Tarish Pipkins describes puppetry as composing a symphony in 3-D, and one quick glimpse at his work clarifies exactly what he means. Pipkins' puppets are incredibly complex, but they move in both a realistic and graceful way.
Pipkins has made art since he was a young kid growing up in the projects outside of Pittsburgh. He would often draw and doodle in his free time, and he always had a knack for making something out of nothing, like a bow and arrow from a popsicle stick and a rubber band.
Pipkins later turned to rap and graffiti to make sense of his social and political and environment, but it wasn’t until a chance encounter with Fred Rogers of "Mister Rogers Neighborhood," that he began to think more seriously about puppetry.
Pipkins has lived and worked in North Carolina since 2005 as both a teacher and artist, and he makes puppets and performs under the name "Jeghetto."
Host Frank Stasio talks with Tarish Pipkins his life and work and how he became the man behind the twerking puppets in Missy Elliott’s music video "WTF (Where They From)" (see video below).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO_3Qgib6RQ
Check out Tarish's portfolio of "clipper skills":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j-VdbYAn7E&feature=youtu.be
