Today we’d like to introduce you to Bruce Orr

Hi Bruce, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?

I started doing art as a kid and never stopped. I was always drawing, building and making up stories. I have made that my life’s work. As I got older, through school, teaching, working for non profits, hospitals, museums and libraries, my dedication to art deepened. I had moments where I learned anything was possible. The first time I read a zine, I saw that I could do this too. The same thing with the Spiral Q Puppet Theater in Philadelphia, who made giant puppets out of cardboard and paper mache. There were no barriers with art. So I started self publishing comics as Immersion Press. I created the Mudeye Puppet Company from a basement in Portland Oregon, staying up late making creatures out of trash, and then taking that lesson to the schools, and soon enough performing shows all over the city and beyond. Eventually I moved to Beverly, Massachusetts, to work for an art non profit in Lynn called Raw Art Works. I ran their public art program and high school fine art studio. Thirteen years later two opportunities came together. One was to build a giant installation piece in an empty storefront window in Beverly. The other was to write a grant to start free art classes in the Peabody Library. I quit my job to do both, spending half of 2024 making giant bugs, birds and flowers out of cardboard and trash, and writing a successful grant partnering with the city of Peabody to launch a new afterschool art program called InkWell, which grows very week I am there. This is my life now. I was diagnosed with throat cancer today, but nothing is going to stop me. The Orrs are like that.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

The path of an artist is never smooth, but I don’t have a choice.. Challenges make for good stories. I thought people would stop asking if art is a real job once you hit a certain age, but no. I really don’t want to complain, or blame people, as I have done in the past. Life in general is harder now then ever, and we have an untenable economy that’s only getting worse. All I can do is my best. I can’t even list all the challenges. Sometimes your mural gets tagged, so you paint back over it. I did a puppet show one time with a missing part of my stage, duct taping it together before the show, thinking it could collapse at any moment, but it didn’t. I have had kids say they saw my hand during a puppet show, that’s pretty bad. I think the toughest thing is I am always thinking of how amazing everything could be, and the things we could build, but so often reality says no, we can’t do that. Also, I can be hard on myself, and that’s just counterproductive. There really is no other option then to never give up. The throat cancer has made me lose my voice, so I can’t do puppetry anymore, at least with vocals, so I am focusing on visual arts for now. Every time something goes wrong, it just makes me want to do better. When a person or organization becomes an obstacle, go around them.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

I am a painter, muralist, puppeteer, illustrator, art therapist and art educator. I run a free youth art program out of a local library called InkWell, the culmination of my life’s work in the arts, shared with middle and high schoolers. I like to use recycled materials, especially cardboard. I also love mixed media, like pens and gouache. My subject matter is imaginary things, like monsters and robots. I also love bugs. InkWell is dedicated to providing high quality art classes in an inclusive and supportive environment. What sets it apart from other art classes is that it’s free, although I am not a non profit, and we will do projects like building a mech model out of old plastic model kids, like they used to do in the movies.

I am proud of starting this program from nothing, working hard to keep it going, and writing enough grants to push it well into next year. Arts programming, done with love and integrity, helps young people through dark times. This is what I am here to do.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?

There are lots of ways to get stuck in a creative path, especially when everything changes so rapidly. For me, I run an arts program, and I also do my own art. In all my years there is an unspoken connection with other artists/creative types. I have always tried to help out a fellow artist if I can, and so many artsy folks have helped me as well. Learn as much as you can from as many people as you can. So much of this sounds cliche. Don’t ever let someone else define failure or success for you. I taught an art class yesterday in a public library. I could barely speak above a hoarse whisper. Kids were coming and going at different times, working on all kinds of different projects that I was trying to orchestrate. Some have learning challenges. I could look at this as a mess. Or I could see kids smiling, feeling less lonely and coming back week after week.

Like many of you, I just got my Spotify unwrapped, and it was a musical flashback of the 7 months I spent making paper mache’ creatures for a highly visible downtown art installation. I expected this flurry of responses and exposure for this project, but that didn’t really happen. What did happen was a lot of happiness from kids and families. And who knows where this will lead? I still want to make it into an art center in downtown Beverly.

Don’t ignore the disappointment beast. Let it visit and whine a little. Drink some sad tea together and commiserate. Then look at your watch and say “woah, look at the time! I gotta wrap up this pity party and plan the next big thing!” Give the beast a chance to help out if they want! Maybe they can help with gluing, because they tend to get stuck.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bruceorr.com
• Instagram: @mudeyepuppets

Image Credits

all photos taken by Bruce Orr.