Clare Jefferson
Clare Jefferson Jones of Splodge Designs has loved puppetry all her life in all its amazing forms. After her degree in fine arts, specialising in sculpture and textiles, she created her own community arts company; Splodge Designs
With Splodge Designs and other artists they have delivered numerous projects and workshops for groups, schools and residential homes. Clare has shared skills in large scale carnival costume building to create puppet films.
As an artist, she continues to build puppets for her own films and performances and for commissions. Recently, Mrs Pickles the Death Cat performed as part of Dan Dawes play Everlasting Cake and the purple Aliens - Arghh and Urghh have been part of many outdoor performances including Winchester Hat Fair.
In lockdown, Clare developed an Arts Council funded project called Puppets in Paulsgrove. The project took place over Zoom and they worked with over 200 participants and 8 professional puppet makers/puppeteers to learn new skills in making and performing.
They were delighted to work with Brighton School of Puppetry, Fagner and Cass of Puppet Soup, Drew Colby, Jim Parkyn and Judith Hope. For Clare, puppetry is a fantastical place where anything is possible and magic really does happen.
