Governor James H Douglas and the Vermont Arts Council are pleased to announce Eric Bass and Ines Zeller Bass as the 2010 recipients of the Governor s Award for Excellence in the Arts. The founders of Sandglass Theater in Putney, VT will be honored in a public ceremony at the State House on Thursday, February 11, 2010 beginning at 7:00 PM. The free event will include a performance by Sandglass Theater and friends.
The Governor s Award is Vermont s highest honor in the arts. Since 1968, it is has been presented annually to artists who have achieved national or international stature for making a significant contribution to the advancement of their chosen art form.
Eric and Ines have worked in the theater as directors, playwrights, performers, and mask and puppet makers for more than 30 years. They founded Sandglass Theater in Munich, Germany in 1982 and relocated to Putney, VT in 1986. In 1996 they opened their 60-seat theater in the heart of Putney Village.
Sandglass Theater has become an internationally renowned theater company specializing in the use of the puppet and visual imagery. Their productions have toured 25 countries, performing in theaters, festivals and cultural institutions, and garnering many international prizes. A review in Geneva, Switzerland s Le Courrier said, Eric Bass is known all over the world today for having brought puppets out of their traditional toy closets. His shows are each time more stunning ¦. Like all great art, it is a constellation of humorous touches and tenderness. The magic is born of gesture, from the movement of these dolls, as if they were animated, with the real breath of life.
Sandglass works have been presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival, Jim Henson Festival at Joseph Papp Public Theater, and at PS 122 in New York City. Eric and Ines received a Citation of Merit from the Vermont Arts Council in 2004 and a Vermont Senate Concurrent Resolution honoring their work in 2006.
Sandglass Theater is one of a very few puppet companies in the nation with a well-deserved international reputation, said Arts Council Executive Director Alexander L. Aldrich. Eric and Ines Bass have built Sandglass into a destination not just for tourists and audience members, but for artists in other fields like music, dance, and circus arts who wish to collaborate with them. We couldn t be more delighted with their selection.
The award ceremony will be followed by a reception in the Cedar Creek Room at the Vermont State House. For more information, visit www.vermontartscouncil.org.
Source: Vermont Arts Council. 1.12.2010