Beyond the marionette: Life as a master puppeteer
Down a dusty dirt road just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in the mountains of North Carolina sits an unassuming workshop made of plain wood and nails. Birds chirp and leaves blow in the wind, offering an inviting melody for what awaits inside those symmetrical walls.
Up a few stairs behind a simple swinging door lives a magical world of puppets where expectant eyes, restless arms, and enchanting spirits await to come alive within the hands of master puppeteer, Hobey Ford.
As an inventor, artist, musician, storytelling engineer, and performer, Ford lives and breathes creativity and ingenuity.
A unique path
“I’ve been interested in puppeteering since I was very young,” says Ford. “When I was in fifth grade, a puppet show came to a school assembly, and I never forgot it.”
Though Ford was intrigued that long-ago day as he watched the puppets animate, he did not plan to grow up and become a puppeteer.
But life had another plan. A blend of natural talent, creative lineage, and a serendipitous encounter with a kindred spirit took Ford along a unique path that has led to a fulfilling career as a puppeteer.
Today, a worn 1960s denim apron hangs in Ford’s workshop as a reminder of the woman who first inspired him. Ford’s mom was a talented photographer, often photographing black and white pictures of children and beautiful colored images of nature. She and Ford spent endless hours outdoors, mindfully enjoying the intricacies of the world around them.
“My mom was a naturalist. We were always outside, bird-watching and doing other things. In me, she fueled a passion in nature which has been the basis of much of my puppetry work,” says Ford.
Ford grew up outside of New York City. With a creative soul for a mom and a Wall Street banker for a dad, Ford was gifted with both right- and left-brain skills. As a boy, he used his nimble hands to continually engineer things out of household items, yet he never dreamed of being anything other than an artist, and in his mind he envisioned a future as a painter or a sculptor.
“During my freshman year at SUNY Purchase College, I realized that to stand out in a saturated world of artists, I needed to create something unique,” says Ford. On New Year’s Eve 1975, he created his first puppet, a marionette.
Shortly thereafter, Ford dropped out of SUNY Purchase and transferred to the San Francisco Art Institute. But on his way to California, he met a Native American family and worked on their ranch in the Nevada desert for several years. He never made it to school in San Francisco, and come to find out, he didn’t really need the formal training anyway.
It was there in Nevada, in 1976, that Ford met a traveler named Clyde Hollifield, a master puppeteer himself. And from that moment forward, Ford’s life was shaped by Hollifield’s friendship and mentoring.
“I’ll never forget the advice Clyde gave me long, long ago,” says Ford. “He said, ‘Don’t get a regular job because if you do, you’ll never spend your life doing what you love. I followed his advice.”
A puppeteer, a puppet maker
Hollifield seemed to rekindle Ford’s natural gift for puppetry. In Hollifield, Ford found inspiration. They agreed on an apprenticeship, and Ford moved across the country again. Living in a cabin near Hollifield’s home in Western North Carolina, Ford learned all he could from a most influential teacher.
“Clyde is like an Appalachian Leonardo da Vinci,” Ford says. “He taught me how to use very simple materials to create puppets.” To this day, Ford uses basic supplies such as foam, wire, and wood to craft lifelike puppets.
From that moment until now, Ford has made innumerable puppets. Shadow puppets, rod puppets, foam puppets, marionette puppets. Humans, animals, creatures.
Much of puppet making involves craftsmanship, engineering, and artistry, while being a puppeteer requires a theatrical presence, a relationship with the audience, and often talents in writing and music.
“Being a masterful puppeteer is a true gift. A good puppeteer can do a great show with a handkerchief,” says Hollifield when reflecting on Ford’s array of talents. “But a masterful puppeteer is not necessarily a great puppet maker. Hobey is both.”
A visit to Ford’s two-story workshop offers a breathtaking glimpse into the life of a true puppet maker. Downstairs, materials and supplies are stacked from floor to ceiling; some puppets sit erect while others slack to the side, taking a rest. Disembodied parts await repair or to be reunited with the rest of a body.
Posters from puppet shows and autographed pictures cover the walls up the staircase, while the top floor houses finished puppets, retired puppets, sets, props, and art projects. It’s simply amazing.
“There’s something truly special about Hobey’s puppets,” says Hollifield. “Hobey’s puppets are strong and unique with big personalities. They are anything but generic.”
Full circle
Most of Ford’s projects have been inspired by the people and topics he loves most: Family, friends, music, nature, compassion, and acceptance. Within minutes of being in Ford’s presence, his likability, intellect, and passion for puppeteering are all immediately apparent. He’s the type that leaves a lasting impression.
“I’ll never forget meeting Hobey and our time in Nevada, listening to him play his guitar and sing,” says Hollifield. “When I hear those songs to this day, I think of those campfires in the remote desert under the stars.”
At 58, Ford considers puppetry as important as ever. He has friends and fans all over the globe. He’s currently working on a show about the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly. He remembers watching his mom teach his three daughters about Monarchs during nature walks, and now he is bringing these beautiful insects to life.
With a desire to entertain both near and far, Ford could be found at a local library or across the world at a refugee camp. Ford recently traveled to Jordan to entertain exiled Syrian refugee children who were displaced from their parents.
When asked what he sees in a child’s eyes during a show, Ford says, “The response is similar no matter where I am. You see wonder in their eyes, a little bit of trepidation, and absolute awe, but also complete engagement in the story. And all of that is sort of universal.”
Ford is a two-time winner of puppetry’s highest honor, the UNIMA Citation of Excellence, and the recipient of three Jim Henson Foundation grants. Puppetry is an ancient art form that is sustained by puppeteers all over the world. Ford is honored to be among them.
Chosen as a Kennedy Center Partner to educate teachers and artists how to use performing arts in the classroom, Ford has performed in countless schools, libraries, and theaters. He also offers workshops to students and teachers. Ford invented the vastly popular Peeper toys that are enjoyed by children everywhere. He created these cute, hand-held toys long ago with the purpose of entertaining his daughters while he and his wife bathed them and washed their hair.
In 2013-2014, Ford was recognized for creativity using puppets in video format. He created a seven-minute non-verbal version of “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” for Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams Film series which was part of Henson’s traveling puppet film festival. Ford has partnered with The Avett Brothers twice. He created a shadow puppet video for their song “Bring Your Love” and created marionette skeletons for their song “Another is Waiting.”
Ford says he loves it all. He enjoys building puppets, performing, teaching, playing music, making movies, creating sets, traveling, navigating the world, meeting new people. Ford’s wife is a music teacher at Rainbow Community School in Asheville and all three of his daughters are musicians.
Ford and Hollifield remain very close and chat on the phone weekly.
“Hobey is a talented puppeteer, but he’s talented at everything he does,” says Hollifield. “And he’s my role model for integrity and human relations. He makes friends everywhere he goes. Once you meet him or watch him perform, you never forget Hobey.”