March 2013

Join us April 27, 2013 from 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. for Fun, Prizes, Inspirational Art Ideas, Puppet Performances and Certificates at the D.D, and Velma Davis Education and Visitor Center, Mill Creek MetroParks, Youngstown, Ohio. This Center is a part of the beautiful Fellows Riverside Gardens. We will be in the Weller Gallery at the Davis Center next to the Garden Café. This event will take place in conjunction with The Children’s Book Festival: Plant the Seed to Read. This year’s subtitle is “Dig into Reading”.

Six of the larger-than-life We Have Poipus Puppets together with a costumed character made to look like a puppet will be available for performances of a short play titled “Green Tidings!” Performances are scheduled for 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30. We will be seeking volunteers ages 6 and older from the audience to operate puppets to a pre-recorded soundtrack.

There will also be a Trash to Treasure Art Display of projects made from recyclables and non-recyclables.

The Children’s Book Festival and Puppet Performances are free and open to the public.

October 2012

Puppets Undergoing Reconstruction    

The manually operated larger-than-life We Have Poipus Puppets are undergoing some changes in construction.  The monofilament fishing lines, used to operate the mouths, are being replaced with a mechanism that will not break.  The Puppets will look the same and still operate the same.  The papier-mâché hands are being replaced with softer cloth hands filled with polyester.  The reason for this is to prevent accidental injury while operating the puppets.

April 2011

In May 2009 we began exploring affordable ways to make the arms of the puppets work robotically.  After several trials using different kinds of small motors, students from Youngstown City’s Chaney High School and Choffin Career and Technical Center under the guidance of their teachers have found a way to achieve this!  Many thanks to the students and to their teachers Mark Robinson, Carrie Sinkele and Kevin Sinkele.

We are especially grateful to Lego Education North America for their help and discount on products.  We received a 40% discount from Lego on a $5700 purchase of servos and other items for a total savings of $2280.  Special thanks to sales representative Ivory Toussant for making this savings possible.

Special thanks also goes out to computer expert Nick Kachmar.  Nick’s insight into shortcuts and possibilities of the Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 program together with the insights of Youngstown City Schools’ teacher Carrie Sinkele, has made it conceivable that the entire 32 minute We Have Poipus! Play can be made robotic and reproducible.  What seemed like an insurmountable amount of work, while still time consuming, now appears achievable.

May 2010

Students from Youngstown City’s Kirkmere Elementary School took part in an entertaining impromptu program at their school using the We Have Poipus!  Puppets.  With only about 30 minutes of instruction, kindergarten and first grade students successfully operated the puppets for an assembly of kindergarten, first and second graders.  The students had a great time making the puppets come alive to a specially made recording.  The interactive program had a theme of stewardship which included anti-bullying, recycling and a mention of not to do drugs.

Kirkmere teachers Janet Donofrio and Becky Meredith made the arrangements with their principal Donna Cox Bing for the program to take place.  Local members of Delta Kappa Gamma, an International Society of Women Educators Promoting Excellence in Education made the recording and assisted with the program.  The Delta Kappa Gamma members were Mary Adams, Agnes Campanale, Rita Herchik, Fran Kachmar, Tresa Kurz-Hedrich, Linda Smith and Joyce Swierz.

December 2009

Meet Father Time and join the other Puppets for Entertainment, Crafts and Fun at  First Night Canfield December 31, 2009!  We will be in the upper cafeteria of Canfield High School located at 100 Cardinal Drive, Canfield, Ohio. (Map & Directions)  Students will perform a skit at 6:00 P.M. and again at 8:00 P.M.  There will also be a display of art projects made from recycled materials and hands-on craft activities to make and take.  Crafts, which will be made from recycled materials, will include noise-makers and origami.

September 2009

YMCA Afternoon of the Arts 

The We Have Poipus Puppets will be taking part in the Afternoon of the Arts on October 10, 2009 
at the Davis Family YMCA located at  45 McClurg Road, Boardman, Ohio.  (Map & Directions)
This is a free event open to the public.  The Puppets will perform from 2:30-3:00 P.M.  There will also be a Re' fuse and Ref' use display of crafts made from recycled materials.  Re'fuse and Ref'use © 2007 is a We Have Poipus Stewardship Program that encourages No! to Drugs - Yes! to Green.

August 2009

Re'fuse and Ref'use at the 2009 Canfield Fair 

The Poipus Puppets will once again be at the Canfield Fair! 
We will be in the Gazebo outside the Fine Arts Building on Sunday September 6, 2009 from 3:00 - 5:00 P.M. 
There will be entertainment and a display of crafts made from recycled materials as well as hands-on craft activities to make and take.  Re'fuse and Ref'use © 2007 is a We Have Poipus Stewardship Program that encourages No! to Drugs - Yes! to Green.

December  2007

On December 31, 2007, Chaney High School students as well as students from previous years performed at the main branch of the Mahoning County Library for First Night Youngstown.

