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DON BECKER
The information below was written by Don Becker, including his descriptions of works depicted in the photographs. The photographs are copyright of Don Becker and have been resized and reworked for screen presentation and faster uploading, therefore they are not the highest quality.

Don is one of the many wonderful artists currently exhibiting at Mann Gallery in Boston.


I have been a professional puppeteer, performing and building, for the last ten years.

About four years ago, a wonderful friend of mine showed me some miniature marionettes that he was building, using something called Super Sculpey.
Inspired by his work, I started using it to build some of my own.

After reading Bob McKinley's book on working with this medium, I was all set and thought that I knew everything. Well... it took a while, but after working out the kinks and learning how to make the clay work for me, I was all set. Here are a few of my polymer clay creations.




Frog with Cattails


Based on a frog character in one of my daughter's storybooks, he was much too wonderful.

In the book, he is an artist. Perhaps that is the reason for the little purple glasses..






The RockStar


Being a fan of the group Aerosmith, I built a series of rock singers.

When the strings are pulled, this star leaps, and struts. There are even strings to swivel and thrust his pelvis.

This puppet stands about eight inches tall. I particularly love his lips and the spandex pants which were fun to make.








The Surfer


I tend not to draw my figures out beforehand. Starting with a lump of clay, and some glass eyes, I just go for it.

This head (the part I always build first) was originally going to be an elf of some sort. As I made the hands and the body, he wasn't an elf anymore.

When the fake fur went on at the base of his pants, he became a surfer. He stands about eight inches tall..










Green Warrior with Pony Tail


This is one of the first guys I built when I finally figured things out. He is one of my favorites.

He stands nine inches tall and he moves beautifully. In fact, he will do just about anything.








Red Haired Warrior


The extreme proportions of the science fiction women warriors are right up my alley. Too much fun to do: the long legs, the pin-point waist, the tough attitude...

The wings are real; her armor is silver-leafed. She is approximately eleven inches tall without the hair extensions.







Pierrot on Stage


This is another example of a face that was, actually the whole body was, meant for another kind of figure.
He was a bald-headed imp of some sort that did not quite work out.

He hung around in my shop for a year or so, until I got the idea to make a proscenium out of Sculpey. He then turned into "Pierrot."






Gremlin with Ball


At 15" high, this guy is the tallest marionette that I've built with Super Sculpey.
He can throw the ball up and catch it in his hands, or throw it up and catch it on his nose.

Cernit teeth, glass sheep eyes, and ankle joints help him move and look pretty cool in my book.









All artwork displayed is © copyright (1997) Don Becker (all rights reserved)

email Don at Mann Gallery artmann@att.net

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The contents of this Web site are the sole responsibility of its creator, Mann Gallery. Last updated 02/08/98