Nancy Opalko

I performed The Horse Who Forgot at a birthday party today. A local woman contacted me a while back to see if I could come and put on a puppet show for her daughter’s 5th birthday and of course I jumped on it! Over twenty kids were in attendance and, when I arrived to set […]

Even though it was not quite autumnal–no matter that the calendar said it was so–I set off to the Union County Heritage Museum in nearby New Albany for my first class of the season. It was a full class–twelve students–with local folks and also some from places a little further down the road…Tupelo, Blue Mountain,

Gathering kudzu when it is still over 80 degrees outside and the stinkbugs are rampant in the vines is not fun. But…I scheduled my first kudzu basketry class for the beginning of October and I needed vines so there was not much to be done but to get out in the kudzu patch and start

After a visit to the Alabama coast a few weeks ago, I decided to use some of the driftwood and shells that I brought back home for a nature craft. I’ve made a few shell mobiles before with small shells but this time I wanted to use large pieces of driftwood and bigger shells–cockles, oyster,

Summertime is usually my quiet time in regard to basket weaving. In Mississippi, it’s too hot and buggy and snake-y to get out and collect kudzu vines and definitely not a good time to sit out on the patio and weave. This fall, I am going to try something new. Once I’m back out harvesting

This past Thursday–the very last day of July–I had the good fortune to hang out with five very creative kids for a whole afternoon at my Summer Puppet-Making Workshop. We worked on a puppet script, created character puppets from all sorts of materials, and then practiced and performed the show for an audience of family

Ha! This was the name given to my puppet program at the public library last month and it is spot on the money! Erica, the library’s Youth Specialist, was my fellow puppeteer behind the theater and we had a blast sharing the stories of Little Red Riding Hood and Little Red Hen. I’m not sure

I love the slowness of summer. Of course, you have to move slow when the humidity outside is nearing 100% and the minute you step out the door you break into a sweat–but time also seems to slow down in the summer. Afternoon catnaps on the couch become part of the routine as does taking

I began leading an adult writing group at the beginning of this month and I love it. The idea for one has been swimming around at the back of my mind for a while…so, in the early spring when the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council put out a call for for summer classes, I thought, “Why not?

This is my very first blog post and it is very fitting that it is not only about basket weaving but also about a book: Earth Basketry by Osma Gallinger Tod. This book was first published in 1933 and is still in print today–most likely due to the fact that it has amazing information and