Xstine Cook

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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I am a Canadian artist, based in Calgary, Alberta in the post-industrial downtown community of Ramsay. A mask and puppet maker and experimental theatre artist for over 20 years, I've started making short films as my primary art practice.  I studied mask and puppetry in Bali, Italy, France, California, and the West Coast of Canada, and trained at the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre in California.  I loved working as a performer and designer on several Dell’Arte International productions.   Currently I'm the Artistic Director of Calgary Animated Objects Society (CAOS), and Curator of the International Festival of Animated Objects, a biennial festival of mask and puppetry in Calgary. Presentation of new work from emerging artists and ground breaking work from Aboriginal mask and puppet artists is one of my favourite parts of curating the festival.  CAOS offers an annual scholarship to Canadian students wishing to study at Dell'Arte, which fulfills one of my lifelong goals as a Dell'Arte grad.  I am also a co-founder of Green Fools and was co-artistic director from 1991 - 2004. A CAOS project close to my heart is “Spirit of White Buffalo”, a giant bison puppet created with artists, youth, bike fanatics and inmates from Drumheller Institution.  I spent over 16 days in jail working with inmates over the 4 months the buffalo was "on the inside".   “Spirit of White Buffalo” won “Best Western Theme” in the 2007 Calgary Stampede Parade, and we won the “Innovative Business Practices Award” from the Rozsa Foundation the same year. In the summer of 2010, Spirit of White Buffalo traveled to Key First Nation with a crew of 11 talented artists to share theatrical arts and culture with youth.   For fun I play the singing saw, walk on fire stilts, and I've performed as a whip artist in a circus. Don't ask me to snap a lit cigarette out of your mouth though.  Not without some practice anyway.  A recent creation was The Device to Root Out Stink, a Volkswagen sized flame-throwing dead chicken created with the community of Ramsay to lampoon Lilydale Chicken Plant’s un-neighbourly business practices.  The Device was unveiled next to the factory while screening “Chicken Run” on the factory wall.  We bbqed chicken donated by the factory, ran egg races and a giant drumstick relay.  Everybody danced the chicken dance! Filmography - Short Strange Films The first -  “Face and Mooks at Home”, a slapstick puppet and live action comedy about 2 roommates whose relationship turns deadly.  Shown in the National Gallery in Ottawa as part of Alberta Scene centennial celebrations in 2005.    The second -  “Dead Boyfriends”, a tale of a cursed ringmistress, whose lovers die horribly mid-act.  Dead Boyfriends was shown at Strasbourg IFF, International Film Fest England, California Intl Animation Fest (nomination - best music video), Spooky Movie Film Fest, Edmonton IFF, Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival (nomination - best experimental), Brainwash, Radar Hamburg, Melbourne Underground Film Fest, Bleedfest, Coney Island Film Fest, Ming Short Film Fest (winner - best original score), Big Easy Shorts in 2008.   The third -  “Suckathumb”, an experimental take on Heinrich Hoffmann's gothic children’s poems.  Shown at the Strasbourg International Film Festival, Philadelphia Filmathon, the Poppy Jasper Film Festival, Spooky Movie Film Festival, Terror Film Festival (nomination – Claw Award), Bram Stoker International Film Festival, NYC Horror Film Festival, Bleedfest, and Punch Puppets in 2010. Also at an Elementary school as part of my child's presentation on Heinrich Hoffmann.  That was a mistake, and we're very sorry.   The fourth - “Tar Sand Pudding”,  an eco-commentary made with my kids about Alberta’s oil sands project.  It's been shown around the province by Prairie Tales 12, the Calgary International Film Festival, Naperville Independent Film Festival, Planet in Focus Film Festival, and Janison Short Sharp Film Festival, for which it won the Best Primary Film Advocate Award in 2010.  The latest is "Spirit of the Bluebird", made with artist Jesse Gouchey in tribute of Gloria Black Plume - Bird, a mother and grandmother who was murdered in my alley 11 years ago.  Jesse spray painted and photographed over 1800 images on our fence and garage while creating this animated film, and we brought in voiceover recordings of Gloria's family's remembrances of her. Spirit of the Bluebird is in the process of being released. Jesse's murals remain as a dedication to Gloria.

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