Puppetry Artist as Performer and Maker/ Exhibitor, Parade and Community Celebration Facilitator, Video Documentary and Interactive CD-ROM producer

Starting his career in 1977 with the Gardner Puppet Theatre touring schools and pre-schools performing 3 shows a day, 5 days a week throughout metropolitan Melbourne, Ian had a solid on-the-job training in the rudiments of rod, glove and string puppetry. Progressing from there to the Victorian College of the Arts broadened his life’s work to encompass the notion of professional community theatre.

Theatre projects commence with raw concepts or scripts, proceed to design and construction of images and sets to performance, direction and video documentation. Ian has embraced every sage of the process touring Europe in 1981 with Nigel Triffitt’s "Momma's Little Horror Show" with the Australian Puppet Theatre and the World premiere of Nigel Triffitt’s "Secrets" with Handspan. Establishing community puppetry with Arts Access Society in �Theorem� by Aldo Genarro at the Melbourne Concert Hall in 1982 he then performed in the World Premiere of "Gulls" directed by Bruce Myles for the Melbourne T�heatre Company in 1983.

He worked extensively with Arts Access Society devising and implementing programs for people with multiple disabilities combining puppetry, music and story telling. In 1985 he worked with Playback Theatre Melbourne and conducted a six-month program for people living with chronic psychiatric disorders in Camberwell. Teaching has always been an adjunct of his work as an artist. He has run programs for Latrobe University, Monash University, Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Brisbane City Council, Geraldton Community Education Centre, Grafton TAFE small business, Frankston TAFE community development, the Royal Melbourne Zoo and Melbourne University.

The solo puppet show is a key art form reference and mainstay of his business "Puppetability". He offers a program for schools, festivals and special occasions including a contemporary Punch and Judy Show in which he tells of the Baby helping the Crocodile to clean up the river. He has also generated a unique improvisational studio form with "The Ant, the Universe and Einstein" in which objects moved in silence metamorphose without preconceived meaning and has exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria, the World Trade Centre Melbourne and recently at Cube 37 in Frankston and the Wyndham Cultural Centre in Werribee.

Ian has initiated and implemented many arts programs and developed focal images within parades and performances. The "Seagrass Project Hastings" with Westernport and Peninsula Protection Council 1988 �1990 in Hastings, Victoria communicated to a global audience by conducting three events and producing the �Seagrass Story� 50 minute television documentary. Winning the Geography Teachers Association of Victoria Best Video Award and achieving sales to the science unit of TV Ontario and an Austrian network, this project drew attention to the Ramsar Bird treaties and has been recognized by the Australia Council and Arts Victoria as a best-practice model for community cultural development. It inspired many similar programs and forms the basis for a current Mornington Peninsula Shire Council priority project.

In the role of Artistic Director of the Mornington 'Endangered Species Parade' 2003, Ian engaged community organisations in the creation of large-scale bamboo and cane framed puppets drawing attention to the plight of threatened species and winning the inaugural Best Australia Day Celebrations for Victoria 2003. As artist and activist Ian continues his cultural and environmental work in the context of events such as "Yearsend at Devilbend" - a Winter Solstice Celebration 2003, "Harmony Puppets" for Clayton Planet Meltdown Festival 2004 and "Equinox Ritual" for Eco Fest 2004 on the Mornington Peninsula. Ian is currently working with the Hugh Williamson Foundation and Watermark on a schools-based project in Gippsland which aims to generate awareness of water-related issues in the Gippsland Lakes catchment by bringing together the science and mythology various creatures and their symbiotic associates. Themes such as the �Ibis and the Cockchafer Grub� and the �Ant and the Echidna� will culminate in community performances and the production of a series of CD-ROMs.

Honouring the indigenous people of Australia and their spiritual heritage of over 50,000 years in this country is at the core of his work in recognising the culture and the land we all share. Ian’s interests include organic gardening, writing, t�ai chi and music. He is an active and loving father.