Workshop: Puppets for Stop Motion Animation
With John Powell Jones
Date: Wed 20 May 2026
Time: 6.30-8.30pm
Venue: Lowry South Room
Cost: Free to attend with a £5 refundable deposit
Maximum capacity: 15 max
Led by artist John Powell-Jones, this workshop introduces participants to The Crocodile of Sadness through the making of split-pin puppets for stop-motion animation, using simple 2D cardboard techniques. Beginning with an overview of the project’s ideas, themes, and varied artistic processes, the session offers insights into how the work was developed, and how to use some of the creative processes in the work.
Participants will then design and construct their own movable puppets, drawing inspiration from the project, using provided templates, or using their imagination to create original characters. Each participant will leave with their finished puppet, along with a worksheet guiding them in using their puppet for stop-motion animation at home.
Who it is for
This workshop is aimed at people who are interested in storytelling and creating puppets for stop-motion animation techniques. No prior experience needed.
About John Powell-Jones
John Powell-Jones is a UK-based artist whose work spans sculpture, animation, print and installation. Drawing on horror, folklore and the visual language of videogames, he creates speculative worlds populated by mutated beings and unstable technologies. His practice examines how power, ideology and myth shape perceptions of the body, the other and the future.
John has exhibited widely across the UK and Europe, presenting projects that merge countercultural aesthetics with experimental storytelling, including Tate Liverpool, Full of Noises (Barrow-in-Furness), Seventeen Gallery (London), Supernormal Festival (Oxfordshire), IMT Gallery (London), and Whitworth Art Gallery (Manchester).
DON’T MISS THE CROCODILE OF SADNESS
Wed 10 Jun 2026, 8pm, Lowry Studio
The Crocodile of Sadness is an imaginative, visually striking performance about grief, care and the pressure of carrying things alone.
The show blends storytelling, digital projection and unexpected moments of disruption to create an intimate and shifting live experience. Adapted from an original graphic novel by John Powell Jones and presented at Lowry for the first time, the performance moves between folklore, speculative storytelling and performance lecture as the narrative gradually begins to unravel.