Meet the Artist

Meet the Artist!

I took my children to museums in Chicago for years when they were young. I really loved the Field Museum and I kept thinking, wouldn't it be great to make all those dinosaurs come to life for visitors; for THEM to be able to manipulate the animals and make them move. So when I started this project I decided to incorporate my love for puppets. Puppets are fascinating, spellbinding things. Puppets are magical.

Puppeteering techniques allow you to be in control of the animals. You can finesse them. You can put your own Body English and movement into them and do things that are random and unpredictable.

I've been able to combine my love of natural science, art, mechanics and puppetry and share it with young people and families.

John Payne is a 1982 graduate of the School of Art at Georgia State College and creates his beastly friends at Payne Studios in Asheville, North Carolina.