Ricki Vincent
Ft. Worth, TX
After a childhood spent making puppets and other sculptures, Ricki Vincent returned to his work in 2000 after a long hiatus. He is the creator of one of the nation’s longest running public access cable TV shows, _Dante’s Place_, and his other works include Life Socks at the Grand Central Art Center; Dinosaurs, Democrats and Other Extinct Things at the Puppet Love Festival in San Francisco; a puppet adaptation of John Steinbeck’s The Pearl, commissioned by California State University at Fullerton; and Lucifer’s Garage Sale at the Other Side Arts in Denver. Vincent received an award from the Centennial Heritage Museum in Santa Ana, California for his work with children and puppets made from trash and recyclables.
A Night at Miss Mimi’s
Ricki Vincent
Artist BioA Night at Miss Mimi’s is an hour-long puppet show combining Japanese Bunraku and American burlesque. Vincent created 36-42″ original puppets for this work, which is set at the notorious dance hall, Mimi’s House of Burlesque. The characters include the hostess Miss Mimi, baggy-pants comic Little Pauly Penguin, Solange the wolf girl, Bubbles the Bunny and male dancer Ja Lion. These puppets perform some of the actual routines made famous by real burlesque stars of the early 20th century. The show is traditional Bunraku, with the puppeteers remaining in view of the audience as a way of educating viewers about the process and styles in which Vincent works.