Large Scale Shadow Puppetry with Christine Langford + Amy Hayden

Discover the magical qualities of opaque, translucent, and transparent media to create shadow puppets and masks. Make great theater with household items while having fun. Interact with your own puppets–projected life-size + mime + everyday materials.

Christine Langford is an artist, instructor, designer, and Shadow Puppeteer. She has taught workshops and performed at various national festivals and school programs in the greater Cincinnati area. She has earned a B.S. in Fashion Design from the University of Cincinnati, DAAP and an M.A. in Art Education from Mount St. Joseph University. Christine recently retired as an elementary art teacher and adjunct professor at Northern Kentucky University.

Christine is dedicated to exploring the psychological, physical, and spiritual aspects of storytelling with shadow and light. Her emphasis is on providing innovative ways to voice personal stories.  Current endeavors include writing, filming, and editing shadow puppet films

Amy Hayden (she/her) is a mixed media artist at Visionaries + Voices that translates her personal experiences within the world using various mediums. Her use of abstraction through geometric patterns, repetition, and especially color are utilized as an outward expression of her inner self: her emotions and thoughts within the moment. Her artwork is able to convey a sense of lively optimism and hope through her active line work and compositions, which captivates the viewer upon engagement.  Every mark has a deliberate place within Amy’s work and each mark speaks loudly and cohesively.  Though the world around us is often changing, Amy is able to capture her feelings on paper so that they remain present, bold, and attentive through her artistic practice and execution.  Amy has begun to take on a very active role in the Cincinnati community and is always working towards bringing art and happiness to those around her. She is an advocate for disability rights and domestic violence survivors, a volunteer at the Cincinnati Art Museum, a TAP teacher, and a photographer for My Life Magazine.  In 2023, Amy exhibited a piece in Creating Connections: Self-Taught Artists in the Rosenthal Collection at the Cincinnati Art Museum and was featured with V+V artists on the cover of My Life magazine for her achievement.

The SHOW OF HANDS Puppet Festival is presented by Visionaries + Voices, an inclusive arts organization providing creative, professional, and educational opportunities for adults with disabilities. Visionaries + Voices (V+V) began in 2003 when a dedicated group of social workers and artists dreamed of a place where artists with disabilities could be encouraged and supported. They eventually leased studio space in Cincinnati’s Northside neighborhood to accommodate a growing number of artists – from 3 to 30 within two years. Since that time V+V has continued to expand, and today supports over 120 artists with disabilities each year at two locations (Northside and Tri-County) and takes a message of disability inclusion to over 5,000 community members through exhibitions, school and public education programs.  V+V artists actively contribute to the greater arts community through creative, educational, and strategic partnerships with local and regional artists, schools, and business leaders. Collectively, we are growing a more inclusive arts community in Greater Cincinnati.