Puppet Art & Artistry of Jeghetto Opening reception. 6:30 pm. Free. ACWC Gallery, 31 South Main St, Perry

The ACWC, in collaboration with the NYS Puppet Festival, is pleased to showcase the work of Jeghetto. This brilliant optimistic artist’s work will be displayed in our Perry Main Street gallery. The exhibition will open on Thursday, June 20, with a public reception starting at 6:30 PM.

Tarish Pipkins, aka Jeghetto, has been building puppets for over 20 years and is the Artistic Director of Jeghetto’s Entertainment LLC. He has produced and directed his shows in puppet theater, collaborates with other theaters on commission, and incorporates giant puppets in his Interactive Puppet Installations for the public to engage with. However, Jeghetto says “I’m particularly passionate about my stage production titled THE HIP HOP ERA OF 5P1N0K10 (Spinokio). It’s an afro-futuristic puppet show about an android who wants to be a real B-boy”. The show has experienced an impressive tour with appearances in Atlanta, NYC, Detroit, Chicago, NC, and New Orleans. The story will be published as a graphic novel and adapted into a short film funded by Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams.

Jeghetto serves on the board of the Jim Henson Foundation and has worked on music videos, commercials, and television with celebrities such as Missy Elliott, Pharrell Williams, and Alec Baldwin.

Jeghetto thinks Puppetry is Magic.

He is a self taught Jack of all trades and a visual artist with expertise in several media. He was always creative, making and building things with whatever resources he could find from a young age. He started building puppets at the age of 30. Now he is known as a self taught master builder and puppeteer.

Before Jeghetto jumped into puppetry full-time he taught social skills to students on the spectrum through puppetry. He and his wife ran a level 3 group home as therapeutic foster parents for a few years and continued as foster parents in their home. Teaching children and exposing them to the arts remains a passion for Jeghetto.

Jeghetto’s lived optimism comes from his belief that he is truly blessed. Born and raised in a small town south of Pittsburgh, he witnessed the economic devastation that eventually came with the loss of the steel mills. He was raised by a single mother in a community that would become overrun with drugs and gangs. Throughout this time, his family and neighbors helped each other and shared their resources. Today he has a beautiful family whose members are actively involved in the arts and participate with him in many of his projects. They have a home in rural North Carolina. He believes this is a testament to the fact that “things can change for the better”. His advice to those starting out is to do it now. “Don’t wait for that perfect time or those tools or fancy equipment that you think you need to get started,” he says. “Start with what you have…” He says it is important to surround yourself with a team of winners. “Distance yourself from [negative] people and situations.”

To learn more about Jeghetto, visit his website, Jeghetto.com. More about the artist is available in the links of sources, below. The ACWC also invites the public to meet Jeghetto in person at the reception on June 20. Attendance at this event is FREE but the experience will be invaluable!

Meet Jeghetto. Bold Journey, March 22, 2024. https://boldjourney.com/meet-jeghetto/
• Brian Howe: Puppet Genius Jeghetto Bequeaths Fantastical Creatures and Afrofuturist Themes to National TV and Local Kids—Including His Son. INDY Week, 08/09/2017: https://indyweek.com/culture/art/puppet-genius-jeghetto-bequeaths-fantastical-creatures-afrofuturist-themes-national-tv-local-kids-including-son/
• New York State Puppet Festival Episode 12: Jeghetto: Puppets for Grown Folks. https://www.newyorkstatepuppetfestival.org/episodes/episode-11-jeghetto
• The Richmond Folk Festival: Jeghetto, Puppetry, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. https://www.richmondfolkfestival.org/jeghetto
Mali Sastri : Through Puppetry, Artist Tarish ‘Jeghetto’ Pipkins Interrogates Racism and Brings Joy.WBUR, Nov. 5, 2018. https://www.wbur.org/news/2018/11/05/tarish-pipkins-jeghetto-brookline-puppet-theater
• Instagram: @ jeghettos_puppets