The 15th annual All Souls Night brought Duluthians together to remember those lost with poetry readings, fire dancing and Mary Plaster’s unique puppets. WDSE-TV Producer Megan McGarvey captured the scenes for this Almanac North feature.
“Ritual and Masks” is part of the 32-minute feature Masking, an experimental video by Joellyn Rock. The segment features Duluth artist Mary Plaster, artistic director of Duluth All Souls Night, who collaborated with Chris Lutter of Minneapolis to build the 17-foot-tall marionette skeleton that was paraded down Superior Street a month ago.
Max Skeleton led “The Funeral March for Rotten Ideas” down Superior Street last night. Four marionettes were in the parade, all created by local artist Mary Plaster, who founded Duluth’s All Souls Night event. The 17-foot tall Max Skeleton, created along with artist Chris Lutter of Minneapolis, is operated by hand-pushed gantry and five puppeteers on the ground. It is largest marionette in Minnesota.
Mary Plaster explains how Duluth artists honored All Souls Night through “Windows Into Grief,” an event held across Duluth storefronts.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
A very important puppet that artist Mary Plaster created commemorating Prince at the request of Black Lives Matter in the Minneapolis May Day parade disappeared during Duluth All Souls Night. Please keep an eye out for this guy.
If you have any information about his disappearance please call 218-310-6289 or if you want to return him anonymously you can leave him back at the Duluth Depot, no questions asked.
