Front Row Seat: Meet the lantern moose built to light Duluth nights – Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH — It was a scene straight out of a fantasy movie. As darkness fell over a thick patch of forest on private land just outside city limits, a warmly glowing moose stepped out from among the trees.

As haunting music filled the air, the life-size puppet wandered through the woods and slowly made his way to a hushed cluster of onlookers. He peered from person to person, and when one viewer raised a hand to touch the moose’s nose, the animal gently nodded and lowered his head.

Scientists use the term “charismatic megafauna” to describe the kind of big animals that humans love to look at, and in that spirit, you could say the moose is Duluth’s newest charismatic mega-puppet. You can expect to see it join “Max Skeleton” at this year’s

All Souls Night

event Nov. 2.

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

Mary Plaster, the artist who founded Duluth’s All Souls Night, brought master puppeteer Andrew Kim to Duluth to create the moose in collaboration with Minneapolis puppet pros and Northland youth. Plaster’s inspiration, she said, came when she participated in a workshop with the England-based Kim.

“We built a unicorn and a dragon, and as we built the unicorn, I just kept seeing a moose,” said Plaster, waiting for the newly built creature to make its grand appearance before a small invited audience June 26. “I caught (Kim) while he was at the National Puppetry Conference in Connecticut and convinced him to take a plane here.”

“It’s been a really great group of artists,” said Kim. “Usually, when I teach this kind of thing, it’s for professional adult artists. (In Duluth) we had four high school students working with the adult professionals. I didn’t know how that was going to go, but actually, that was quite delightful.”

Cian Trok, one of those young students, was among the puppeteers who took turns operating the moose during its first encounter with an audience. Moving the moose is managed by a pair of people who wear the puppet on a harness. Trok said the puppetry is “hard physically,” but it’s easy to connect with viewers emotionally.

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

“This really broadened my horizons,” Trok said about the experience. “It (improved) my communication skills and my teamwork because I had to communicate with the person who was walking behind me the whole time.”

“They learned a lot of techniques,” said Cian’s mother, Christina Trok. “They built a structure first, and then they learned how to mold clay over the structure. Then they used a plastic composite material in order to create a more lightweight form. After that, they learned how to articulate the body parts and do the electrical (work) with the lighting of the lantern.”

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

Eduardo Sandoval-Luna, who has been a regular part of the All Souls Night events with his Oasis Del Norte food truck, said that Plaster invited his son, Adan, to participate in the moose workshop because she knew of the boy’s interest in art.

“We really like to be part of it,” Sandoval-Luna said about All Souls Night, “because that all comes from my culture.”

While Plaster’s event is “similar” to Mexico’s Day of the Dead traditions, said Sandoval-Luna, it typically takes place a short while later so as not to exactly overlap.

“It’s a really cool experience for people that have never seen that part of the culture,” Sandoval-Luna said.

“It was amazing to learn the techniques from Andrew, about how to make these puppets from the ground up,” said Adan Sandoval-Luna. “I learned soldering and learned how to work with the reeds that we use, and learned how to work with the paper as well — and to work with the special material for the head, which is a mixture of plastic and sawdust.”

The Arrowhead Regional Arts Council supported Kim’s Duluth residency. Dominique Herskind and Steve Ackerman were among five adult artists who came to Duluth from Minneapolis to participate in the week-long puppet build.

“Getting to make one of these, it’s kind of a coveted thing,” said Herskind. “People pay money to take these workshops and travel across the country to do them, so to be asked by Mary to help out was really just an honor.”

“There’s an intricate process to each of the steps,” explained Ackerman. “That’s kind of just what puppetry is. It’s the passing down of knowledge from artists to artists.”

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

The young people worked “right alongside us,” Ackerman said. “That was awesome.”

“Their eyes were so lit up,” said Herskind. “They just loved it! We’ve had so much fun, and it’s cool to show high schoolers puppetry to get them into it.”

“(Kim) has a high standard of excellence,” said Plaster. She described the moose’s structure as “really solid, but lightweight. I’m going to put some kind of varnish on and make it fairly water-resistant.”

The finished puppet measures 7.5 feet tall at the shoulders, by 9 feet long. When held by operators, the puppet towers over 10 feet tall. Grand Rapids artist Leah Yellowbird now has the puppet’s antlers and hind legs, which she’ll be embellishing, according to Plaster.

Plaster hopes the moose will last for years, as “something beautiful” to remind Northlanders of how vulnerable our real-life moose population remains. “I’m glad they’re maintaining (numbers),” said Plaster, “and just hoping the spirit of this moose calls them back home.”

Kim has become renowned for his articulated lantern puppets, which use internal LED illumination to give the giant creatures a magical quality.

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

“I figured out a way to actually work with artists to create something that’s really satisfying and meaningful,” he said, “so I’m not just teaching a skill, I’m leaving the host organization a product that they can use for other events.”

“Puppetry is magical,” said Herskind, “and it’s so cool to do it.”

Looking around at the couple dozen community members who gathered to see the moose step forth, Kim said, “I think they’ll be very proud of the work their family and their friends have contributed because the result is, I think, really lovely. A symbol of all the hands and creativity that have come together to make this.”