Kricket Caffery
Kricket Caffery often describes her art work as: Collecting TRASH and turning it into ART which INSPIRES people! Kricket can often be found building random contraptions and large puppets, all of which are created mostly from found objects.
Some of the art that Kricket creates are commissioned projects like the mechanized papier mache tree face she recently built for the Johnny Appleseed play at the Swift Creek Mill Theater in Virginia.
"You wouldn't believe all the squeals of delight when the (tree) face is revealed...the kids just love it... (Johnny Appleseed) was one of the best-selling shows in our theater's history! So proud of it."
~T. Width, Swift Creek Mill Theater, VA regarding the Tree Face
One of her trash art creations, a sea turtle made from trash cleaned up during a SOLV litter clean-up event at Fort Stevens State Beach in Oregon, was recently featured in a blog by The Bug Chicks (bugchicks.com), the article was also featured on Talking Science, part of NPR Science Friday.
In August, Kricket also took a project called “Reflections”, which was built from donated broken mirror shards and solar powered at night, to the Burning Man Arts Festival in Nevada. She describes the intention of the work as:
“The motivation, intention, and inspiration for the project “Reflections”, lies in my yearning to find peace, love, forgiveness, and acceptance in my recent life experiences. Some are such horrible things that they are incomprehensible, yet they have happened, they are part of my experience in this world, and part of what makes me who I am, but not my fault. Now it is my choice about how I let them affect me, what energy I hold and how I move through them. As for the things that I can change, it is up to me to reflect and take responsibility so that the negative energy can be released or transformed.”
In addition to making art from trash, Kricket considers herself an "I can do anything" kind of a person! She’s a contraptioneer, peg stilt manufacturer, puppet maker, artist, gymnastics and circus skills teacher, performer, and co-creator of Circus Artemis - Portland's All-Women Circus.
For the last 7 years, she has helped add circus arts and movement skills like trapeze, stilt walking, juggling, tumbling, and partner acrobatics to the lives of students of all ages in Portland, Oregon and at events all over the west coast.
You can find out more about Kricket Caffery and see more of her work at: