-
Dave Baker is a professional puppet builder/puppeteer for the Puppet Arts Workshop, located in Elk Grove, California. Dave’s never ceasing drive to create something new and unique was the impetus for entering into the world of puppet building in 2014.
As a toddler/preschooler in the late 60’s, Dave grew up with Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood and Sesame Street, and was a lover of puppets. As he grew older, Dave became less involved with children’s television and his activities were more geared toward electric race car tracks, bicycle riding and customizing, the music of the times, hanging out with friends, and trying to have fun without getting in trouble (those two things seem to go together as a kid).
In 2014, Dave rediscovered his love of puppets and decided to embark on a mission to acquire the necessary skills to become a professional puppet builder. All of his free time was dedicated toward learning the craft and helping others learn as well. In 2014 there was still a very limited amount of accessible knowledge on the internet regarding puppet building.
Scouring the internet for anything related, Dave began posting links to whatever he could find online to a Facebook Group called Puppet Maker’s Workshop so that others could follow along with him on his journey and benefit from the knowledge. Dave received an invitation from the creator of the Facebook page to become an Admin and help moderate the group. That was a blessing and a curse.
On one hand being an Admin was a great experience, but it also required that Dave to make a time commitment to moderate the group that would take away from his build time. Build time repetition is a very important aspect of improving one's skill level in any field of practice.
In 2020, Dave decided to step down from Admin on the Facebook PMW group in order to redirect the time that was dedicated toward monitoring group posts. He then had even more time to dedicate toward increasing his skill level and toward the creative process of puppet building. Dave has taken many puppet workshops since 2014, purchased many books and video related to the craft, and has honed his skills dramatically over the years.
-
