Puppeteer Hobey Ford to visit Mid-Ohio Valley schools | News, Sports, Jobs

Renowned puppeteer Hobey Ford will visit area schools from March 7-10 through Artsbridge. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — Hobey Ford and his Golden Rod Puppets will be touring elementary schools in Wood, Pleasants, and Ritchie counties in West Virginia and Washington County in Ohio as part of the Artsbridge Artists-on-Tour series March 7-10.

Artsbridge provides study guides for teachers which include additional information and art activities for classroom use.

Ford’s production “Animalia” explores the world of animals through movement, music, and puppetry. He breaks out of the traditional puppet theater booth turning the whole theater into his performance stage. The pieces include a magnified look at butterfly and frog metamorphosis, the world of birds, his classic undersea ballet of whales, frolicking dolphins, and otters.

Ford has never had another career. He is internationally known and an award-winning performer and Kennedy Center Partner in Education teaching artist. Ford knew early on what he wanted to do after seeing a puppet show while still a youngster. While studying at an arts college, Hobey found “… one of my cornerstones — that I would approach puppetry as storytelling with puppets.” He designs and constructs all of his Golden Rod Puppets as well as the sets that surround them.

Ford has received many awards including the UNIMA Citation of Excellence and has been the recipient of three Jim Henson Foundation grants. He not only performs his original works all over the world but also offers workshops to teachers and students alike. He created both the “Foamies” and the hand puppet known as “Peepers,” an imaginative, patented set of plastic eyes — for hands of any size — worn in several ways that turn the bare hand into an innovative and inexpensive instant puppet.

Renowned puppeteer Hobey Ford will visit area schools from March 7-10 through Artsbridge. (Photo Provided)

The “Foamies” are large animal puppets that Ford designs, carves, and paints from blocks of foam.

Now a resident of Asheville, N.C., Ford also draws on his early experiences growing up in coastal Connecticut or living in a Nevada Native American community in writing the scripts for some of his performances such as “Whale Walker” and “Turtle Island Tales.” Ford first created the Golden Rod Puppets in 1980 and often adapts folk tales and global cultural traditions for his performances, always adding a special “Golden Rod” twist.

The shows will be 9 a.m. March 7 at Pleasants County Schools, Belmont, and 1 p.m. at Ritchie County Schools, Ellenboro; 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. March 8 at Wood County Schools, Blennerhassett Auditorium; 9 a.m. March 9 at Belpre Elementary, Belpre, and 12:30 p.m. at Warren Elementary, Vincent; and 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. March 10 at Wood County Schools, Blennerhassett Auditorium.

Artsbridge provides a variety of in-school arts education programs such as ArtCart, Catalog of Artists, Arts Encounter, and Very Spectacular Arts Festival. Funding for Artsbridge arts education programs is provided in part by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture, and History, Ohio Arts Council, The Bernard McDonough Foundation, Fenton Foundation Inc., City of Vienna, City of Parkersburg, and contributors to the Artsbridge Fund.