August  2007

Board of Mahoning County Commissioners
We received Green Team Grants of $1360 in 2006 and $2583 in 2007!
Thank you very much for your generous support!

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Students did a performance for the Green Team and the Board of Mahoning County Commissioners.

June 2007

There was a full performance of the We Have Poipus play at McGuffey Elementary School including all props and scenery.  Students in the audience wore visor hats saying "Yes! to Green...No! to Drugs!" as well as green tee shirts.  We received a Green Team Grant of $2583 in 2007!

June 2006

We had our first full performance of the We Have Poipus play at West Elementary School.  We received a Green Team Grant of $1360 in 2006!

August 2002

Students from Youngstown Schools will be doing a routine September 1, 2002 with Green Meanie, Leonardo Da Snozzio, Mousetrap, Fireball and Vacuum in the Gazebo outside the Fine Arts Building at the Canfield Fair. They will perform to the "We Have Poipus!" Song every 15 minutes between 4:00-6:00 p.m. There will also be a Poipus Puppet at the Fair in Educational Hall from August 28 to September 2 as part of The Steel Valley art Teachers Association display. 

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After much fun-filled practice and brainstorming students from Youngstown's West Elementary School developed and perfected the routine for the We Have Poipus! Song. There was a performance for West School as part of the Spring Music Program on May 30, 2002. The routine requires two students per puppet and a student director. About fifty students practiced and learned the routine and it was very hard to choose who to use for the performance. Since everyone couldn't perform for the program, students who didn't get a chance to perform later went room to room for a second performance. Performances were done with the students in full view operating the puppets without the rods and were very successful. The five puppets used were the ones that will actually perform the We Have Poipus! Song when the production is complete. 

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July 13 and 14, 2002 five more of the latest puppets were on display in Bliss Hall, YSU for the 2nd Annual Tri-County Young Artists' Expo sponsored by The Board of Mahoning County Commissioners. The characters that were on display for the Expo were: Leonardo Da Snozzio (30 years older), Mousetrap, Prudence (30 years older), Saturina and Venus. The younger version of Leonardo Da Snozzio was on display as part of the YSU Arts Fest Childrens's Arts Festival on July 14.

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April 17, 2002 Mousetrap and Mr. Wheatbread were on display for the Annual "Kids and Community Breakfast" sponsored by Mahoning County Children Services. Over 200 professionals as well as children who are winners in a Child Abuse Prevention Poster Contest attend this Breakfast. The puppets were well received and will attend the Breakfast again next year! 

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March 20, 2002 Mousetrap and Mr. Wheatbread were present for The Steel Valley Art Teachers Association annual "Tribute to the Arts" Recognition Dinner. Mary Adams, who together with her students wrote We Have Poipus!, was honored at the Dinner as the 2002 Outstanding Art Educator. 

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March 3, 2002 Fireball, Vacuum, and Leonardo Da Snozzio were on display at the Butler Institute of American Art for The Steel Valley Art Teachers Association Elementary Art Recognition Program. We hope to have a performance of all three songs from We Have Poipus! for next year's Elementary Art Recognition Program. The SVATA Elementary Art Recogniton Program is sponsored by The Farmers National Bank and is open to all art teachers in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana Counties regardless of membership in SVATA.

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December 2001

We want to thank the North Eastern Ohio Education Association for the lengthy article and photos in their Nov/Dec, 2001 News and Views.  Two of the Poipus Puppets, Ellie and Vacuum were on display at the McDonough Museum of Art for NEOEA Day, October 12, 2001 when they caught the attention of the NEOEA photographer and publication editor, Rebecca Tarantine.

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Not to be outdone, two of the other Poipus characters made an appearance at the "Christmas at the Lake" Craft Show in Lake Milton, Ohio on December 8, 2001.  The children who attended the craft show were astonished and delighted with the puppets.  A variety of  products promoting We Have Poipus! were for sale at the craft show as well as free handouts. There were individual  original holiday greeting cards by Michelle M., a 6th grader from Youngstown City Schools.  These cards were also for sale packaged with art supplies for coloring or painting.  CD's and audio cassette tapes of the sound track were made available for the first time.

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September 2001

For the second consecutive year a larger-than-life puppet from the We Have Poipus! Puppet Show was on display in the Educational Hall at the 2001 Canfield Fair.  Vacuum made his appearance along with the continuous play preview to the delight of the many visitors.

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The We Have Poipus! Puppets were also on display at the 1st Annual Tri-County Young Artist's Expo sponsored by the Board of Mahoning County Commissioners. The characters that were on display were Mr. Wheatbread, Green Meanie, Leonardo DaSnozzio, Ellie and Fireball. They were in the Bliss Hall Gallery during the YSU Summer Festival of the Arts on July 7 and July 8, 2001.

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Contemporary Issues in Art Education  by Yvonne Gaudelius and Peg Speirs is now available. A chapter titled Interdisciplinarity and Community as Tools for Art Education and Social Change by Mary Adams explains more about the We Have Poipus! Puppet Show Project