TEATRINO
This original miniature shadow puppet theater was designed by Jason and Jan Yancey, and built with support from a Grand Valley State University Sandbox Learning Innovation grant. Inspired by medieval reliquaries, each side of the box depicts scenes and symbols taken from woodcuts and was designed to look like a centuries-old trunk of mysteries carried from town-to-town on backs and in wagons by generations of puppeteers, magicians, and maybe witches!
Big Things in a Small Package
Fully expanded the stage measures 44 inches wide, 18 inches tall, and 16 inches deep. The closed stage measures 22 inches wide, 18 inches tall, and 7 inches deep. The doors are secured with embedded magnets and travels in a custom-made carrying case.
Portable Shadow Puppetry
Puppeteer(s) perform from this side. A compact LED lamp mounted to the upper panel will shine light onto an opaque acrylic screen. The light fixture offers 12 different colors and can be operated by remote control.
Hand-painted by award-winning artist, Jan Yancey
The stage was hand-painted by award-winning artist and designer Jan Yancey.
Jan Yancey resides in Richland, WA. ... (AKA the Tri Cities area / Columbia Basin). She has been happily married to her college sweetheart, Ed, for 45 years. They have 6 children, all raised having access to construction paper, scissors, colored pencils, paints, light boxes, tubs full of googly eyes, glitter and crafty supplies, and of course, fabric and a sewing machine. Today each and every one of them are talented and extremely creative in their own way. Jan and Ed now also have 15 grandchildren. And yes! Every one of them has a hand painted Christmas stocking and a custom designed quilt from Nana.
In 2019, Jan was recognized as a featured artist in the Handi Quilt “And I Quilt” series.
To find out more, visit https://handiquilter.com/jan-yancey/, and watch the video below.
“I am Jan Yancey”
“I have always had a creative spirit! One of my first memories as a very young child was collecting crayon shavings from my Crayola box. I was mesmerized by the colors! Later, in junior high I was told by an art teacher that I had “absolutely no talent whatsoever so I should find something else to do with my life!” I was in my early twenties before I was able to push through those thoughtless remarks and follow the creative spirit that beckoned to me from my box of colors.”
“I had finally found my tribe.”
“I took my first painting class at a local craft store in 1980. When I walked out of that class I literally paused there on the sidewalk thinking “something amazing had just happened!” For the very first time I had some tools to follow those creative yearnings I’d not understood. As I stood there on the sidewalk that day I knew something wonderful was about to begin.
Over the next couple of years I devoured every class and book I could find on art, design, color theory, paints and brushes, and everything that came with it. However, this was before the internet and our little community had very few resources available, So most of my knowledge and experiences are self taught through trial and error. It wasn’t long until I started teaching. After all, I knew from personal experience 100 ways to do everything wrong and how to fix it.
One day while traveling I had a pivotal experience that would change the course of my painting experiences. We had stopped at a rest stop where I saw a license plate on a car that said “I love decorative painters!” I had a wonderful conversation with that stranger there in the parking lot. As it turned out, this lady just happened to have with her the most recent edition of a magazine from The NSDP (National Society of Decorative Painters) and graciously gave it to me. This wonderful organization was a Noah’s flood of information for me. Patterns with instructions, teachers, resources, conventions and workshops, all kinds of painting supplies and beautiful, color photos of exquisite paintings done by gifted artists. They also offered a jury-Certified Decorative Artist accreditation program which I would complete in May of 1993. I had finally found my tribe.”
“Over the years I’ve satisfied my creative hunger in many other areas as well.”
“I’ve done all the popular “crafty” things—macramé, wood carving, scrapbooking, cross stitch, crochet and knitting, book making—and the list goes on. But the only other thing that has captured my attention as much as painting was sewing. My mother was a very talented seamstress so I naturally began sewing at a very young age. I’ve made blessing gowns to wedding dresses and everything in between.
I made my first quilt in 1975 and I’d dare say I’ve probably made hundreds since. My love of color theory and my understanding of the elements of good design applied to quilting just as it did with painting. A few years ago my husband surprised me with a long-arm quilt machine for Christmas! (Now that’s true love!) It’s a rare day to find it empty.
My painting and quilting have recently presented some new challenges. I’ve taken some of my very detailed Rosemaling designs and quilted them. I have also painted on fabric and incorporated them in to my quilts. These two loves never cease to challenge and satisfy my creative pursuits.
Today I spend most of my time quilting either my own originally-designed quilts or someone else’s beautiful creations.”
Every hour, a labor of love
“Jason is the oldest of our 6 children. Of all my children, Jason and I are the most similar in our creative gifts. We’ve discovered some interesting similarities, including always having multiple projects going on at once, a “3D design room” in our brains that we can rapidly create and adjust ideas before they are ever on paper, an endless push to be doing something new, and knowing what the other will say before it is said—just to name a few.
I was delighted to have the opportunity to work with him on his traveling puppet theatre. It has been such a fun project to work on together! We live on opposite sides of the country, so all our planning and collaboration has been through text messages, phone calls and Skype. Dozens and dozens of pictures have flown back and forth for weeks now! He sent me a file of pictures from which to draw inspiration, and From there it took about a week to create the designs for the box, followed by another month to paint it.
I have well over 200 hours of work in this project – and every one of them was a labor of love for my Jason.”
“A symbol of our work together.”
“Jason asked me to put something on the box that represented me. No rules, no approval needed. Just do it. I knew exactly what to add.
One of my favorite things to paint are butterflies. So the butterfly on the front is a representation of me and my creative input. I specifically put it right above Jason’s creation–his puppet troupe name—Dragoncillo. I wanted them to be next to each other, a symbol of our work together on this project. I think I can speak for both of us in saying this project has become one of the fondest memories of both our lives.”
