UMF in the News: The man who brings dummies to life

Austin Phillips, University of Maine at Farmington 2017 graduate and skilled craftsman, preserves a disappearing art as one of the last full-time ventriloquist puppet makers, according to a recent New York Times article. Originally from Cape Neddick, Philips majored in Visual & Performing Arts at UMF, which integrated seamlessly with his love of the one-of-a-kind expressive dummies. As a student, he even created his puppets in his campus room and began selling them on eBay.

He went on to say in the article, “to some people, these are just puppets, to me, there’s so much to them. It’s sculpture, casting, painting, sewing, mechanics, history, research, performance design — all at once. They are like kinetic art objects.”

Phillips is meticulous and considers every detail, especially when considering how to shape a smile or an eyebrow to give a puppet distinct personality. “It’s a feeling,” he said. “I just know when something’s right.” If it’s not right, he keeps working at it.

“People are excited to work one on one with a craftsperson and have something bespoke made for them,” he said. “It’s an old-world thing. It isn’t Amazon. You don’t get it in two days. If you’re getting one of these, you’re also accepting what it means to have something made this way.”