Family Weekend Workshops: This is a...with Bob Baker Marionette Theater
Overview
Celebrate the closing day of The Broad’s special exhibition, Robert Therrien: This is a Story, by transforming ordinary objects into something new! In connection with Therrien’s work around movement and sculpture, this event also includes four 15-minute performances by Bob Baker Marionette Theater. Don’t miss your chance to feel small like a marionette as you head in to explore the oversized works in Therrien’s exhibition in the museum’s first-floor galleries before it closes. Pop up to the third floor to feel extra mini next to his giant kitchen table and chairs which are always on view.
Robert Therrien was a Los Angeles-based artist whose work talks about how we view space, memory, and perception. Turning everyday objects into works of art and making art about them, Therrien invites us to see the familiar with fresh eyes. In his art, the ordinary becomes poetic, offering an opportunity to reflect, remember, and feel present in a specific space and time.
Image credits (L-R): Photo courtesy of Bob Baker Marionette; Photo by Salvador Ceja Garcia; Photo by Josh White / JWPictures.com. Artwork credit: Robert Therrien, No title (room, pots and pans I), 2008-15. Metal and plastic. Courtesy Artworks Holdings.
Please note, this event takes place outdoors. It’s sunny on the plaza until around noon, then shaded by neighboring buildings for the rest of the day.
Timed tickets for Family Weekend Workshops are available from 11 am to 4 pm. Families who reserve tickets in advance will receive a wristband when they check in onsite at the museum. Workshops are available to families with wristbands on a first-come, first-served basis. Walk-ups are encouraged, pending capacity.
Tickets include same-day access to The Broad, including Robert Therrien: This is a Story, our rotating third-floor collection galleries, and The Shop at The Broad.
Tickets to this event do not include access to Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away (2013), which must be booked separately.
To learn more and plan your trip, visit Know Before You Go & FAQ. Visitor policies are subject to change.
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Bios
Bob Baker Marionette Theater
In 1930, Bob Baker saw his first puppet show in his native Los Angeles and shortly thereafter established his own “Petit Theatre” in the backyard of his home on New Hampshire Avenue. By age eight, Bob had trained with several different Los Angeles-based companies before giving his first professional performance for legendary Hollywood director Mervyn Leroy.
While attending Hollywood High School, Bob began manufacturing toy marionettes that sold both in Europe and the United States. Following graduation, he began an apprenticeship at George Pal Animation Studios that resulted in a promotion to head animator of Puppetoons, a landmark studio that produced animated stop-motion puppet films.
In 1963, Bob Baker and partner Alton Wood transformed a run-down scenic shop near downtown Los Angeles into a family entertainment institution: Bob Baker Marionette Theater. Named an official Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2009, the Theater has served over ONE MILLION children with original shows ranging from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker to a musical journey through the history of Los Angeles.
After Bob’s passing in 2014 at the age of 90, the puppeteers and staff had to transition to being the stewards of both the past and the future of Bob’s beloved Theater. Each box that was packed and moved from our historic home at 1345 W. 1st Street to our new Theater in Highland Park carried a story of a puppeteer or fabricator who had contributed to the fabric of the Theater. From Morton Haack to John Leland, Tina Gainsboro to Ursula Heine… our Theater family numbers are in the hundreds, if not thousands.
We have spent the past decade doing everything possible to preserve this essential part of puppet history, and an irreplaceable part of Los Angeles history as well. We look forward to another 60 years (at least!) of puppetry joy in LA and beyond.
About Family Weekend Workshops
The Broad's Family Weekend Workshops offer free activities and workshops to engage with the art of The Broad. Workshops give families the opportunity to make their own artworks to take home, inspired by the Broad collection. Family Weekend Workshops are free but have limited availability. Entrance is not guaranteed without a reservation. Family Weekend Workshops are presented by Leading Partner East West Bank.
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