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