aids highlight the creative process
from conception to construction.
The exhibit goes beyond the display
of completed puppets and will also feature conceptual drawings
and puppets in varying stages of production. The puppets range
in size from less than a foot to over five feet, and feature characters
from a wide range of sources - Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan,
The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Frankenstein, and Greek mythology.
"I've never seen them outside the stage," says Hill. "I'm excited to see them in a neutral back- ground and to give them a chance to breathe."
Hill was born in Columbia, SC, in 1975. He
grew up in Columbia, Charleston, and Swansea. He has studied at
Savannah College of Art and Design, University of New Mexico,
and graduated from University of South Carolina in 1997. Hill
was experimenting with doll making and this led him to the Columbia
Marionette Theatre in 1997 where he met Robert Padley. A friendship
quickly developed. The two were hired as puppeteers, but soon
began painting sets and lending vocal talent to new productions.
The two have contributed to approximately forty productions for
the theatre (eight as puppet makers).
Padley was born in Scotland in 1974 but moved to England in 1977.
A history of freelance art and a love of cinema/theater moved
him to answer an advertisement in The State newspaper for
a puppeteer.
The Columbia Marionette Theatre was founded
in 1988 by Allie Scollon as the culmination of a lifetime dedicated
to the art of puppetry. In 2000, founder Scollon retired and her
son, John, became executive director. Padlet and Hill assumed
the role of art directors and puppet makers. Their puppets have
evolved from methods practiced by Scollon. Karri R. R. Scollon
is seamtress and creative consultant for all puppet costumes.
Toni Turbeville is business manager and promoter. Richard Morgan
is the traveling manager. The theater is open year round, and
in addition to its main stage productions, it tours performances
across South Carolina.
For more information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings,
call the gallery at 803/775-0543 or e-mail to (sumterart@ftc.i.net).
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