Instructor Feature: Cheryl Capezzuti by Lia Musante

Make Wearable Puppets for your Community using Recycled Materials

Written by Lia Musante, Touchstone Studio Management Intern 2025

Join sculptor and puppetmaker Cheryl Capezzuti in an upcoming five-day workshop in puppets perfect for inspiring those in your community or school. Capezzuti says “I love sharing the skills of making giant puppets with others, especially teachers. It’s powerful to use what is essentially the debris of American culture, paper, cardboard and used fabrics, to make something bigger than yourself.”

Capezzuti runs Puppets for Pittsburgh, an interactive public art project that includes a free puppet lending library, educational workshops in puppetmaking, and performances open to the community. Making puppets for the collective is a driving force behind her work and her workshops. “Most of the students in the class make a puppet for an event in their community that is important to them. Last time I taught the class a teacher made a giant William Shakespeare for a big event at her school. Another participant made a giant mermaid for a parade in Mexico that she attends every year. Both of these really stood out to me.”

The workshop will guide students through a variety of sculpture techniques in order to build their unique puppet. “The thing participants typically note about our process is that they learn a whole bunch of transferable skills that are not unique to puppetry. We build with cardboard, paint, sew and papier-mâché. We end up with amazing puppets, but the skills could transfer to making all kinds of large scale artworks.” Capezzuti demystifies the processes of making larger-than-life puppets: “It’s not hard! Everyone always makes something they are proud of. We laugh a lot. It feels like an amazing break for reality.”

She explains her fascination with puppets through their ability to transform the wearer, pull attention, and share ideas: “There is a magic in making and becoming something bigger than yourself. Puppets make a statement in our world and can be used for both celebration and complaint. I love their versatility.” Alongside puppetmaking, Capezzuti has another studio art practice—Studio Capezzuti— focused on sculpting dryer lint into looming figures. “I can’t not make things. I make puppets, sculptures, and experiences and it always feels good to me. Since the beginning of humanity people have made things that are connected to their lives, both useful and beautiful. I think people in general would feel more centered if they spent more time creating–I think it is a basic human need.”

Capezzuti has a long history of coming to Touchstone to teach and take part in its community. “Years ago, when our kids were small, my friend metalsmith Jan Loney told me about Touchstone.  She suggested that we try to teach the same week and our kids could go to the kids camp. We loved our week in the woods! We did it for a couple of years and it was a really magical experience for us and our kids. I don’t know if you still have kids programs, but kids loved it when you did and they also met some life-long friends. They are all grown up now and I have continued to come back occasionally to teach. I just love being there” she says. “I love being in the woods, working for a whole week with a group of interested people, sharing my passion and skills. It’s like art camp for grown-ups. There is nothing like it.”

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Takes place from July 21-25 at Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington, PA. Thanks to support from The Grable Foundation, $500 Educators Mini Grants are available to PAEA Members, K-12 teachers and administrators, out-of-school and homeschool educators. An easy online application is available here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Educator-Mini-Grant-Application