Andrew Murdock is an interdisciplinary artist whose work often bridges the tangible and digital by utilizing techniques in video, physical theater and puppetry. He holds a BFA from RISD, where he was a dual major in the Sculpture and Film/Animation/Video departments, and an MFA in theater from Sarah Lawrence College. Read more about Andrew Murdock.

Andrew Murdock 13 FAV/SC is the first visiting puppeteer affiliated with RISD’s Movement Lab to lead a Wintersession puppetry course funded by RISD parent Cheryl Henson P 24, whose late father Jim Henson created the Muppets.

Murdock pieced together his own puppetry-centric curriculum as an undergraduate student at RISD, dual-majoring in Sculpture and Film/Animation/Video. He began this course (ten years later) by asking the multidisciplinary group of students enrolled to explore the inherent movement of simple objects, like a stapler that chomps or a plastic bag that flies. From there the class moved quickly through several forms of puppetry, including shadow theater and Bunraku-style (puppets operated by three people, a form that comes from Japan) before moving into more self-directed final projects. Read more about the 2024 Wintersession puppetry course.

“My goal in developing this course was to help students create original live puppet performances drawing from a variety of traditions,” says Murdock. “In the weeks leading up to the cabaret, students worked through short exercises collaboratively in order to develop basic skills and generate ideas for their final pieces.” – Andrew Murdock